Tech Spotlight 5: Nintendo Labo: Innovative or Years Behind Its Time?

"It is an exciting evolution of the Nintendo Switch platform -- one designed to inspire curiosity, creativity and imagination in people of all ages,” as the Nintendo America CEO has stated. In just over a month, the popular and successful video game company, Nintendo, is releasing a new innovative and creative video game console accessory called the Nintendo Labo - a cardboard box. In all seriousness, despite being made out of cardboard, the Nintendo Labo is a cool way for a younger audience to be able to use their creativity to create different gadgets, called toy-cons. The Labo is planned to be released on April 20th of this year. Essentially, when you buy the labo, you get sheets of cardboard which are easily foldable and have markings that will allow you to easily form different toy-cons. Because it is designed to be paired with Nintendo’s gaming console called the Nintendo Switch, you will need the Switch to be able to have the full functionality of the Labo. The Switch will have instructions on how to build the different toy-cons. Some of these toy-cons that have been revealed so far include a mini-piano, and handles similar to that on a motorcycle, so you can use the handles in real life to steer in a racing game when playing on the Switch. After building a toy-con using the instructions on the switch, you put the Switch device into the slot of the toy-con, and the toy-con will be fully functional. The Labo starts at about $70, but there are other, separate expansion sets as well that may add to the cost.

    So far, there have been very mixed reviews. Some laugh at the idea of paying 70 dollars for, physically, cardboard. Most notably, famous Youtuber “NigaHiga” has made a video mocking how the Labo seems to be behind its time, as this ‘video game accessory’ requires you to use cardboard to build things -  and still costs $70. However, others do claim that the Labo is excellent because it encourages creativity and hands-on-experience for younger children. Despite having to build the toy-cons yourself, it is impressive and satisfying to see something, that was at first just a sheet of cardboard, ‘come to life’.  Because of the mixed reviews, people are unsure what to expect, but we are sure that many are anxious to see how successful this accessory becomes.

Author:

Ritik Sinha