# The new Kindle DX: good for gaming?



## Pseudopsyche (May 6, 2009)

In case you haven't heard, today Amazon announced a new [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Amazons-Wireless-Generation/dp/B0015TCML0]Kindle with a 9.7" screen[/ame].  It can display PDFs in grayscale.  To be honest, I don't know much about these Kindle things, so maybe you can tell me.  Will this be good for reading the DDI magazines in bed?  For navigating notes at the game table?  Do any RPG publishers use the Kindle format?  This thing is supposed to have a screen big enough for newspapers and textbooks.  That should be good enough for us, right?


----------



## Obryn (May 6, 2009)

I saw the specs today, and with native PDF reading, I think it will be incredible for gaming.  If you have the rulebooks on PDF, that is. 

It'd still be great for Dragon and Dungeon.

This is all assuming that its PDF capabilities are up to snuff.  If it's got a poor display engine for PDF documents, forget everything I just said.  I'd recommend waiting for official reviews and tests before plunking down almost $500 for it.

Also, if the Kindle becomes more popular, this presents another possible avenue for WotC's electronic sales.  It's a more secure format; it's just there's a very limited base of potential consumers right now.

-O


----------



## DaveMage (May 6, 2009)

If a color mode was available, this would be very tempting to use for RPGs.

But without color, I'm not as interested.


----------



## Eridanis (May 6, 2009)

I was just about to come start a thread on this very topic!

I don't think this device itself will be a rulebook killer, but it's definitely on the right track. $489 is reasonable for what you get, but for a few hundred more you could get a laptop that displays your pdfs in color, and does everything else you need from a computer. However, I think this is a harbinger of things to come; ten years from now, its grand-grandchild will be "the last gaming book you ever need."


----------



## jamorea (May 6, 2009)

I think my wife ordered me one.  I have a few D&D PDFs (all legal) that I'll test it out on.  BTW, the color thing doesn't bother me, I loaded up a Dragon Mag on my wife's kindle 2 and the formatting was bad but the pictures actually looked great in the greyscale.


----------



## Scribble (May 6, 2009)

Eridanis said:


> I was just about to come start a thread on this very topic!
> 
> I don't think this device itself will be a rulebook killer, but it's definitely on the right track. $489 is reasonable for what you get, but for a few hundred more you could get a laptop that displays your pdfs in color, and does everything else you need from a computer. However, I think this is a harbinger of things to come; ten years from now, its grand-grandchild will be "the last gaming book you ever need."




The only issue you have then is that with a laptop you loose the benefits of the kindle virtual paper deal. (IE no backlight so as easy on the eyes as real paper, plus longer battery life...)


----------



## SteveC (May 6, 2009)

I would like to ask that if anyone actually picks this up and puts it to the test with some different PDFs, please come back here and let us know...this sounds fantastic.

--Steve


----------



## Swack-Iron (May 6, 2009)

I've owned a Kindle 1 and Kindle 2, and would definitely love to read my gaming PDFs (all legal!) on my eBook reader. As far as the Kindle DX goes, I think you've got to consider 2 issues (beyond the price, of course):

1. It's bigger than a Kindle 2.
The Kindle 2 is amazingly portable, and can even fit in a large-ish coat pocket. The DX is looks closer to the size of a magazine so it won't be quite as portable. Of course, it's just as portable as a gaming book -- perhaps even more so because it's lighter than most gaming books.

2. Research books don't work as well in Kindle format.
Something that programmers, students, and others discovered even back with the Kindle 1 is that the Kindle isn't that great for the sort of book where you want to flip back and forth between sections. "See chart on page 189" is something you'll be unhappy to see if you're on page 56.


----------



## weem (May 6, 2009)

I have been considering getting my wife a Kindle 2 (she reads a LOT). I'll have to check this one out as I have a number of PDF's myself - not enough to warrant buying this, but maybe sometime down the road.


----------



## Nightchilde-2 (May 6, 2009)

Obryn said:


> This is all assuming that its PDF capabilities are up to snuff.  If it's got a poor display engine for PDF documents, forget everything I just said.  I'd recommend waiting for official reviews and tests before plunking down almost $500 for it.
> 
> Also, if the Kindle becomes more popular, this presents another possible avenue for WotC's electronic sales.  It's a more secure format; it's just there's a very limited base of potential consumers right now.
> 
> -O




This.



SteveC said:


> I would like to ask that if anyone actually picks this up and puts it to the test with some different PDFs, please come back here and let us know...this sounds fantastic.
> 
> --Steve




And especially this.

Lack of a good, portable reader (and, no, laptops/netbooks don't count for my purposes) is what has kept me from going .pdf.


----------



## mach1.9pants (May 6, 2009)

I have literally just received my Foxit eSlick reader. Foxit (a PDF software company) have reskinned and re programmed some other ereader (don't know which) and it has the standard 6 inch screen. It ONLY does PDFs and is the cheapest out there at the moment (269US, I think).

Now from my couple of days with it (and exclusively using RPG PDFs... rulebooks, level up, KQ, One Bad Egg stuff) I would pass this opinion for everybody thinking of going for one of these type of things for gaming..

1. Even the 6" screen is big enough to read Dungeon and Dragon mags- full screen 1 page. Reading them landscape works.. the print is fine but certainly readable due to the incredible clarity of epaper. The rulebooks don't quite work, their font is smaller. So I use software to chop each page into bit sized pieces. Obviously the Kindle3 will mean you could read everything i page per screen, awesome you lucky americans!
So for reading these are just awesome! All my rulebooks mags and 3PP in one (ultra light- weighs less than my phone) handy package.

2. At the game table it is not going to be quite as useful. There is a noticeable delay on page turn, probably not much longer than turning a page but nothing like the instantaneous page change on your PC. This means that flipping for a rule, unless you have very good bookmarks would be frustrating. You can search though. Maybe the Kindle 3 has a better CPU but there will be a delay.

In short awewome for reading your PDFs (I am finally reading the entire issues of Du and Dr mags etc, raher than just skimming a few articles); maybe not so hot at the table itself... YMMV Just my 2cp


----------



## tmatk (May 7, 2009)

Obryn said:


> ...
> Also, if the Kindle becomes more popular, this presents another possible avenue for WotC's electronic sales.  It's a more secure format; it's just there's a very limited base of potential consumers right now.
> 
> -O




Is it more secure? I don't know too much about it, I assume it uses DRM. If that DRM isn't cracked already, it will be. The crackers-that-be probably haven't bothered with it since it isn't popular enough yet.


----------



## FunkBGR (May 7, 2009)

Have to also chime in. I pointed the new Kindle out to a co-worker, and he pointed me to this: 

eSlick Reader

The eSlick is nearly half the price. Plus their pdf software is what they're known for. I'd probably go with that rather than the Kindle, but I would only use it for reading rulebooks and stuff, and wouldn't find much use with the Kindle magazine / wireless stuff.


----------



## mach1.9pants (May 7, 2009)

tmatk said:


> Is it more secure? I don't know too much about it, I assume it uses DRM. If that DRM isn't cracked already, it will be. The crackers-that-be probably haven't bothered with it since it isn't popular enough yet.



Yeah the DRM is cracked. Amazon are very suspicious of people who buy an ebook (DRMed) then 'return' it (as is their right). In the in between time people are stripping it of DRM=free book.


FunkBGR said:


> Have to also chime in. I pointed the new Kindle out to a co-worker, and he pointed me to this:
> 
> eSlick Reader
> 
> The eSlick is nearly half the price. Plus their pdf software is what they're known for. I'd probably go with that rather than the Kindle, but I would only use it for reading rulebooks and stuff, and wouldn't find much use with the Kindle magazine / wireless stuff.



Look a couple of posts up


----------



## JoeGKushner (May 7, 2009)

Another step in my theory that the iphone (electronic device) will one day replace printed products.


----------



## Miar (May 7, 2009)

I'm not very excited about the Kindle however there are two other readers coming out I want to check out.  There is Samsung's Paprus due out in Korea in June (I'm in Korea so..).  The other one is Plastic Logic's reader probably coming out early next year.  It's super thin and has a  8.5 by 11 screen.


----------



## Saracenus (May 7, 2009)

My wife has a Kindle 2 and I can vouch for the readability of the screen, but it is more suited to blogs, books and short news stories.

From all I have read and the pictures I have seen the Kindle DX will be the reader to beat for textbooks, magazines, and newspapers. The fact that it will have a native PDF reader and supports tables and graphics are all full of win.

If you want to see what graphics and tables look like on the new reader check out this link:

Live from Amazon's Kindle event in NYC!

I really like the automatic portrait and landscape mode that is built into it.


----------



## Jan van Leyden (May 7, 2009)

Will this thing allow for fast switching between different PDFs? A DM device *has* to be able to do this, IMHO. Otherwise you see a power mentioned in a Dungeon adventure, close the adventure open the PHB, search for the power, read it, close the PHB, open Dungeon, search for the encounter and hope to still remember the specifics. 

A more useless approach is hard to imagine.


----------



## mach1.9pants (May 7, 2009)

Jan van Leyden said:


> Will this thing allow for fast switching between different PDFs? A DM device *has* to be able to do this, IMHO. Otherwise you see a power mentioned in a Dungeon adventure, close the adventure open the PHB, search for the power, read it, close the PHB, open Dungeon, search for the encounter and hope to still remember the specifics.
> 
> A more useless approach is hard to imagine.




You have 'hit the nail on the head'. This is exactly the problem with an ereader for a game table device. They don't have the CPU power to hold open several PDFs at a time. It is an ereader, for reading not researching! I would not use my eslick at the table, that is what my laptop is for. But the ereader is great for reading dragon mag or whatever, beats the laptop hands down.

Note maybe the new Kindle has got the power to keep several PDFs open at once, but I doubt it. I am basing it of my one.


----------



## Whimsical (May 7, 2009)

Kindle does remember your place in the book you're reading. So, by pressing the Home key, it will take you to the list of books. You would then select the other book and it would open to the last point you were reading.

So, it can work a little better than described above, but being able to switch between different tabs of open PDFs on a laptop is better.


----------



## Jürgen Hubert (May 7, 2009)

I own a Kindle 1. So here is what I'd say for the new device:

It's probably not ideal for pure _rules_ books - if you have some rulebook you refer to all the time and hand around the table, buy it in physical form.

However, this is ideal for _supplements_ - especially setting books and other material you don't refer to all the time, but still want close at hand if you need to look something up.

I know how much my library of _Exalted_ books weighs. I'd be glad to reduce it to the weight of this book. I will buy a large-scale ebook reader (Kindle DX or another model) as soon as I can afford to, and I will buy most of my future gaming books as PDFs.

I've always hated reading books on a computer - too much strain on the eye. But ebook readers like the Kindle are different.


----------



## Plane Sailing (May 7, 2009)

Moved to computers forum


----------



## Nightchilde-2 (May 7, 2009)

If the Kindle DX can open up the DDI Compendium using its web browser, I might very well be looking to purchase this.  Srsly.

I suspect that it will since it's not a flash-based app.  As far as I can tell from reading through the DX manual, it shouldn't have a problem as the Compendium is a relatively simple site.


----------



## tenkar (Jun 12, 2009)

Bit of a thread rez 

(this is a cross post from my blog, which I've also posted on the Fantasy Grounds forums - hoping to have pics and more in depth this weekend)



Wow. I'm actually holding the Kindle DX. It is significantly larger then the kindle but about 1 1/2 inches shorter and 2 1/2 inches narrower then the Castles & Crusades leatherette Players Handbook. It's about as thick as the C&C Players Handbook without the case. With the standard black leather kindle case it is a bit thicker then the C&C Players Handbook but not by much.

First thing I did after plugging it into my PC to charge was to copy over the Labyrinth Lord and OSRIC PDFs. Both look very clear and very readable although the print is relatively small. However, if you turn the Kindle DX in a horizontal orientation, the DX recognizes the change and the PDF displays in landscape, making the print even more readable (it does split the page into top and bottom tho.)

I'm not sure how portable the DX is over all... as in will I use it to go to work with me on a daily basis or will it be used mostly for an at home, in the yard or on vacation method to read PDFs in their native format.


----------



## Kender42 (Jun 15, 2009)

Thanks for the update Erik - look forward to the pics.  I'm thinking about one of these for my Shadowrun PDFs - much easier to carry than 5 books.


----------



## tenkar (Jun 15, 2009)

Just have one pic up on my bog and it is far from the best (iPhones don't take great shots)   quick notes:  DDI - I had high expectations that Dragon and Dungeon would work well on the DX but they don't. The weird sizing of the pages doesn't display well on the DX.

(edit:  by "not displaying well" what i mean is, when the kindle is held in landscape mode the DDI material is too long to fit on the screen, but to short to be handled in half pages.  What you get is a page plus a bit that gets held over to the next screen refresh, which then has even less of a page beneath the bit that was carried over... crap, this is gonna require photos... heh... give me some time)


----------



## tenkar (Jun 16, 2009)

I've started to review how different RPG PDFs read on the Kindle DX:

The first entry from the blog (and I still need to take some pictures)

I've dumped a bazzilion PDFs on my Kindle DX at this point. Ok, maybe closer to 2 dozen, but have a bazzilion on my hard drive that have yet to make the transition. So, how do they look so far? Here's my totally nonscientific opinions on a scale of 1 to 5.

Elric - Runequest/Mongoose Edition - While readable, the font is small (even horizontally)and and the background clutter isn't helpful. 2

OSRIC 2.0 - Clear, uncluttered pages. This is what a PDF should look like on the Kindle DX. I can read it without turning it horizontally. Could have been made for the DX. 5

HARP Lite - Clear pages with no distracting background behind the letters. Artwork in the margins converts well. This and its sibling Rolemaster are table intensive and they look perfect. 5

True20 Quick Start Rules - Clean and uncluttered. Font seems a bit smaller then others, but looks very nice when viewed horizontally. 4

Kobold Quarterly #8 - This PDF converts exceptionally well. I may no longer need to subscribe to both print and PDF anymore  5

Points of Light Campaign Setting - Goodman Games - I'm not sure if its the light watermark art behind each page or if the font is smaller or both, but it isnt as easy to read as it could be. Held horizontal it looks much nicer. 3


I'll add to this list later. Remember, I'm just rating these PDFs on their suitability to be read on the Kindle DX. I'm not rating their value or worth as gaming products. That being said OSRIC is an amazing value and available for the unheard of price of FREE! Kobold Quarterly is what Dragon was back in the day with modern typsetting, making it a valauble addition to any gamers library.


----------



## tenkar (Jun 22, 2009)

I've got 2 more blog posts up with 7 more PDFs reviewed for Kindle DX usage.  I think I'll be diving into some of the free RPGs that are floating around next.

I have found that extremely large PDFs are awkward to flip thru.  I'm going to start bookmarking chapters and see if that helps.

No hyperlinking, but to be honest most PDFs I've looked at on my computer lacked that feature, so not having the ability in the Kindle DX is a shame, but not a noticable loss.


----------

