Nintendo Announces Labo, A Range Of Interactive DIY Toys For Switch

dang, i was really hoping this would be something i was actually interested in

What

This was not expected! They totally just won me over!

This is such an inventive and unique way of allowing kids to express themselves, invent, build and play games all in one.

What creative genius Nintendo are!

This is borderline mental. So ridiculous I don't know what to think. Nintendo, please don't.

That was pretty cool

What... Even...

It's really adorable. In a heart warming way.

Ok....

Not for me thanks

Can't believe I've stayed up for this

This is pretty unexpected not sure what to feel right now haha.

@rjejr Hey, that is super cool. Not STEM but Maker. Edit: (Maybe both)

Launches April 20th in the US

That is so, so, so cool. It's not something I'll be using, as it falls pretty far outside of my interests, but the concept is just utterly brilliant. Feels like an evolution to their work with augmented reality and motion controls. Fascinating stuff!

Man I was hoping for Mother 3 and Metroid Prime 4 free on eshop tomorrow.

we got trolled so hard

They look like the boxes quarter pounders come in.

Wow..... yikes this looks... uhhh.... yea....

GameXplain speculated earlier that this is what it was going to be. Remember this story? I blame this kid for giving Nintendo the idea.

https://twitter.com/fraise_ama/status/846546754539479040

Edit: Plus, remember the Japanese were willing to buy Switch Splatoon 2 cardboard cases?

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/05/nintendo_is_selling_an_empty_splatoon_2_bundle_box_for_five_bucks_in_japan

Couldn't sleep and decided to watch the announcement after all. It was definitely something only Nintendo would do and I love it. I used to make all kinds of things out of cardboard when I was a child. I kind of want to try it out. But now it's time to sleep.

Project Giant Robot lives!

@thanosrexxx Hey, it was fake! Yay!

So a stupid gimmick then. Good one... Sarcasm.

I'm in, looks like fun! Also, GameXplain totally called it, lol

That was interesting. Never though that Switch can be played like in the trailer, especially that fishing segment.

It is STEM

I actually think this is pretty amazing. I would have absolutely loved this as a kid.

Mad.
What a brilliant idea.

I can't believe it, they're actually using the IR camera for something!

Okay... that is genuinely cool

Lools interesting but was expecting something else. Still seemed impressive to me

Hmmmmm. This is cool. As a person who goes to a STEM focused school, I approve.

Hah....

Nintendo's take on Google Cardboard.

I can see this get used in schools and stuff. Sure, it's not for us in the slightest, but imagine how many of these get sold next Christmas!?

Cardboard...peripherals...
Well, can't say i expected anything like that...
I mean, cute Idea overall but seriously...who else is seeing them selling grossly overpriced cardboard that is hard to get and gets torn up the second you use it ?

I's 100% Nintendo. Completely random, absolutely insane and it might actually work. But yeah...i really can't see that.
But at least this doesn't come at a time of drought, like plenty of "supposedly cool" WiiU announcements.

HAHAHAHA, and I can't wait to see so many people mad over this because they got too hyped.

This is really creative though. Looks fun. Doubt it will be worth its price though. I'll have to wait and see. Definitely follows interactive experience.

I've gotta say, I sighed and rolled my eyes when I saw the opening minute of the video. But the more it went on, the more I realised how genius this concept is, at least for kids. Nintendo are geniuses when it comes to innovation, and they've proved that here yet again - and the "hands on" article cements that further.

To think cardboard just made me emotional.

Oh this robot suit is awesome for children who want to go destroy the world. Now I can't wait to have children to make them go mental.

I’m totally getting one or more of these “build it yourself” awesome toys! It looks fun!

Amazing!

So weird, but hey, educational value!

Eh, WHAT ?!
A Cardbox as Hardware devices ??

What the heck is this.

It was a better announcement than I was expecting. It looks cool, but it's not really something I'm interested in buying.

Nope. Just nope. I love many things Nintendo does but this is just one big fat nope. For me anyway. Pass, next please.

This is for the kids as Nintendo expressly said earlier. Before y'all get mad try to remember not everything about the Switch is for you.

A great console should cater to everybody!

This is insanely brilliant

@River3636 I suppose it is. I think there's a wider "maker" net to this, though. So, the arts and crafts crowd will be into it as well.

Someone on the Switch Reddit made a fake leak saying that Nintendo were going to make 8-bit block sets of classic Nintendo characters, like Mario, Link, and Samus. These could be scanned in with the IR sensor for use in games. That got me excited. But this? I don't even think most kids nowadays want this.

I'll get it, build it and then watch my kids destroy it along with the Switch in a matter of seconds!

When I first saw the picture, my first reaction was "wtf are they thinking....." and then I watched the video! This is friggin' brilliant, and something that I am so stoked to bust out with my daughter!

well this was unexpected! I am not wild about it but hey I guess kids will?

Lol haha, that was pretty unexpected.

Looked pretty cool, but I'll probably have to see more of it first before indulging. It's might just be a very creative idea if Nintendo shows continues to show its potential down the road.

This is really adorable and unique. Not for the 27 year old me, but I can see kids LOVING this.

@PokeMario Haha, I know right? People are so damn entitled.

Ok, Nintendo just sold those 20M Switch they wanted.

When others zig, Nintendo zags.

Please Nintendo never change.

Only concerning thing as a parent is that I would be scared to let my kids out $300 of hardware in a cardboard contraption, buy my kids are only 3 and 6. Otherwise this would appeal to many parents in my community.

A bizarre and intriguing idea!
Too bad games are in the way, so I doubt I'll get this.

Huh... this actually looks really interesting, more than what I expected.

To those that don't like it, remember what this is intended for and if it can appeal to them - young kids. If it does its job, who are we to really judge? Games like Prime 4 and Zelda will still be there to scratch our itch for "core" experience, it's not like this is the only thing Nintendo's making (hopefully).

I'm sure I can already see the "core PS4/Xbox One" userbase making fun of this, but think of the demographic and what it's actually targeting first.

And as a college student who's over the peripheral nonsense of the Wii era, this actually looks pretty fun.

Absolute junk!! They put off proper software update and vc for some cardboard cutout nonsense. Terrible and will flop quicker than lego dimensions

@NinjaWaddleDee Saw that same fake leak and I much prefer this. Totally disagree with you about who would want it. Blew my son's mind. Mine, too.

Ha, so many people on here will get mad at this. But THIS is Nintendo. I have a son and I cannot wait to play with these with him. It looks like magic. This will certainly take Switch to while new levels.

I can't work out if this is genius or ridiculous, knowing Nintendo it's probably both. Kids will probably love it but how much will it cost and given that it's cardboard how long will they last?

I don't think that i will get this but i can see it being awesome for some families. It really depends on how deep the games will be, that would be my own fear ... that they might be a bit shallow.
But honestly it's kind of cool to see Project Giant Robot resurface in this way.

@aaronsullivan It is both, but kids will not realize it. As disappointed as I am. There is a genius to it.

@Late Same here, I used to make all kinds of crazy stuff out of cardboard boxes and various other scraps of cardboard. I would have loved something like this as a kid. As an adult with limited time and a deflated imagination, I'm not sure this resonates with me. It's definitely cool, though.

Oh gawd no.

I mean, it's a bit of a family tradition here that I get models to build at Christmas, and it always goes really well - until a snap a tab off or bend something I shouldn't and it's game over, and ruin the spirt of Christmas by inventing new and inventive swear words.

Actually this could be fun and rather brilliant... but not when being a Nintendo fan was finally gaining some credibility.

I just stared throughout the video not knowing what to make of it. And yet, I feel this has some real potential. It definitely has the potential to be one of the most imaginative "toys" out there. If the game segments are well crafted, this could take off.

@Roarsome Exactly, they may be famous for their games but at Heart, Nintendo is a Toy Company and they want people to experience new ways to have fun.

Haha crazy. Sign me up

Did they have a lot of leftover cardboard from all the unsold Wii U boxes or something...?

Really intriguing concept!

It's not for me, but this will definitely be great for kids. If it helps push kids towards using their imaginations and creativity, with a bit of educational value, then I'm all for it.

Will be interesting to see if this takes off. If it does, then this will help push the Switch a lot!

I hope they don’t invest too heavily into this. Between these cardboard... things, and Amiibos, it takes a lot of resources and I just want games. Regularly games. Like, traditional entries into their IPs. Not to be a downer. I just find this sorta... disappointing.

@SanderEvers

I may also be tempted!

This is such a Nintendo thing, i love it! Also, Project Giant Robot livet!

@rjejr Are you there? This has an interesting side mystery that you will enjoy having solved.

Man, does Nintendo know how to disappoint. There could be something brilliant here from a marketing perspective, but I'm clearly not the audience for it.

@RupeeClock : My feelings exactly. A set of accessories that can be repurposed or configured in different ways in order to enable these functions is something I would be interested in, but cheap and nasty (and no doubt overpriced) cardboard? Nah.

It's so weird, and so Nintendo at the same time. Not interested, but it's not for me obviously. I told you all not to have expectations high.

ok the rc cars and the robot thing look somewhat good but this looks crazy you should made a switch mini instead you could have made a vr thing with this

I'm concerned any gameplay experiences would come off as really shallow and gimmicky, but I can't help but be intrigued by this.

...how as a full grown man can I justify getting this?

My two eldest would love these.

Just read that the kits (one with 5 thingies, one with the robot thingy) will cost 70-80 bucks respectively.
Sorry, but HARD PASS.
Not for minigames and cardboard, im sorry.

@Tasuki This is almost nothing like any of those things, though. I can see this being much more interesting to kids than just a bunch of plastic figures that sit around doing nothing. It also gives people a lot of fun new ways to use the physical console itself. I can see that rc "car" thing being extremely popular, not just with kids. And the fact that it's all basically just cardboard and rubber bands should hopefully mean that it won't cost very much.

As the father of a 10 year old girl this is pretty damn cool. Can’t wait to spend time with her making these, playing and watching her learn.

@ShadJV You have nothing to worry about. Switch blew up into success on the back of Zelda Breath of the Wild. Nintendo knows that it can't abandon its fans that are into deeper game experiences and I actually think the teams are happy about that.

Meanwhile, Nintendo keeps pushing into territory no one else with their strength has. I don't want one without the other.

Ok, Nintendo surprised me first time in 20 years. I didn't expect that and i don't know what to make of it. Its not for me but for a kid? hell yeah

Never felt more justified in saying Nintendo is the best.

I'm always fascinated by the fact that it's a bunch of 40 year old Japanese dudes that are coming up with all this weirdness.

The official website has the variety pack listed as $69.99RRP in American dollars, so it's only $10 or more dollars than a regular game. And it comes with the cardboard, game, and a whole bunch of spare parts apparently (from the Labo website).

@Sam_Loser2 If the cost ends up being low enough, I might dabble in it. If they sold that rc car thingy as a standalone item for $20 or less, I'd probably buy it.

@SBandy
I agree. This is pretty interesting. Not necessarily for me, at least until the granddaughter gets a little older. But there is nothing wrong with this, as you say it is mainly aimed at kids. I don't see why people would get bent out of shape over it. I doubt very seriously that this took development time away from all of our hotly anticipated games.

Well that was garbage ...

We are going to pay $50 dollars for cardboard and you know we are.

@Einherjar Why? That is SO inexpensive compared to similar build-your-own kits. If you already have a Switch for gaming this is a much better value than competing stuff that has to include its own proprietary and often limited electronics without other purposes.

@Sam_Loser2 Simple, it's a model kit that interacts with your expensive gaming console... it's tech. Anything techy & fascinating gets a pass in grown-up world.

Seriously though, I was stunned & amazed by this - a lot of people will give it a pass because it's made of cardboard... to me that's a selling point BECAUSE I can build it myself & it uses really ingenious ways to use the Switch hardware.

Cardboard out of all things. Awful material, ugly and unsturdy. These things will undoubtedly be pricey as well. Even worse than amiibos, this.

Toys. Just when I thought Nintendo had grown up. 🐽

Splatoon in 2015, Mario Maker in 2016, ARMS in 2017, LABO in 2018. There'll still be a bunch of clowns slating Nintendo for not creating new IPs, when in reality they create more than any other single game company. Well done Nintendo, hope this goes well.

Brilliant, but underwhelming even after I lowered my standards.

Mental.

Well they succeeded with me. I had a grin on my face for the entire advert. This is flippin cool! Just showed it to a coworker who has a 5 year old and he was like "I need this, now!"

Considering the push to get kids building and programing as soon as possible and trying to make it fun, I think Nintendo is hitting a untapped need here as well. Way better than the edutainment I had as a kid.

I feel like this blurs a really cool line. Between imagination and making ordinary things extraordinary (toys and imagination) and being transported to a fantasy but pre rendered world (gaming). Considering that I was pretty much like Andy in Toy Story growing up I can't express how giddy looking at this advert made me. Day 1, Nintendo. Day 1.

So....your paying 70$ for..... cardboard. 🤨

@bolt05 It's clearly aimed at kids. So it's no more of a gimmick than any other toy that you might buy for a kid. By your logic, lego sets and model planes are gimmicks. And even if they are, who actually cares?

Unexpected, but a very cool concept. Not really something I'm interested in, but I love the idea. Very "Nintendo".

Not for me, yay for kids and those with them though. Hope Nintendo doesn't lose too much money on this if it doesn't take off....

@aaronsullivan maybe but remember Nintendo is one company. They only have so many resources and already have a lot of IPs to juggle. And they don’t have a track record of handling casual gamers and core gamers well at the same time. This feels like the Wii era now, which yes, they threw us core gamers a few bones but put a majority of resources in casual games like Wii Music, Wii Fit, and Wii Sports Resort.

@aaronsullivan Sorry, but no. Not by a long shot.
You pay 70-80 bucks for limited utility software and cardboard.
The software (other than the robot thingy) is nonsense you get on any appstore for free.
Get a piano app, build a cardboard piano and boom.
That is not worth 70 bucks, no matter how you spin it.

I don't really know how well something like this will sell. Firstly the console is still expensive, most parents won't buy this system for their kids. Then there is the price of this package, which I assume most kids will get bored of really quickly and move on.

I so so hope Nintendo aren't going to be spending so much of their resources on stuff like this in order to try capturing that "Wii crowd" again and just forget about the core gamers because, you know, third party will take care of them. I feel for the worse in the Switch's future.

@rdrunner1178

Exactly! My neice has been trying to learn how to play the piano and seeing this immediately made me think how I could connect with her.

This idea has great potential!

Oh my God.

Destroyed by cats and dogs everywhere... Mine would.

Still, inventive and fun, and very Nintendo. I'd have loved it as a kid. Wouldn't have been allowed it, but would have loved it.

That would want to be some quality cardboard, especially with kids handling it. Looks cool but im gonna have to pass.

I find it funny people are getting bend out of shape over this. NintendoLabo is aimed at kids after all.

I like this because it show future developers how easy it would be to back an add on for any game. Need to make a rail shoot, rap your game with cardboard that can be folded into a gun.

It's a funny and very unique idea.
The only thing that is more funny about it are the comments here of people that apperantly don't understand, that Nintendo caters to more people then just them.

Brilliant! My kids AND Me will love it! And knowing this is Nintendo, the games that is part of each kit will be great fun.

Lol i love this!

@diwdiws A bunch of different cardboard construction sets and a game? Sounds about right to me. People shell out billions of dollars every year for boxes full of cheap plastic lumps worth next to nothing that you snap together and set on a shelf to never be used again, but I don't see anyone complaining about that.

How strange and wondrous. I don't think it's really a product for me as a gamer in his 30's, but I do think that kids are going to absolutely love this stuff. It's really whimsical and charming.

You guys do realise that Nintendo is, first and foremost, a toy company?
Like, I'm not the only one who remembers that?

@Djgoa Yes, because Nintendo sat down and said "Okay, we can only make Nintendo Labo or VC and Switch Software update. Which is it?"

@zool To be fair, it's easy to be dismissive - (Playstation VR, an underselling kid's gimmick that failed in the 90's?) don't forget that Nintendo specifically stated this announcement was tailored for kids. If you were expecting a new Doom you were planning to be disappointed. I think this kind of thing will sell well to a lot of techy/nerdy adults as well as kids.

@Einherjar "The software (other than the robot thingy) is nonsense you get on any appstore for free."

They hardly even showed the software, so it seems extremely premature to judge its value.

Probably not for me(I'm content with all my Amiibos as far as accessories go), but this is a cool little concept. I can totally dig the uses of HD rumble and this will be attractive to kids and maybe even introduce some non-gamer kids to gaming.

And before people freak out, don't worry, we're still getting all the more hardcore games. Why can't Nintendo target both audiences? 1-2 Switch sold over a million copies and it's not even a pack-in title.

This is a sweet and rather original idea. A good way to let children express themselves and be creative with something simple like cardboard. They'll probably make a killing off of this and production costs would be very low.
I can think of a few kids in my life that would go bananas for something like this.

Nintendo:"We have found a way to make Cardboard fun as hell for Kids"
Random Guy:"Ya but just because you did something amazing with Cardboard and made it for kids doesn't mean Jack-S*** to me. So you should have never made it just because I don't like it"

This looks really cool!

@BAN Its a piano toy, a basic remote controlled "car", a fishing rod etc. What do you think those "games" will bring to the table ?
I think they showed more than enough to judge that it is in no way worth 70 bucks.

Toys-to-life so last season? How about modeling-kits-to-life? Nintendo isn't intent on losing their ability to surprise people. XD

I don't see myself getting this stuff anytime soon (it's all obviously best used indoors), but the concept and the initial lineup is positively impressive! /)(^3^)( Although if some people called Joy-Cons and IR camera "gimmicks" a year ago, I just pray they won't have a seizure now. :V

@jeggyresti thats on all of you crazy people hyping up every announcement Nintendo does.

I freaking love this, I expected nothing and got something really fun, creative and out of the box in return.

Have you seen the prices?

For cardboard? Yikes!

There's a verge story with comments under it where commenters are just talking about how it's only cardboard and maybe you can scan it and pirate it and Nintendo is charging $80 for cardboard, because it's just cardboard and string, that's all it is.

Sometimes ... just ... sigh ... people.

I am confused with this announcement...
Its BASICALLY a set of cardboard pieces.

(I am not a Nintendo hater in any way as I have MANY Nintendo games and stuff)

Just discounting the included game, that's STILL the price OF a game for what seems to be simply a set of cardboard pieces?...

I am very confused indeed.

@Tasuki With Lego dimensions you assembled some stuff, scanned it into a game, and then it just sat there. It was the same lego experience you could get on the toy aisle but much more expensive. It's pretty easy to see why it fizzled. This labo thing looks significantly more involved on the construction end, and then you actually physically play with/interact with the things you build. It's not the same as those other products beyond superficial discriptive terms. Just my take on it, though.

Probably not going to pick this up for myself, but holy sweet petunias would I have been ALL OVER this as a kid. Especially when it comes to breaking out of the standard applications and just messing with it.

Honestly, I think this is the EXACT thing that Nintendo needs to get the Switch "into the hands of people who barely touch videogames" as Kimishima stated as a goal for 2018. Libraries, schools, and tech-y parents are going to be all over this. And the fact that a ton of sales will be the result can't possibly hurt the horizon for seeing more and better games ported to/published on the Switch.

I hope this does well.

@Tasuki You say that, but the Toy to Life stuff was more than long enough on the market, for people to have fun with it while it lasted and the publishers making a lot of money off it.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE And software that responds to carefully constructed parts in specific ways. The piano doesn't play music with "just cardboard", when you make the motorcycle, it plays the software that comes with it, same with fishing. I don't know why people ignore this? Or maybe are willfully blind to it? I'm confused about the confusion.

@Alundra-1998 With some very clever design. Don't make out like I could give you a piece of cardboard and you could make a piano from it!

Cool! Kids could love this. It’s a bit pricey for me though, and my kid is too young anyway.

@aaronsullivan I was wondering where everybody went, you all jumped ship on me.

Go look at the STEM stuff on Amazon, this qualifies, especially for little kids. Isn't "maker" a subset of STEM, the engineering part b/c you are building things?

Not saying I was right about Nintendog Aibo, this is way different that that, but watch the Internet, STEM will pop up, this may even be on the STEM section of Amazon.

Labo. I still can't say it out loud with a straight face. Labo. I just can't. Its
halfway to a Seinfeld joke about a girl named Dolores. Besides the stupid name - better than Wii - I whole heartedly approve. Except on the price, way too expensive for cardboard. But priced right for STEM. 😎

Crazy, but i want it

@SLIGEACH_EIRE I'm sure most of that cost is going toward the software included in the kit, so no, it's clearly not just "for cardboard."

@Kienda ... Still can't tell if serious or not.

This is such an interesting and creative way for kids to play...

Let's see what 14 year-olds in their basement think of this in the comments.

This has Nintendo written all over it. I'd want to try it out of curiosity, but since I don't have any kids I don't think the amount of use it would get would justify the price

Batship crazy and wonderful. Bravo.

Also ya it seems like the first set comes with like 6 games while also including the materials, which make sense. But I have no idea why the second set is 70$. I still think that's what Project Giant Robot ended up becoming after it was canceled on WiiU.

@GrailUK @Alundra-1998
And it's printed, perforated, and has detailed instructions, and explains how it works in the software, and has string and grommets and other parts, and why would you discount the software, again?

Wow pricy! £60 & £80
Good it's card not plastic.
Good for 5-10 year olds.

Revolutionary.

No thanks!!

@patbacknitro Answered your own question, right? I mean, it's a bigger set and more complicated. Have you seen inside the back? And it plays a more in-depth game that has been developed over a long period of time.

Thanks Nintendo but I'd rather keep my embarrassing hands-free Switch holder. It's less embarrassing.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE For the software, cardboard & everything else in the pack. It's kind of hard to shoot down the price before we know what's included on the game cart as there could be more than a full games worth of play in there.

Heck, it's worth $10 right away just to have something to use the IR Camera for other than pretending to eat sandwiches with.

I have a 7 year old daughter who will lose her mind when I show her this in the morning.

@SBandy yes but resources dedicated to this, especially for a company as small as Nintendo, are resources not dedicated to something that does pique our interests.

Meh, Nintendo gonna Nintendo I guess.

goes back to RE7 on my Xbox

this is not my cup of tea and I hope they don't try to shove it down our throats like amiibo. one thing I see here is that this is gonna be highly collectable in 15 20 years, might get it just for that but I doubt it

@aaronsullivan Like I said, the second set looks like it is what Project Giant Robot was meant to be. And if it is a fully fleshed out Nintendo game then I say it would be worth what their charging for it. But still I will need to see more about what the games themselves offer first before its clear on the games worth.

@Einherjar Who knows? That's my point. We don't know what else is in the games. But you know how Nintendo are really good at making video games, right? So it just seems like a no-brainer that you should withhold your total condemnation until we ACTUALLY SEE what's in the games.

The whole point of this ad is to show off the construction side of the product, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that the game side is much more robust than the generic "piano app" you're imagining it to be. But hey, definitely don't buy it if you don't like it. No one's forcing you to throw your money at it.

@rjejr You kind of have to say Nintendo Labo for it to sound right. Labo alone does sound pretty silly.

As for cardboard, I'm glad you added priced right for STEM because that is part of the point, but the software is doing plenty here and people seem to be ignoring that.

I'm done defending it, though, I'm just going to buy it and play with it.

@patbacknitro "the second set looks like it is what Project Giant Robot was meant to be."

That's exactly what I thought. I wonder if this came from that.

8-year old me would DESTROY the robot suit in a matter of minutes!

@gatorboi352 @ShadJV @Djgoa Assuming these numbers are worldwide (pulled off Nintendo Japan's company profile)

Number of Employees
Number of consolidated employees 5,458 (as of the end of September 2017)
Number of independent employees 2,189 (as of the end of September 2017)

That should be enough resources to handle both VC and Labo as long as we're not overstating how many people are really required to do these jobs. I say, 10 for VC, 15-20 for Labo, not including publishing, legal, and inventory and shipping/receiving for Labo because those would all be rolled into Nintendo's logistics.

Well that's... interesting.

I actually might try the variety set lol

Anyway, it's a totally separate thing, I'm glad to see. <fingers crossed> this should have no effect of the "main" experience of the Switch itself, totally peripheral. Hopefully. lol

@NinjaWaddleDee I saw that "leak" too and was kinda disappointed because it seemed true and cool but nothing really new... but this is just another level of awesome! Absolutely love it. Can't wait to use it with my daughter!

@BAN Well Miyamoto really loved that game, so I bet he ended up recycling the ideas for this stuff.

@aaronsullivan @GrailUK Why am I getting hated by you and Grail?
I am a massive fan of Nintendo. Many games, every single amiibo released to date, but I don't understand this...

What I mean by discounting the game is that games are usually about $40.00 and £40.00 and so that if it's $80.00 or £80.00, then it just means £40.00 and $40.00 for some cardboard craft pieces.

Nintendo employee: "What do we do with all the unsold Wii U boxes??"
Kimishima: "Sell them"
NIntendo employee: "How??"
Kimishima: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Bd3HUMkyU

@Sam_Loser2

Easy, have a kid! I have a four year old, and she is going to love this!

Wut 0_o

@gatorboi352

Yeah but you hate Nintendo as evidenced by the vast majority of your posts so who cares about you?

Nintendo has always been a family company and made it clear this announcement was for the younger crowd. Go play your Xbox........who cares?

I work in commercial printing (and actually do some covers for Nintendo).

Everyone underestimates just how much printing/manufacture costs. The cardboard and ink itself is a large part, but so is the cost of intricate perforated die-cutting.

If release date would be set to April 1 it would have much more sense..

THIS. IS. FRICKIN'. GENUIS. I'm predicting Nintendo are going to have HUGE success with this. Heck I'd buy one just to discover how it will all work. What I don't get though is how kid's are going to make their own stuff. Cos there gonna wanna. I'm already thinking about how you could make a ghostbuster/Luigi Mansion pac, or a holla hoop balance game, or a space asteroid avoidance suit, or a space hoper thing or a nerf-gun thing, or a DJ mix board, or a zero gravity game, or a tail waging cat suit and on and on - whatever. BUT they would need some kinda creation software for that - like Mario maker but with a draw your own elements and objects type thing. THIS. IS. FRICKIN'. GENIUS. If you don't get it, then your thinking of yourself only - not kids. I'm an adult and personally don't want all that stuff around my room - BUT man, I'm tempted to play just once. JUST ONE GO... Well done Nintendo. You are the true creatives of this market. You are the music makers, and you are the dreamers of dreams. Kudos and best of luck. This will put smiles on faces.

@JamesR couldn’t agree more!

Very interesting!!, we will probably see more things with this new Nintendo project!

Well, pity of those who feel disappointed, but, I never expect something with high expectations, because at the end of the day, this is "entertainment for all", and welcome! ^.^

This definitely ain't for me. But imagine some wild creative gets a hold of this for their cosplay is going to mindblow.

Another funny thing about it is, even if it were to flop... So? Nintendo pretty much just has to throw away some cardboard, they can practically not lose with this.

@Kienda yes i am. thank you

@BAN They are also really good at wasting potential left and right.
And 70 bucks for easily breakable toys is wasted potential in my book.
Imo, its a similar situation as with 1.2.Switch. A perfect utility to sell their new (and arguably impressive) 3D Rumble gimmick...and no one cared because it was grossly overpriced.

I love the Idea of Labo and i simply don't want to see it fail into the same pit.

@electrolite77 Again, what do you think a remote control app for an "RC Car", a cardboard Piano or a fishing rod will bring to the table ? A full lesson to learn the piano, even though half the keys are missing ? Something akin to Anki Drive for the RC Car ?

Like i said above, it reminds me of 1.2.Switch which crashed and burned due to its asking price.
70 bucks for cardboard toys and utility software is just ridiculous.

I do get the robot thingy. That actually looks like a game and was probably put together from the scraps of Miyamotos WiiU project.

But the other thing ? That just screams of free software and a 30 bucks pack of cardboard to me. Im sorry.

Definitely a nice surprise. Really cool concept, and I can't wait to try it!

I wish I was a kid again so I could play this.

@gatorboi352 "resources dedicated to this, especially for a company as small as Nintendo, are resources not dedicated to something that does pique our interests."

Wait. What? How are you coming to the conlusion that Nintendo are "small"? By what metric? They have a market cap that fluctuates between equalling and exceeding Sony's. They're one of the largest companies in Japan, and certainly in the entirety gaming industry. They have more "resources" than nearly all other gaming companies, are the most financially viable company in Japan, and they have more liquid cash than most gaming companies are worth. Nintendo do things like this specifically because they have the resources and bandwidth to do them IN ADDITION to their core game development.

Soooo yeah. That's just a weird angle of attack for just complaining about products that you don't personally like.

For those who are complaining about this, I have this to offer:

The first year was about building the core audience. You got Zelda, one of the best Mario’s, the definitive Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2, Xenoblade 2, Rabbids and Mario, Skyrim, Doom, and mounds of great indie games. Even this year, you’re getting Bayonetta, (maybe) Metroid Prime 4, Dark Souls Remaster, Wolfenstein, Mega Man 11, Octopath, and whatever else Nintendo has yet to announce. You should applaud announcements like these because do you know how many Switch’s this is going to sell? Do you know how many of those people buying it are parents who are also gamers? It’s about the bigger picture. The Switch is quickly becoming a console that offers experiences for everyone, and I think that first year proved that.

Don’t worry, you’ll get your games. As a parent, I welcome anything that can get my daughter into gaming!

@reali-tglitch Cool for sharing that perspective. I think, in general, consumers underestimate the complexity and cost of all manufacturing.

The pain points of so many processes are completely hidden from consumers. In their mind it only takes a day or two to get to their home from Amazon so how hard can it be? And cardboard boxes are a dime a dozen so it must be easy/cheap. Happens with devices like game consoles and smartphones, people expecting that they are making last minute design changes a week or two before release when the company has been stockpiling millions of devices over the entire previous 10 months.

Anyway, I don't actually know that much about manufacturing, just enough to be grounded and appreciate it. But, do preach it.

@Einherjar Oh boy. Well, I can see that my common-sense point is either going over your head or you're just intentionally ignoring it. Either way, there's no point in arguing about it, so I'm moving on. We'll just have to see how it goes once they reveal more info on it. If you end up being right, then that's fine.

Love the concept! This could really show what the IR camera can do! I think I'm gonna buy one of these when they release if I have the expendable cash.

@SBandy I always try to just ignore gatorboi but man he gets under my skin. He's that type of troll where you know he's just going out of his way to irritate people but you also know he genuinely cares about and believes in the crap he dumps here, so it's hard to just brush it off.

@Alundra-1998 did they announce prices?

yeah 80$ is too much. Very expensive toys. Nonetheless impressive ones

@Alundra-1998 Not hating. I don't understand your prices though. The small ones are $70 and games are $60 in the US. The robot one with ostensibly the deeper game and more complex parts is $80 and games are $60. So I'm seeing a $10 and $20 difference.

You commented right after I posted complaining about people saying "it's just cardboard" and I was already a bit exasperated about it (as much as you can be while typing lol) so I might have come off harsh, but I'm just trying to balance and fill in some details.

@electrolite77 Exactly. In case this kind of genre of product is reaching for the games giant, they can just put out a subcontract, or in this case create more 'independent' employees. And that independent employee count can go up and down like a roller coaster as needs arise and are met.

@electrolite77 What he means is, "my expectations trolled me." People need to stop blaming companies for not being able to read minds and cater to the fantasies and expectations of every single customer they have.

I love it! It surely was exactly what they advertised. A new kind of interactive experience especially aimed at kids.
And boy what a genius move this is!

All I'm gonna say is people initially dismissed both the DS and the Wii and we all know the impact that had on Nintendo's bank balance.

I remain slightly optimistic, I mean its not like Nintendo are betting the farm on this endeavour and traditional games are likely to continue. They just like to branch out to cover a large market. And for that I say Good On Them. Their visions aren't just limited to the "Unmoveable Nintendo Traditionalist".

@BAN @gaterboi352 "resources dedicated to this, especially for a company as small as Nintendo, are resources not dedicated to something that does pique our interests."

The only part of this I have to disagree with is the bit about piquing our interests... that assumes that most people have the same opinion as yourself. Looks like a lot of people (including myself) love this idea. We're peak piqued!!

@Alundra-1998 I don't know what most games sell for in the UK, but in the US all the big ones sell for $60, not $40. 3DS games are $40, so maybe that's what you're thinking of?

@rjejr
You think Labo is a problem...
Toy-con is the shortcut name for toy controller/construction and a play on words with Joy-con I assume, but... you know... con might not look good next to the high price. Looks like the boxes will be pretty big though, which will help, psychologically.

@BanjoPickles Yup, my words exactly. The timing is impeccable. A strong library already, more on the doorstep, no drought in sight.
Its a brilliant side project.

@BAN What common sense part ? I say its utility software with limited usage outside of easily breakable cardboard toys and you you say its going to be "games"...
Of cause we have to see how it goes. That doesn't turn a 70 bucks pricetag for cardboard toys into peanuts. A similar price to games with several hundred hours of playtime.

@electrolite77 are there launch window sales available ? Because the thing goes for 10 bucks around here by now. 2 friend of mine, both working at different retailers said they still have launch week cartons in stock, since they simply couldn't sell these things.
Anyways, my point is: Brilliant idea, hopefully not wasted by an inflated pricetag.

Definitely interesting, but I'm definitely not interested. I may get one or two cool sets if they make some, but not going to collect. It's definitely a niche product directed at kids and creativity, so if you judge it based on that, it seems pretty cool. I highly doubt they plan on this being a huge seller unless schools decide to pick it up for learning experiments.

Keep in mind, they didn't make any announcements or hype leading up to this. So if you're all disappointed, that's your own fault.

Do people seriously think Nintendo stopped working on the Virtual Console or Metroid Prime 4 for this? This is clearly a small project that Nintendo managed to get to market with how successful the Switch has become. Nintendo are clearly not abandoning hardcore gaming for cardboard.

As a Dad to a 10 year old boy, I know he will love this. We've bought a lot of these kind of educational toys and the price is always quite high. The quality of the software here seems to be much better than the competitors.

@DanteSolablood @BAN @gaterboi352
For people worried about Nintendo teams working on this rather than other games, this is very likely the 1-2 Switch team that did a big part of this, and this is going to hit a more defined and enthusiastic audience of parents trying to give their kids constructive projects that are also fun.

@BAN I am confused to be totally honest with you. xD
I merely guessed $40.00 as I saw around 30 games on GameStop for $39.99 the other day and I thought that was the average price.

@BAN @Alundra-1998 I think that might have been intended as $60 and £40, as that's roughly the cost of games (and the currency conversion)... though games in the UK are starting to hit £50+, especially on the Switch.

Edit: Okay, that was meant to be $40. I watch enough Jim Sterling to know about Sixty Dollar Triple A titles in the US.

@aaronsullivan I wholeheartedly agree, that does sound like the right team for this. I think my main concern was the usual I don't like this, therefore no one will mentality. That's how a console gets stuck with mostly FPS' and nothing much else coughinsertxboxjokehere

@JamesR Agreed with everything accept the suggestion this is a small project. I think this is pretty big and outside Nintendo's wheelhouse in some ways. You have the project Robo work feeding into it from long ago, but there is always a team for these long shot out-there projects at Nintendo. Mario Paint on the SNES is the first obvious one I can think of. It's not a big diversion, plus if this is the 1-2 Switch team, like I think it may be, this is a better use of their time, in my estimation.

@electrolite77 Huh, interesting to see, thanks for that. Underestimated the thing.

I know exactly what Sony's reply to this product will be. XD
Sony Entertainment presents... Sony Crafto.

This is really innovative.

It's kind of mind blowing seeing how far they can stretch the technology in this little device. It's so cool seeing those cardboard piano keys actually play notes... Wow.

@aaronsullivan
1 Nintendo always has a team or two working on more casual focused games. There is not one Nintendo console/handheld in existence that's exempt from this fact. If it wasn't this, it would have been Switch n Play or Switch Music.

2 The actual resources needed to develop this is small. It's totally creative, no doubt, but once the concept was finalized, I can't imagine it took much to actually develop the software

@rjejr
Project Giant Robot lives!

Did you see it? The robot game? It lives! And you thought Giant Robot was vaporware... ha!

@Einherjar The common-sense principle of "don't make assumptions about things that you know practically nothing about." How is this concept so difficult for you? It's a little depressing to see people have such a hard time with the notion of not jumping to conclusions. It's a very simple premise, and the world is generally better when people observe it and incorporate it into their decision making.

@aaronsullivan I just went with what seem to be the average prices to be fair.

Mind blown... a little disbelief at first, but utterly amazing as a concept and an example of creatively complex simplicity. Sadly, as an adult, I will be giving this an initial pass, unless say, there's a nice perk/incentive for me to utilize it (foot pedal concept was interesting for racing games at least). The kid in me though would have LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this back in my childhood. I'm not writing this off, nor am I going to make wild predictions, but I'm interested to see Nintendo's next move on this all the same.

I get to live out my childhood dream of being a Transformer. Any other arguments are invalid!

It looks great fun. Will have to see what my kids make of it tomorrow.

Releases on 4/20. That explains where Nintendo gets its creativity.

@BAN

Cheers, I do not want to get into a whole thing about it but I do not disagree with what you said lol!

Id rather they didnt tease about this xD

@aaronsullivan personally I think the (free) coverage this will generate in the press means Nintendo Labo will have been a good return on investment even before a single set has been sold.

@JaxonH Hmm... interesting how you aren't the only one saying this is a small project. I disagree. Making this type of stuff work with the IR sensor with cardboard built stuff (by kids) that won't be as precise as you'd like, is a different job than the usual software development. When something is outside of regular practice it all takes ten times longer because of experimentation and extra effort needed.

The thing is this is more like a platform of sorts, and the "final concept" is not one but 6 projects. I mean the little smart Hexbug things were a simple one, maybe, but there's quite a bit going on in the other projects.

It helps that Project Giant Robo has been going on for a very long time already, but that isn't a small project, just one they've already invested a bunch of resources in.

Anyway, I don't really know how big the project is, but I think it's much bigger than "small".

@BAN what? As an avid model kit enthusiast i take offense on comparing accurate and detailed pla kits (which costs 20-50$ in average) to a cardboard piano which costs 70$ and which will likely desintegrate within days or weeks from use.

This RG Astray cost me around 40$ including the paint i used. https://i.imgur.com/rMvDAHO.jpg

But if you want it it will be 6 months before it’s available in stores. Scalpers will like it. That or Nintendo will discontinue it after 6 months.

@aaronsullivan
I'm not claiming it takes three guys in a garage to make.

But if you compare the sheer man power and work hours needed to make something like this versus a modern AAA game...It's not even remotely comparable.

The biggest work involved with something like this is the concept itself. Once they figure out what they want to do, they just contract a company to come up with the foldable shapes, and make a companion mini game for it.

@BAN So, without jumping to conclusions, we have software we "know practically nothing about", cardboard and a pack of rubber bands for 70 bucks.

I can think of a lot of educational toys for that money which will last quite a lot longer...

The conclusion i came to "without knowing practically anything" is that the price is too high for cardboard toys, no matter what.
Little brother touches it with messy hands = gone
The kid stumbles = gone
Etc.
But you're right. We're spinning in circles. Let' continue this one the stuff is actually out

I'm actually super down for this idea. It's such a smart way to handle peripherals without wasting a ton of plastic that will inevitably be junked or traded in for pennies.

The prices give me pause, but I assume that accounts for the game price itself and that future packs will be stand-alone and cheaper.

""Our goal is to put smiles on the faces of everyone Nintendo touches""...yeah and also to discourage all the hardcore players who have planned to buy Switch

Maybe I am not 26 but 62 by saying this, but I don't think kids these days play with toys like previous generations did. From what I have seen and heard, most parents just give their 5 year olds and iPad and call it done.

But this is Nintendo, and creativity usually sparks people's interest. I don't want this for myself, but will be interested to hear how well it sells.

@diwdiws Just to check, did your RG Astray (one of my favourite Gundams BTW ) come with a game cart? I know it's easy to jump on the WUT?!?! CARDBOARD FOR $70 line, but don't forget that a development team will have spent a long time working out a lot of GENUINELY innovative ideas to put this package together.

Think of it this way, saying the cardboard isn't worth $70 is like saying the waterslide decals in a PG Unicorn aren't worth $300.

@Heavyarms55 Oddly enough, I know my niece and nephews would love this - it's a balance. While children nowadays do love their tablets & consoles, they still make time for building kits etc. Shannon (12) will drop Minecraft instantly to feed her guinea pigs & Xander (8) can spend hours learning new magic tricks from his kits.

At times I feel like Nintendo neglects there adult consumers

@reali-tglitch I work on the advertising side and have had to work on boxes and packaging myself over the years, there's some seriously good cardboard engineering going on here.

at least you could recycle it I suppose.....ha ha.

It's amazingly hilarious how the negative comments about this have no substance. If you were still a kid and this came out you wouldn't like it? Sorry your childhood sucked so much.

Wait....do people seriously think this is going to affect software development and such??? How so?

"Teh hardcore gamerz" need to realize that they're not the only audience.

@aaronsullivan Nintendo gonna Nintendo...

@BanjoPickles Great points. And that means more and better games for adults are guaranteed to come directly BECAUSE of this product. Because the more people with a reason to buy a switch the bigger install base and that means more games from Nintendo and DEFINITELY more third party support. The games WE want to play are going to exist in greater abundance because of this product set.

What so many aren't seeing is this has actually guaranteed long team success for this console - if it wasn't already there. Gamers will get this for there kids, and as justification to get a switch in the house for themselves - those kids then become switch gamers in the traditional sense...etc. Nintendo then has far more reasons to produce Mario Odyssey 2, PilotWings 3, Pikmin 4, Mario Strikers Switch, a decent StarFox, new IP's and major Third Party producers will HAVE to include Switch in their plans - for business reasons they'll have no choice and may even start producing for Switch first and then optimising UP for the other 2 consoles as a secondary aspect! Imagine if most developers are thinking Switch first - so we no longer have the compromised version. It actually could happen now. I didn't think Nintendo could be here again - but they could
now become the main console of the current generation again - and this is a huge part of it. This is a win win for ALL switch gamers and if anyone doesn't see it and just thinks - but where are my extra 12 new so called 'mature' games announced Nintendo? - boy you are missing the big picture - cos you'll actually get them now.

@gloom If you're an adult, you might be able to do whatever you want. So... you can play that. Though... I don't think I'll be able to climb into that robot suit myself, just due to size... which makes me a little bit sad.

@gatorboi352 Nintendo a small company? Lol I’m pretty sure they’ve got more money then we’ll ever know my dude enjoy your Xbox time

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Commercial printing is expensive (source: worked in commercial printing for almost 4 years, now, and even do prints for Nintendo). There's the cardboard, ink, and especially the custom dies for perforating the special shapes needed for this. Plus it comes with the software.

People always underestimate just how much printing costs.

The price is justified.

@Mgene15 ummm I’m pretty sure this is the first strictly kid orientated thing they’ve announced since the switch released but ok

@WiltonRoots Love to know that other people actually can grasp the pricing concept, here.

@JaxonH No, I didnt think Project Giant Robot was vaporware, I spent a lot of time fighting w/ Q trying to explain to him that it was in fact a thing that Nitneod kept saying was coming out but was just going to be delayed years like The Last Guardian. Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been vaporware since 2009 and I'm still not convinced it isn't.

This looks good, glad you're excited since you're one of the childless among us, you've always been young at heart though. Not sure when we'll get it Day 1, you know me and money, but I'm expecting this to be all the rage on sale BF week.

@Mii_duck Oh you are sooo getting me this for Christmas. Start saving now. I'll build it. We have plenty of tape for tabs that tear off and The Boo will love it. You can carry on with your credibility, we'll be the ones having fun. And anyway, Mr Engineer, doesn't it make you wanna see what you can do with a Switch and a bunch of Amazon boxes?

@JamesR I kno right, people without kids just don’t get it lol stuff is so expensive. I’ll be buying that damn robot kit to build with my seven year old tho and he’ll love every second of it then my wife will catch me dressed like a robot one night and that’ll be interesting lol

@Mgene15 This is obviously not the time, though, right? After all the things Nintendo has been announcing and doing? Zelda - game of the year. Mario critically acclaimed. Promised Metroid Prime 4 and Bayonetta 3. Doom highly promoted, Wolfenstein 2 on its way, Skyrim, Dark Souls. I would hope that Nintendo simply releasing something awesome for kids and their (adult) parents isn't making you feel like Nintendo neglects their adult audience.

@BlackenedHalo "..yeah and also to discourage all the hardcore players who have planned to buy Switch"

I highly doubt this will discourage any hardcore gamers, there are kids games & accessories on all platforms. The real thing that discourages hardcore gamers is the lack of hardcore games - something that could be helped by Nintendo expanding their user base.

Kids of today are the hardcore games of tomorrow (parents of kids of today could also be hardcore gamers of roday ).

@jeggyresti if nearly every single nes article pointed out this was ment for kids before it air you only have yourself to blame. Personally I think it’s awesome

Sees headline. MEH
Watches video. OMG THIS IS AMAZING

It seems only Nintendo can create this sense of wonder and transport me back to my childhood. What a great video! Definitely something to share in future design classes. Bravo Nintendo!

For the first few seconds of the video, I thought 'oh, no'. But as I kept watching, a smile slowly formed, and by the end, I was sold. My daughter will flip over this when she's a tad older ... and I can't wait!

@Bondi_Surfer same here! It really perked me up. I can imagine my nephews and nieces going nuts over this. (Heck, I might even give it a try myself!)

@reali-tglitch The price is justified.

Thanks for the write-up. I dont' knwo anything about cardbaord printing costs, but I knwo that PS Move cost $50, the PS4 camera cost $60, the Kinect camera used to cost $150, so $60, $70 or $80 for this, parts to put toegether and the software, is cheap.

Lego Dimensions starter pack - $100. Skylanders starter packs were $80 or $100 depending on bundle.

$70 for a 5 pack of props and games is not expensive.

Wii Balance Board $80. And it sold 42 million. FORTY TWO MILLION.

$70 or $80 may look expensive for cardboard, but it's a building set, a game or 2 or 3, like the PS4 camera VR Worlds pack in. We dont' need an extra camera or Move or Wonderbook or balance board, it's a game and peripherals all in 1. The price is fine.

This is such an innovative and creative idea on Nintendo’s part! I really hope it does well but I don’t see any children buying these. Children nowadays are too glued to their smartphones and iPads to do DIY projects lol. But it’s cool nonetheless.

These are amazing. Labo is gonna destroy Christmas 2018.

Not for me personally (though as a kid I'd have eaten up the idea of a wearable "robot" suit) but this is a great idea. Nintendo go back to their roots and likely to catch all sorts of kids with this one. GG.

Nintendoomers on the Switch: "It's not what I was expecting, it's too expensive, everyone will hate it despite all the people saying they love it and it'll fail."

Nintendoomers on Labo: "It's not what I was expecting, it's too expensive, everyone will hate it despite all the people saying they love it and it'll fail."

Lets hope the Nintendoomers are just as spot-on as always.

@Lugia That's up to the parents to break them of, if they care to. This is a tool for which to do that, if they think it's valuable.

@DizziParadise - you are just looking forward to watching me calmly build something, then the usual eruption of "it's too xxxxing fiddly and I've snapped a tab off", followed by me handing it to you to finish!

@aaronsullivan I agree. Show this to almost any parents who happen to have kids around the age of ten and I think it'll go over well. Fortunately for Nintendo, the average cynical commentor on internet gaming sites are not their target audience with this one.

Switch owners with kids under ten will immediately see the point of this & buy it, Switch owners without kids will have kids just so they can play it, non-switch owners with kids will want it too. The people who can't see the appeal will just complain about being asked to pay $80 for some cardboard, while not understanding that a 7 year old kid will get more out of this (entertainment/educational value) than the majority of equally expensive & overpriced plastic/electronic junk they normally get bought for Christmas. Maybe anyway.

@ReifuTD Good point about third party developers adding things like this to games... it wouldn't be out of the question for Nintendo to continue adding kits that are optional for their other games. For instance, the new Yoshi game. (I don't know if it could happen right away, but WHAT an opportunity as the whole game is cardboard cutouts).

But seeing that acceleration pedal... I might buy that to have some fun with Mario Kart... so much potential there.

@rjejr
Odds on Yoshi not being shown at Nintendo Direct Mini because it actually has a Nintendo Labo tie-in to go with it released later in the year? I'd say there's a decent chance, but maybe a bit too early. Also, why wouldn't it have been included in this video?

@brunojenso

I couldn’t have said it better myself! Do you know what game got me into gaming, thirty-three years ago? E.T. (Yeah, THAT E.T.). It created a life-long gamer who has spent THOUSANDS of dollars (I do have other hobbies as well, I promise. Lol), that one crappy game! Labo, I’m sure, will be a much higher quality product, and it’s a great introduction for kids! I love the core games, but they’re too complicated for her, and I want to share this with her (hearing her ask “can we play Super Nintendo” is music to my ears).

I mean, in less than one year, the Switch is becoming the most diverse console that they have had in ages! Name me one genre that isn’t represented:

Sandbox (LEGO City)
Platforming (Mario Odyssey, Rayman)
JRPG’s (Xenoblade, the upcoming Octopath)
Racing (Fast Racing Neo, Mario Kart)
Western RPG’s (Skyrim)
FPS (Doom, Skyrim)
Classics (the ACA line)
Shmupps (Gunbird, Strikers 1945, Pulstar)
Action RPG’s (Breath of the W——-

You get the point.

Would I like to finally see Virtual Console? It’s my most wanted feature, so absolutely, but I am running out of things to be disappointed by. It’s the closest that Nintendo has come to creating a console experience for everybody!

Like I said, you’ll get your games. In-between, though, let’s also help to create the next generation of gamers.

@aaronsullivan Labo add-ons to existing/future games? That's a fantastic idea! Just some of the ideas shown already could apply to games easily... but the idea of a Labo Pokémon Stadium is starting to make me excited.

@diwdiws Clearly I am not talking about your hyper-detailed adult-oriented model kits that take hundreds of hours to sit and glue and paint. I'm talking about the cheap snap-together kits that kids put together. Hence, my grouping them- specifically and exclusively in the context of this conversation about construction toys for kids-
with things like lego sets and this Nintendo product. Can you really not deduce that from what I said? If not, then replace "model kits" with literally any other construction playset geared toward children and the point is the same.

Context is extremely important here. We're not on some model-building forum for hardcore enthusiasts like yourself who take models extremely seriously. We're in the comments of a gaming site on a story about a construction playset which is designed primarily for people under the age of 18, so I shouldn't have to explain the obvious fact that my comments are framed in those terms. So you can relax, your very serious hobby is super legit and safe from all criticism.

Also, I am 100% confident that these things will last significantly longer than "days or weeks." But I'm sure you already know that. If not, perhaps try to get your hands on some of the cardboard construction products that already exist. They're not at all like the flimsy pizza box cardboard you seem to be thinking of. It's pretty heavy duty stuff and it lasts longer than most kids' interest and attention span would ever require.

It's totally Nintendo, and it's totally brilliant. Kids all over the world are going to go mental with all this stuff, and so are people who are still kids at heart, exactly like Nintendo said.

Simply brilliant.

@DanteSolablood Some great comments, especially #268...

@Mii_duck @DizziParadise If that isn't true love, then I don't know what is... so cute...

Well....

While I'm personally not interesting, I can see it appealing to the younger demographic, children that are still in the time of discovering and imagining here, or for people that may be enthusiast. Specially for children it is a nice way of replacing "casual" games, and giving them more options. Plus, it allows them to play with everyone - expanding AR - than isolating them with VR.

Other point in favor is that it takes advantage of all the ecological movement that has taken force lately. Cardboard is far more ecological friendly that a bunch of wires.

If Nintendo wants to put smiles on our faces, they should hurry up with cloud saves and basic messaging and voice chat on a system level

@Einherjar "But at least this doesn't come at a time of drought, like plenty of "supposedly cool" WiiU announcements."

Do I sense some sarcasm there sir? That mini-direct was pretty cool, but Nintendo doesn't have any hard-hitters on their hands so far we're aware. Perhaps they've unloaded it all previous year, and we're simply in drought-country?

@ThanosReXXX To each their own on this one. The only one in my apartment that would love these, is my pet rabbit that enjoys tearing up anything cardboard

@Lugia Meh, I know that's the assumption a lot of people make but I don't think it's true. I spend enough time around kids to know that most of their playtime is still spent on physical toys/playsets. And besides, even if what you're saying is true, all of these sets incorporate the Switch (an electronic tablet-style device) and a video game, so this would at least have the potential to bridge that gap.

https://youtu.be/BBG5QN9IGFk?t=25s Well, we're now a little closer to piloting our killer robots. Danger Nintendo! Danger!

@aaronsullivan I'm not sure about Yoshi, could be, but I'd bet no. Nintneod Labo, ugh, as my wife says, why not call it Switch Labs? It isn't called Switch anything now is it? Like, Ninteod doesn't want it associated w/ the Switch name, dragging that name through the mud for people who want to play Doom and Skyrim and Payday 2, it's gaming hybrid console for real games, this is Nitnedo Labs, it's its own thing, even though it works with the Switch. Have you seen the marketing, Switch is hard to find in any of it. They dont' even say Joy-Con toys, just Toy-con. Small Switch logo in the upper right corner, that's it.

So I'm not sure Switch games will work with cardboard. Not even MK8D and that foot pedal. Maybe down the road, but not anytime soon.

As for why no Yoshi in the Mini, the Mini only had dates thru spring, maybe summer, Yoshi will be due out in Oct or Nov depending when Pokemon is ready. I'm a believer that Nintendo always has games ready to fill in it's calendar, it's not going to release Yoshi and Pokemon together, so even if Yoshi were finished right now Nintendo has enough games for the next 6 months, it's saving Yoshi for an opening. And it doesn't know when that opening will be b/c it doesn't know when it's holiday games will be done. OK, so maybe it isn't done right now, but I bet they a have a place for it in the fall. And fall wasn't in the Mini. Also why Starlink wasn't in the Mini, fall 2018. Or SSB Deluxe. Or Super Mario Maker 2. That should about do it for the fall.

Strange them releasing Labo in April, not November. I'm still wondering about that myself, seems like a good kids toy, but maybe they want to figure out demand, spread the word before the holidays. Leave the holiday marketing focus on games, not Labo? Probably a good call, just wrapping my head around it. Better decision than to call it Labo, I'm never getting over that name.

@MFD Nope, no sarcasm at all actually. Well, apart from the obvious jabs at poor old WiiU there
The Switch is sitting pretty comfy at the moment. A strong current lineup, some killer apps to come in the near future.

If their hardcore audience would be starving for games, experiments like that would be much much harder to swallow.
Now its just a fun (albeit expensive) side project among a steady stream of great software ^^

And i do consider games like portable Bayonetta or portable Dark Souls to be pretty heavy hitters in my book

But yeah, i was referencing tragedies like the Animal Crossing Mario Party game, when everyone was yearning for a new console outing, or Metroid Prime Federation Force, which came at the wort time possible...
I'd bet my left leg, if they had released it between the Metroid 2 Remake and the upcomming MP4, there would have been no "controversy".

Xenoblade X port with cardboard skell functionality please!

"My kid would destroy this" 1. It's made for kids who like to build, not destroy. 2. Maybe teach your kids to respect their belongings, just a suggestion.

@NEStalgia

Look at this pic, behind the words, can I call Switch a tablet yet?

The people hating on and doubting this are the same people who hated the announcement of motion controls however many years ago. This is much more important than any one single game they could announce. This is showing a lot of promise. Hopefully it's a big hit and is expanded upon.

@BlackenedHalo How does having something for kids, families and creative types discourage other sales? Are they going to stop selling games other than Labo on 4/20? Gaming should be for everyone. After all, it’s just play time. Something we hopefully have been doing since birth.

That's genius! My only concern is that it will probably be really expensive, but I'd love to give some of this a try.

@RainbowGazelle $69.99 and $79.99, it's the last sentence in the hands-on article.

Nintendo Labo will go on sale on 20th April 2018 with a $69.99 price tag for the Variety Kit (Toy Con 01) and $79.99 for the Robot Kit (Toy Con 02).

Preordered the Robot and Customisation Kits.
Well played Nintendo, well played.
The Variety Kit doesnt interest me, but robots....yeah ill give it a shot.

Pass....no room for toys...I own 1 amiibo and that was a gift. Never bought any of those skylander toys either- zero interest. For those that are interested enjoy! 😊

People will go nuts over this. The Switch was already the hottest gadget of 2017, and now Nintendo pulls this out. They are holding that pedal to the floor.

@Blizzia If someone else has mentioned this already, I apologize. There are about 200+ comments on this thread. But, Nintendo said it was for kids... I don't see them being ridiculous or borderline mental, just catering to both the child-friendly and adult demographic by providing the optional functionality of a toy for the younger demographic while more adult-oriented titles are coming in.

First Videogames are the same as Toys
Second,the announcement was for kids
Third.. The robot one is first great approach to VR

Already pre-ordered on Amazon. My kids & I will have a blast with this. Love that Nintendo follows the beat of their own drum. You wouldn’t see this from Sony or Microsoft in a million years.

@aaronsullivan Toy-Con is a whole lot better than NSFW Joy-Con: The battery operated HD Rumble device tiny enough to be discreet for even the most secretive of uses.

Labo Blabo Mabo Jabo. It's just awful. Why not call it iLab while they were at it. Just say no to Labo. What is a Labo, they didn't even bother to hyphenate it to Lab-O. Labo, bah

OK, I mean I get it, Nintnedo rhymes with Labo and they never write Labo w/o Nintendo, like it's 1 word, Nintendo Labo. But it's still stupid. Maybe it works better in Japanese. I'm still not lovin it.

Hey how long until mini versions of these start showing up in Happy Meals? That hexbug design is simple enough.

So, you given this any real thought yet? Like how are they going to get people to buy cardboard when we all have cardboard at home and people will be putting these all over the internet? INCLUDING 3D printer files so we can make them in plastic. I have a few solutions, the easiest is only sell the game w/ the cardboard, no digital downloads at all. Though this could be a problem if Gamefly or libraries have access to the carts. Other solution is NFC chips in the cardboard, but that would add to the cost. Guess if they sell enough they won't care about the experimenters.

And while I argued before that the price is competitive, that doesn't mean Ntinedo wont' be making money off of these. Will be curious to see if they hit the eShop though.

This is so freaking awesome!

@aaronsullivan "You kind of have to say Nintendo Labo for it to sound right. Labo alone does sound pretty silly."

Strong possibility that I replied to this before I actually read it.

Robot kit is available to pre-order on Amazon for $80, no Prime discount since it isn't a game. The description says Switch required but the name doesn't. Oh, and you'll be happy to know no mention of STEM on the page. Well nto as happy as NEStalgia, he'll be estacitc, but you may be right, more maker than STEM.

Nintendo LABO - Robot Kit
https://smile.amazon.com/Switch-Title-29/dp/B01N4N8NAL/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516238405&sr=8-1&keywords=nintendo%2Blabo&th=1

@BanjoPickles Have you heard that you can buy just the cart and Nintendo is going to make the plans available free online for those that want to DIY it?! Frickin' genius. And they have a replacement plan for damaged part too.

Re. genres, we still need good flying 3D games like - Starfox (fixed), Pilotwings, Kid Ikarus 2 or just a remaster that doesn't cripple left-handed folk. They can be on-rails or off, I'm not fussy. Then I'm good. And we need A Hat in Time. And good grief we need SPELUNKY which is the greatest indie game of all time, and Fez, and Okami... and we need a proper new Animal Crossing without all that house designer focus ... and then I'm good

Nope I'm not - we need a fully fledged Spaltoon single player campaign game - 30hours+ minimum. And Mario Golf with a huge story mode and Wii like motion (just as an extra option) cos my Dad still loves the sh*t out of Wii Sports Resort Golf and we we can't get him to play any other game yet. Then I'm double good. Maybe

I'm seeing a lot of kids with broken Switches.

@Korbin64 Oh, I'm aware of that. But this... This is ludicrous. Borderline genius, but still ludicrous. They're essentially selling cardboard for rates around 50x value.

It's not for me, but if I had a kid I would buy this for them in an instant.

This is kinda great. A weird gut feeling tells me this is going to be very successful. I mean, we’ll have to see how the software plays out, but knowing Nintendo we have reason to be optimistic.

Very impressed.

Oh Nintendo, turning trash into treasure every day. I love it and I'm sure the kids we love it too.

@rjejr The software is specific to each kit and includes games and programs that give you the ability to sense the specific setups of the constructions and control them. I'm not sure what use a bunch of cardboard and no software will be? Plus, it will be much harder to create without the perforations, and having to print out sometimes large prints and glue them to your own cardboard? Also, the software, you can see briefly, gives animated 3D instructions for each step that you can reverse and playback to see how things go together. There's quite a bit of value there in the software, and you'd have to copy it (like any game) to make it useful at all.

I do hope that there is some flexibility and customizability in the software so that people can do some experimentation, and I'm sure people will rig up similar devices that work with the software, but at this point, the game is the key to unlocking any kind of usefulness out of the cardboard models.

@brunojenso Where did you see you can buy the game and make your own stuff separately?

This doesn't interest me at all, so I won't be buying it. But it's not aimed at me. It's a bonkers idea that shows Nintendo is still a toy maker at heart and willing to think outside the box (the 1,346,296th person to make that pun tonight) and take bold new risks even after another bold risk (the Switch itself) paid off mightily. I do worry about all the cardboard constructions hanging around peoples houses but at least you can flatten them down to store away. I also wonder how durable they are and how many people are gonna accidently squash, bend or tear them early on.

Whether you like this product or not, you have to give Nintendo credit for even attempting this.

@aaronsullivan nintendoeverything.com articles

http://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-labo-kits-apparently-not-mandatory-cardboards-pattern-will-be-offered-for-free-cartridge-still-needed/

AND:

http://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-labo-details-about-building-process-and-more-nintendo-will-offer-replacement-parts/

@rjejr Just pre-ordered. Shame about no discount. Your link was nice to remind me to do smile. I often forget and I already had it in the cart when I saw your post. Why can't we preorder the other one I wonder?

Also, it is kinda STEM. There is an education bit about how it is accomplishing what it does, once you follow the steps to construct it.

Edit: Post above mine has articles that say Nintendo will offer the games separately and offer the plans online for those who want to truly do it themselves?

Nintendo could break even on the cardboard, string, grommets, etc. and profit on the game to make it all work. That way each game sold profits fine and, of course, more Switches sold. This will sell Switches to STEM/Maker clubs and schools. Maybe not a huge amount there, but some. Gotta hit that 20 million.

So... how about a big Direct before E3, now? I wonder. Hit with the mini and Dark Souls just before this, and then save the bigger direct to bring the core gamers back to discussing their type of games? Hmm...

I will say that this really diminishes the possibility of a SwitchBoy/Flip or whatever this year...

@brunojenso Awesome, thanks. And that's great news. The replacement cardboard kits, too. Nintendo is doing this right.

Wait, for kids? Do Nintendo actually believes kids will build peripherals with cardboard or buy an Nintendo made one just to get destroyed in the first use? NOWADAYS kids? Lol

My son has been addicted to making traps and kids out of cardboard. He will lose his mind over this.

And my youngest will love transforming into the robot and running round.

Instant buy for my house...

@Cathousemaster @RaphaBoss These two posts right in a row. Lol.

@RaphaBoss Um, yeah. I mean, I KNOW my 9-year-old will flip over this. And so will a lot of other kids. Construction toys are a HUGE market. DIY stuff is one of the hottest areas in kids' entertainment. Video games and AR are, of course, massive. Combine those three things, and yes, you've got one hell of a potential moneymaker.

Everybody who doesn't have kids seems to have this idea that today's kids don't want to do anything but watch idiots on YouTube and play Candy Crush all day long. Meanwhile, everyone with kids is here saying OMG MY KID WILL LOVE THIS!!

Kids like to make stuff, man. Kids will make a castle out of Amazon boxes, decorate it with cutouts from Toys R Us catalogs, and spend a month living in it. They will spend hours building LEGO and making slime out of corn starch and dish soap. And they WILL gladly extort their parents into buying moderately overpriced kits of cardboard and plastic for them, which of course we will do because duh, construction toys rock and they are absolutely the best part of being a parent.

So yeah, I think this has a chance.

@Einherjar disagree about the software being simple. You don't know about or are ignoring a few things. The software works on IR sensing of reflective sections in more than one way to respond to the machines. It needs to sense patterns on the knobs and buttons on the top as well as spot the reflectors on the keys from behind. It also has detailed interactive instructions to help guide the person through the 2 hour process of building the piano. It also has a demonstration of how the device works with cutaways and explanations. This is with animated character guides and I'm guessing a decent amount of Nintendo charm. And that is for one of the 5 main devices. There is a fishing game the hands-on article here mentions has some depth (not just a pun) and a motorcycle driving game and more that each have their own unique challenges in implementation with the controls while also being game in and of themselves. While none of us can judge their depth the amount of work that went into them isn't so easily dismissed in my mind, at least.

Nintendo just does not give a f***, in a good way! That’s what I love about them.

The gateway drug for Arduino and Raspberry Pi.

@aaronsullivan I get that, really. Im not saying that what they got out of the JoyCons just with cardboard is short of baffling.
My point however, is not about its "worth of ingenuity" but rather its long term worth.
Kids aren't known for their long attention spans, so neat little gimmicks, while fun for a day or two, quickly get boring.
Then there is the fact that we are talking about cardboard, not the most durable material out there. It requires a rather disciplined kid to keep that stuff in working condition for long. That is, if they can keep the kids interested for that time span.

While i absolutely adore the idea, im still standing by my point that the pricetag is just way too high and could have been handled much much better.
Like, for example, making the software for it a service. Say, a monthly subscription. You get the cardboard models sent to your home while the software gets updated with new gizmos.
Or sell the cardboard parts like magazines with a code that unlocks the respective software.

That way, you, as a consumer and parent, have a) more control on the spending and b) can get replacements should things go south and with cardboard, they will sooner or later.

Im in no way complaining about the project itself. Heck, i want it to flourish as best as it can, since it pretty much represents the essence what Nintendo is! But the install price of 70 bucks for non-durable toys and limited software...for the life of me, i can't see that catching on to ever make it a mainstay.
Like i said earlier, one little slip up of little Timmy and you loose 1/5 of the package for good.
This is where i don't see the value. Or rather, the "long lasting value" of this product. Fragile toys that may go dull faster than you can build them and which can only be used for that one purpose.
I might see a lot of parents much rather investing those 70 bucks in a LEGO set, which can be used decades on end (I still have all my stuff and im 30 )

Again, to make it clear:
Im not "hating" the product as is. In fact, i love it. But at the end of the day, its very limited and...well...cardboard.
Wear & Tear + Long Term Fun-Factor (?), and im not seeing it being worth 70 bucks with the added risk of "is my kid interested in that stuff for more than an hour?".
Imo, it would be much wiser to sell it individually to offer more cost control and to keep it "fresh".

Im crossing my fingers that it will catch on regardless, but im not optimistic at all.

I got a lot of Tearaway vibes from this. In that game, you could unlock blueprints of the characters and objects from the world and actually print them out to fold them and build them in real life. And like nobody actually did that...

Now this looks similar except it will cost much, much more, and be a much bigger struggle.

@rjejr only if i can call those cardboard tvs they have in furniture showrooms televisions.

Personally not hyped because, well, I have enough clutter but for kids this is an awesome idea. I just hope they keep the cardboard sets cheap, that will really be the deciding factor here.

Wow wow wow, I have to say I am genuinely surprised. This has the Nintendo mix of madness and genius they are known for. Bit sad that this is not for my demographic, definitely wish I had kids to share this with. Definitely am a bit concerned on that pricetag for their audience, then again 1 2 switch was a thing.

To the nay sayers we were warned that this was a new way to play for kids. As some stated this direct want for you, it happens, not to detract/deny the joy any (wo)man children and/or parent giddy on this.

To those chiding the naysayers, ease up, not everyone may have gotten the memo on the direct for kids leak. Not everyone is watching these sites like a hawk, yes it is crazy I know. This direct was a sincere shock eitherway that will take time and more info to properly process.

@Blizzia OHHHHHHH. I think most of the price for it is the software, LOL.

If this is flexible to allow for experimentation like Lego, but also with software, it will be awesome, and potentially be something you will see in toy stores for the next decades. If it is just making the exact Nintendo designed cutouts with Nintendo special software, it’s less exciting, but could still be popular for a few years.

Awesome. Just amazing. I think this is a great way to take the switch, which already has so many unique aspects. Lots of people are saying that it looks stupid, but they can take that salt and sprinkle it over where I live, because there's snow everywhere and I could use a few less icy patches.

And they won me over completely when it showed animations for how to put each thing together instead of an instruction booklet. Oh, the rage I've had towards folded paper!

This is a great idea. I get that people without kids are completely baffled. I do think the pricing is off (compared to a nice Arduino-kit for example). It is is probably Nintendo being its financially conservative self. I fear this will prevent a lot of people from ever having the chance of experiencing this first hand.

I still think this is great though, because the value is obviously not the cardboard. The value is the sensation of BUILDING something that can control/be controlled by a Switch. This will feel magic to most kids, and quite a few adults as well if they ever get a chance to dabble with it.

THIS IS SO AWESOME!

@Draxa

"Nintendo".. not just switch..

Xbox and Playstation? you'd better brace yourselves, Nintendo is in da house!

Cool idea, but £60 for a cardboard kit, good luck

@Mii_duck No, I don't want to watch you build it. I want to build it myself. I'm better at building stuff like this than you are, anyway

Really surprised by the announcement - of all the things I expected this was the last thing I would have predicted. But I actually really like it. I can see the appeal, it's astonishingly clever and it looks like great fun for families in particular. Interested to see how much it takes off - not sure if it'll be something I buy straight away (might be tempted if there was a sale) but I'm very intrigued and I'd love to try it out.

"IR Motion Camera" use... YES. I guessed right

Well done Ninty on 'truly' innovating and leaving the rest of the nerd-herd with their fancy 4k gfx and VR (which no one really wants) and going your own way.

I love this! It’s so different and creative and it’s great to encourage kids to create stuff themselves.

Hahahahahaha!

... I'm not sure what to think of this. The idea sounds interesting, but the materials and price... Especially compared to stuff like arduino kits that use solid mdf boards.

And kids are prone to spilling stuff, cardboard hates liquid. And with the pricey kits being the only source of parts, I see a problem here.

Cya
Raziel-chan

Lol, I love how people gobble THESE comments up:

"Oh my goodness, this is SO interesting and creative! Only Nintendo would do this, what a wonderful way to spend 70 or 80 dollars on an overpriced arts and crafts project! They've knocked it out of the park again!!!

...Oh, but I'm not buying it. It's not for me. But you kiddies have fun! ^_^"

Like Like Like Sycophant Like

How about we get some demo kiosk workshops showing off this stuff before we proclaim it as the next big thing? This could be a total dud in practice, no matter how interesting it is in concept, after all. Seems like a total waste of trees to me, but hey, it could go either way. Who knows, maybe this will be what gets people to bring their consoles out in public for once?

With how popular Lego and Minecraft are, this may be a genius move on Nintendo's part. Time will tell, but I'm curious to show this video to my 4 kids and see their response.

@Einherjar I wasn't trying to imply anything else other than responding to your assertion that "The software (other than the robot thingy) is nonsense you get on any appstore for free. " which seems to be either loose exaggeration to make a point, willful ignorance, or you didn't know much about it. In other words, I'm suggesting it has a strong value that justifies a big part of the price.

My earlier point was comparing this to other "Maker" and STEM products already on shelves and growing in popularity. The prices on these products also seemed high to many at first, but many parents already see right through the materials to the activities that are meant to foster problem solving, technical, and creative skills in their children. Few of them have extensive software to go with it.

As far as the price goes, I would put it at an average level of value. Even the way I'm viewing it, It's not quite the exceptional value of, say, the LEGO Boost robot kit at $160. However, while Nintendo Labo doesn't have the LEGOs and programmability, it does have Nintendo games and software with a higher production value. If the games have surprising depth, it might be a more comparable value.

I plan to find out first (second) hand when my 8 and 12-year-old try it out near launch. Already pre-ordered.

@aaronsullivan STEAM even! Don't forget the "A" for art.

@Razzy Kits aren't the only source of parts. Apparently, there will be free plans online for people who just want to buy the games and go through additional work to save money and get the total DIY from scratch if they want.

Plus, you can tape up, reinforce, add stuff to these contraptions all you want. The software explains how it works in detail and is made so you can look at the internals. As long as you respect how it works you can add all you want and the cardboard invites experimentation and ad hoc solutions more than plastic.

@AcesHigh Definitely. My daughter thought it was cool, but when she saw the encouragement to decorate them and customize them, her eyes lit up and she started talking about it during the video. A lesser attempt might have left that part off, Nintendo even has a kit for adding stickers and stuff.

@rjejr On the April release: Even if Nintendo Labo doesn't ever optionally intermix with other traditional games, Nintendo could be planning a 3rd and 4th kit by the Holiday season, or maybe even breaking the variety set into individual sets — though the game connection makes the separate small kits less likely.

The other kit is on preorder for Amazon, now, btw. I know you aren't buying, but just FYI.

@aaronsullivan yup! My 7 year old goes to a STEAM school. This comes out right before his birthday. He's gonna love it! I can already see him decoratong the remote control car like an XWING and his younger brother like Lightning McQueen. LOL!

@AcesHigh Awesome. Yeah, my 8-year-old has a birthday right after it releases, too. Fun stuff. Not sure if you preordered or if you are in US but both sets are up now on Amazon.

@aaronsullivan The plans will have to be provided by users themselves via tracing, since its it's clearly stated that Nintendo won't share the patterns.

And short of coating the entire thing in foil or plastic, it'll still be extremely susceptible to liquids,wear and tear. And coating it would severally limit future modifications.

I would much rather Nintendo provide paid but cheap kits containing just the parts, no game card.

@Razzy The way I understood it was that Nintendo will share the patterns freely, but not sell the printed/perforated cardboard sets. (Even if they don't share the patterns, they'll be online in no time, I'm guessing).

In general, I agree with you about the cardboard sets. I wish they'd sell them separately, too. I mean, you still need the software/games, of course. I'm not sure how much a market there would be for the replacement cardboard, though.

I think many people are selling cardboard short for durability, especially when constructed carefully and when something bends or tears, it's not really that hard to fix. Favorite cardboard boxes have lasted for years at my place with rough and tumble play around them. A little duct tape, a little extra cardboard is usually enough, but you could reinforce with wooden bits or whatever. I mean, some of this is pretty strenuous, I admit. (fishing pole, motorcycle handle twisting...)

I guess other families with kids are playing with their sprinkler systems indoors or something the way I keep hearing about liquids. I'm not sure why a policy of no drinks or food near the Nintendo Labo stuff would be that hard to enforce or that hard for kids to understand. Especially in the age group this is for.

@aaronsullivan No, they won't share it, stated in the corrected article on that.

I buy a lot of stuff, so I deal with cardboard a lot. Not that durable, even when reinforced, and starts looking really weathered really fast.

No, I meant drinks. This'll mean having to do playing to get a drink, or having to go to a specific place to play. As a kid I'd scatter my legos on the living room carpet and play with it there, but doing that with labo would mean parents having to be extra careful with their drinks, not to mention stepping on it by accident.

Or even, hell, warm days and sweaty palms, soggy cardboard GET.

I just do why can't they use mdf like arduino kits. Easy to pop out and MUCH more durable.

Cya
Raziel-chan

@aaronsullivan There are least 4, maybe 5, builds (I'm calling them builds, and the whole thing Switch Labs) to still go on sale, bird, shotgun, pedal, so yeah, start in April, every other month add one. Will be interesting to see how many of these big boxes Target us willing to keep on store shelves. And Gamestop. You been in a GS lately, can barely move, it's like a $1 store.

Hey @Captain_Gonru where are you man? We're talking toys, STEM-like toys. If you're under an NDA I think it's over now. But this is right up your alley, you should be here for this, you know stuff. This is no Playmation or whatever error that disaster was called. Oh, and I forgot Brockmeir, I need him back too.

@Captain_Gonru Durability could be an issue, not so much for the cardboard itself, that looks solid, but the piano keys, fishing pole, certainly the robot strings, anything that moves. But cardboard toys for kids are usually pretty good, we've had several of those big building block sets, they're practically wood.

I do wonder how many of those boxes stores will stock at once, they look fairly big.

Brockmire season 2 is April 25, I looked, so we have a ways to go. I also watch Ballers on HBO, hard to remember those 8-10 episode shows.

@Captain_Gonru Just a guess, but after you put the suit on, you'll stand with your legs straight down and arms at your side, and twist the string around the hand and ankle pieces like winding in a kite until it's tight. That's what it looks like to me anyway, the hand and ankle cardboard pieces are kite string like so everybody starts w/ the correct length string.

Just a guess from looking at like 1 pic, b/c Nintendo.

@Captain_Gonru None of it is necessary. Funny you pointed out the piano b/c that's the least usefull one, even your MS phone probably has a keyboard app. The entire build is totally useless, except to show off how clever Nintendo is to think of something that stupid, a camera that reads which keys you press with a camera, that's about as practical as building some huge contraption to poor milk onto your cereal. Sure, it makes for a cool YouTube video, but it's easier just to pour the milk. It's easier just to use keys on the touchscreen for a keyboard.

The hexbug maybe, but you could probably just lay the Joycon itself on a hard surface and have it do the same thing. You shouldn't need the house at all, it's all perception.

But the thing is, it's all magic for little kids. Ever see a little kid magic show, where the tricks are so bad your just like ugh, but all the kids are laughing and oohing and ahing. That's what Nintendo Labo is, kid magic. We already know the Joycon could work as a fishing pole, the first mini game collection on Wii was Wii Play, and one of the games was fishing. The Wiimote could do fishing just fine, HD Rumble Joycon do not need cardboard to fish.

All Nintendo Labo is is Wii Play, except it's sold with cardboard instead of a Wiimote. That's all it is, Wii Play. The cardboard is just magic tricks for kids.

I still think it will sell though, b/c STEM. And arts and crafts, girls dig the arts and crafts. And boys. And those who don't know what they are yet. This summer camp will probably buy 3 Switch and 5 Labo sets this year, it will be a big hit there. And elsewhere in summer camps across the world. Wii Sports was in every old age home, Nintendo Labo will be wherever kids are found.

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/kids-young-4-find-safe-space-transgender-day-camp-n790221

Whether it gets used any more than Miitomo or the Wii Balance board I don't know, but it will get bought and Nintendo will get paid.

Did you see where I overran the thread yesterday with my erroneous Nintendog nonsense? That come could next. A robot dog using Switch to program it. Coding is huge, hour of code is everywhere. It's called Nintendo Labo, not Switch Labo, this may just be the beginning. Lego hasn't made a new Mindstorm in many years, though Lego Boost is new this year, cardboard may just be the first step.

@aaronsullivan The more I think about controlling that Hexbug design with the touchscreen, the more I think I was on to something yesterday with my Nintendog. I was wrong about everything else shown, but is it that great a leap from a Hexbug to a Nintendog?

Remember Teddy Ruxpin being a big deal 30 years ago? Slap those Joycon as ears on a robot ROB, press some buttons on the touchscreen, interactive kid toy. Ok, I have no idea what those ears would actually do besides look silly, it's a work in progress, but this isn't over yet. Nintendo Labo may keep going for years, remote control Nintendog or rock'em sock'em robots may be next.

Good time for you to have an 8 year old, your 12 year old may outgrow it. My youngest just turned 13 Sunday, other is 15, we'll see.

@Captain_Gonru Should have brought it back with the cassette system.

Of course Teddy bombed hard, too safe and Teddy bear like, kids want real robots, like Chip the dog and that big programmable caterpillar.

Had they reskinned Teddy into that scary FNAF bear it would have sold better. And I mean that.

Edit - oops, forgot again, on my tablet

Will be interesting to see how Labo does. If it bombs I am SO blaming it on the name. If it succeeds, waiting anxiously for Nintendo Vag.

@Captain_Gonru Not sure how I was pronouncing it, but I'll give it a whirl.

Nin-TEN-doh LAB-oh The o is almost silent, like the u in Wii u

But my family has agreed to just call it Ntinedo Labs, b/c we aren't idiots. We'll probably shorten it to Switch Labs by the time it releases, why say 4 syllables when we can say 2? And nobody is pronouncing 5 syllables in this family. My kid is too lazy to type the o in ok, half my texts from him are just "k". W/o the ", his entire text is just 1 letter. So Nintneod Labo will only be said in a mocking tone here.

And I knew what you meant, the piano keys do in fact do something, but most of it is just the tennis racket. Look at that huge camera, what is it for? Just hold the Joycon and press a button, done. Though I suppose the camera will hold the Switch tablet in the back. The Switch is officially a tablet now in my book, end of discussion. A tablet w/ both Joycon and Toycon is still a tablet. And the dock is superflous, it almost never shows up. I think I wrote that long post to aaron or Thanos.

Do you see a $90 dock, I don't see a dock? These things are made specially NOT to use the dock. If you buy your little kid a Switch JUST for Labo why do you need a dock? Switch: Labo Edition this holiday. *dock sold separately

@BAN true! Good point

@rjejr Yeah, my 12-year-old is on the edge with it. Thought it looked really cool and was mostly into it, but when she saw the encouragement to decorate it up and make it custom started talking excitedly about it. So, it should be a ton of fun.

My little guy was really excited about it, then ran off to play (virtually) with his friends. I knew he thought it was cool, but then doubt set in just a little. Then, later, he spontaneously brought it up out of nowhere how excited he was about it. It didn't just impress him, it stuck with him.

He is pretty much square in the target for this product. He has an engineer's brain, wants to (and often does) understand how things work and how to make new stuff work. With VR Google Blocks where you can create stuff in virtual space he built a Samus suit that he could actually go "inside" and see out through the visor and then he'd hold on to a gun-arm he made just right so it would move with his arm movements, so he could feel like he was in the suit. This is what he chose to do in virtual space.

So, yeah, that robot suit? Birthday bliss. Last year, thanks to Breath of the Wild, we gave him a Legend of Zelda adventure in the backyard with clues and props. This year, he gets to build his own, working mech suit. Nintendo has been good to us.

On our guesses. We were going in the direction of a robot... I had almost brought up the IR thing a couple times, someone did. We were all closing in... but I don't think anyone would have leapt to the cardboard construction aspect.

I like being surprised, though.

@rjejr I was talking about my son in the target for Labo and it got me thinking where Nintendo is really dropping the ball.

That minecraft/roblox thing. The game kids play together casually, sometimes seriously, but always socially. Nintendo has traditionally been the most careful about catering to the younger set and families and yet has nothing in that area. I mean Nintendo doesn't have to have everything, but it seems such a natural fit and almost weird that they don't have anything there.

With Switch being so popular, now is the time, but it's nowhere to be seen, so far.

@aaronsullivan You ever see the Brady Bunch episode w/ the boys and girls fighting over the clubhouse? Your post about your kids reminded me of that. Glad they are both looking forward to it. Just tell them to call them "Switch Kits", make everybody's lives easier.

And it's a good thing you got 2 Switch now huh? One to play games on, one to do STEM with. Go you, always planning ahead.

@aaronsullivan minecraft/roblox

We'll we've been talking about that since Nintneod amiibo Land. OK, not exactly that, but close enough. Remember when Wii U came out and I was waiting forever for "Wii + U Play Together" a game that included tic-tac-toe, hangman, connect-the-dots, maybe Battleshsip and Connect 4, and kids would play with their grandparents using the Gamepad camera. The camera we only ever used for putting our faces in Tank! Tank! Tank!. Why show that vid camera drawing app and not show kids talking to their grandparents? My kids talked to their grandparents on Wii Speak, leaving birthday messages and such, never live.

But all the great idea you and I have, anything involving communication, Nitneod balks at. That smartphone app is ridiculous. They let Minecraft on Wii U and Switch, but Minecraft doesn't have voice chat. Nintendo hates voice chat. All of those Pinball games w/ party mode should have voice chat. Do any of them on Switch?

So yeah, Roblox is a grat game for kids to collaborate online, but Ntinedo really seems to discourage that. Spaltoon had 5 minute games, no communication. I know Splatoon 2 has some but I'm not sure how much.

Nintnedo is always thinking of the children. Thinking of the children doing naughty things and their parents blaming Ntinedo.

Nintendo gave us Labo, that's something. I don't expect anything online that's collaborative. Nintendo Land had all those "Find Mii" people walking around. Why couldn't we have real time conversations with them like Home on PS3? Ask them to join us in a game of Pikmin or Metroid i Zelda in real time? Like I'm guessing other online games work, I don't play CoD or Overwatch or anything that involves other people, I'm antisocial. I think a Nintnedo Land 2 would have been ripe for being like Home on PS3. The PS3 fanbois mostly balked at in, but I had some fun on there by myself. I really like the holiday settings.

But I just dont' see them wanting to do that, they really don't like people talking. So I agree with you. Imagine World of Warcraft in the Mushroom Kingdom. They can just use the area from SMO and make it bigger. But they dont' seem to want to feel responsible for what people might say to one another. It's why they use a phone for voice chat, blame the owner of the phone, not them.

Sad but true.

@rjejr Yeah, random stranger voice chat is pretty bad in my brief experiences with it. Listening to kids test their limits of depravity because they think they're anonymous is pretty depressing. Plus, you know swatting and all that. I don't blame Nintendo for being careful.

That's why relying on other services to chat has plenty of benefits. It's why, on the surface, using smartphones for chat with Nintendo Switch makes a sort of sense — until it doesn't.

When you are voice chatting with people you know and the game can also keep your group of friends together, it can work very well. Someone does need to keep it under control with kids and parents don't always even know what's going on, so it can be a tough problem. Even with people you think you know, kids desperate for friends will connect with other kids who are happy to turn around and hurt them. Sigh.

Still think Nintendo could provide a game that's a playground for gamers to play in with their friends that is competitive. The biggest problem is that Minecraft and Roblox are widely available on many platforms so there's a huge group that can play. Nintendo is working toward a solution to that, though.

@aaronsullivan "Nintendo is working toward a solution to that, though."

Is that a Bill Clinton "is", b/c I don't know what it refers too?

Are you talking about something real I forgot about, a hypothetical game you think they might be working on, or the upcoming paid online?

Sorry, I'm usually better at this stuff, but you lost me there.

@rjejr Sorry, I knew that might come off a bit cryptic. I only meant that Nintendo has momentum on Switch sales and is creating its own huge group. Not that it will ever truly be able to compete with every kid with a smartphone hand-me-down... even DS couldn't quite pull that off.

@aaronsullivan OK, so solution is install base? Well that shouldn't be an issue much longer, and I think the momentum is there, and should stay there, and could potentially get better once E3 rolls around and they announce the fall games line-up, surely it will have something better for the holidays than ports. And if they announce a $219 "Switch Labo Edition" that would help with sales to parents for kids who want a Switch just for Pokemon but parents don't want to spend $300 just so their kids can play a new Pokemon game as they already have 2 or 3 Pokemon games on their 2/3DS.

They're never going to sell enough Switch to be competitive as a platform though. Even they know that which is why they killed Miiverse rather than continuing it on Switch. Miiverse already had 60 million potential users on Wii U and 3DS, and they carried over Miis to Switch, could have kept Miiverse going (at least long enough for me to finish Champions Ballad) but they went with Twitter instead. Kids can post as many penis pics as they like on Twitter, not Ntinedo's responsibility. It's all about handing off the responsibility for Nitnedo. Kids make a big penis statue in Minecraft, that's on Microsoft. If Nintendo makes another WoW or Free Realms, that's on them to police. I just dont' see them wanting to. Paid online is taking forever to roll out, they don't even want to be responsible to collect their own money if it involves online.

I think Nintendo Land 2 would have happened on Wii U if it sold 70-80 million and it would have had more online, maybe even playing online together in Pikmin, Metroid and Zelda. All they had to do was copy Home, but I think they are leaving it behind. And 1 2 Switch 2 doesn't need online b/c it's all about face-to-face. And Labo doesn't need online b/c it's all about single player, maybe family play w/ the building requiring a parent. That's Nintnedo's true colors - couch, family, no online.

Speaking of family, here's how I spent my weekend. You can kill 30 seconds playing finding rjejr if Shutterfly lets you. Hint, I'm the old one w/ the goatee. Though not the really old one w/ the goatee, that's my dad, his hair is shorter.

https://photos.shutterfly.com/story/id/20203645868

And on a related note, my kid got a $50 Amazon gift card and bought ARMS with it yesterday, arriving today. I'll give it a whirl and let you now how it goes. Hopefully I don't hurt myself. I can picture myself going all Michael Conforto.

FYI - I could only watch this halfway through, had to stop before the slo-mo replay.

https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/all-about-mets-michael-confortos-injury/c-250540776

@rjejr
Yeah, I don't know how much it matters, but I just see Nintendo missing an opportunity there. Seems like it should have been in the middle of that sort of thing a couple times.

Sigh. Nintendo Land 2.

Mazel Tov to your son! Looks like it was a great time. Haha, with all those finger lights, too! You don't have to hint me about how you look. I have a Holiday card from you on our fridge!

My weekend included 7 iPhone users all trying to show my 76-year-old dad how to use an Android smartphone.

Follow LEGO-like instructions on the Switch screen to build the contraption
Take out the cardboard pieces and assemble them to form structures
The project in which a small and simple remote-controlled and insect-shaped car is assembled takes about 15 minutes to build
The telescopic fishing rod with a reel is attached to a base with elastic bands and rope for a realistic tension
Each contraption is made of cardboard and rope
The piano takes about two hours to build
Dials and cardboard switches modify the tone and add effects to the sound
The principles behind each construction are explained by cartoon characters
The switch display shows a cross section of each model that illustrates what the Joy-Con camera can see and how it works
The Robot imitates your punching and kicking in virtual attacks
Nintendo plans to offer cardboard replacement kits and templates for players who break theirs
You can stick the cardboard of the Toy-Con with glue or adhesive tape, reinforce them or decorate them with pens, washi tape and more, without affecting their functionality.
http://www.prodigitalweb.com/nintendo-exposes-the-games-market/

@aaronsullivan "7 iPhone users all trying to show my 76-year-old dad how to use an Android smartphone."

Now there's a reality show I'd watch. My dad just got my mom's old iPhone, probably a 4 or 5, b/c my sister keeps getting her new ones every couple of years. My dad hates it, he wants his flip phone back. Not that he's a luddite, he spends a lot of time playing solitaire and such on his 7" tablet, but he wants his phone to make phone calls. And I completley understand, making phone calls on my newish Samsung Galaxy J3 Luna Pro is way more trouble than it's worth. I still pay $35 per month for VOIP to my cable company, now that's how calls are made. My phone receives calls ok, but nobody calls me except the car warranty people.

And I think it's past time to update your fridge.

PS - My kid got ARMS last night. I played for about 45 minutes. I'm really not cut out for fighting games. It seems like a great game, but I get so tense so fast, like I get hit 1 time or I punch and miss and I can feel my blood pressure rising. It's why my wife banned Splatoon 2 in the house, I'm a rage machine. My sister says I need Zoloft. She's probably right. We'll see how tax season goes, I pay our own. Then it's finally, after 15+ years, time for job hunting. Fun fun fun.

@rjejr Haha about the fridge. I think it migrated to the side in the dark area facing the wall, actually. But it's a novelty item.

Job hunting! Good fortune to you. I'm off for a few weeks, and getting back into it is a huge adjustment mentally. I'm sure you'll be fine.

@aaronsullivan I'm sure you'll be fine.

@ShadJV Nintendo has multiple teams working on different stuff at different times.

@aaronsullivan LOL RIGHT? I think it really depends on the parents.

@JasmineDragon I think I didn't have the best luck with kids recently...