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Nintendo Labo Official Site
- ruytlm 9y agoThis strikes me as a rather ingenious way to target schools, and I feel like there's going to be some really interesting indie applications developed, particularly when combined with 3D printed parts. I hope they keep it a reasonably open platform; but then on the other hand, this is Nintendo we're talking about.
- bastawhiz 9y ago> ingenious way to target schools I think schools buying up Nintendo Switches is probably not very likely.
- point78 9y agoYou never know if they keep producing innovative educational products.
- bitwize 9y agoThe Angry Videogame Nerd recently did a review of Lightspan Adventures, a series of edutainment games for PlayStation. I'd never heard of it -- I was in college by the time the PlayStation hit it big -- but apparently, more than one school district procured PlayStations for the express purpose of playing these games all in the name of "education".
- tinco 9y agoCompared to the usual educational hardware PlayStations are really cheap. If you're putting 10k beamers with 3k PCs in every classroom, who cares about the few hundred bucks to buy a couple experimental devices that make your school look cool.
- bitwize 9y ago"The usual educational hardware" consisted typically of Apple IIs and overhead (transparency) projectors -- even in the mid-90s when the Lightspan stuff came out. Today might be a different story.
- thebiglebrewski 9y agoTHIS IS AMAZING
- nol13 9y agoalready in line!
- Eric_WVGG 9y agoI used to walk by game shops and imagine landfills overflowing with Guitar Hero controllers and Wii tennis rackets and swords and whatnot. I dunno if the choice of cardboard is to make it seem approachable, DIY, or cost-cutting, but I appreciate it.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y agoor biodegradable!
- theDoug 9y agoMaybe a bit of all the above! Like the Google Cardboard it also shows that fun can be relatively low-cost, customizable, and simple. (Disclosure: I work at Google)
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago£280 without games doesn't seem very low cost to me. Also Google Cardboard is now sold as a plastic device isn't it? Cardboard will quickly go soggy if you're playing good v game!
- drusepth 9y agoAs someone who's been trying to find guitar hero controllers for less than $60/guitar for weeks now, I wish this were the case. :(
- k_ 9y agoI used to buy my guitar controllers with their respective game (on amazon and such), it was always cheaper than the controller alone. I don't know what to do with the spare GHTV games, though...
- zxexz 9y agoIt probably depends on where you live, but it seems every Goodwill in eastern Massachusetts always has at least 1. I was just at a Goodwill yesterday that had 2!
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- knowaveragejoe 9y agoAssuming they keep it open, this could really go places.
- MollyR 9y agoNeat, but I'd still recommend an arduino uno or a raspberry pi over a switch.
- pjmlp 9y agoMaybe an Arduboy then. https://arduboy.com/ https://arduboy.com/
- laurentoget 9y agothanks for that!
- rhn_mk1 9y agoI am going to be impressed if this pans out. On the surface, it looks like some of the toys may be more reliable than others - they really need to have skillful designers and coders to be able to pick up particular keys of the piano (I assume they don't have much to work with apart from vibrations). The second part is that they are just complicated to make and not as robust as dedicated toys. Piano, or the foot pedals are examples - how many days of use until they fall apart? Will Nintendo fight copycats who provide cheap replacements? Even if they gett all of the above wrong, I will forgive them if there will be a way to adapt or design your own gizmos and make them work without being an approved developer - this really does look like a great way to learn hacking.
- anfractuosity 9y agoI was really curious about how the piano example works too, apparently it uses a camera in the controller - "The right Joy-Con’s motion IR camera reads the back of each key in order to tell the piano which note to play. " http://time.com/5106363/nintendo-switch-labo-toy-cons/ http://time.com/5106363/nintendo-switch-labo-toy-cons/ It does seem a really interesting system, look forward to hearing more about it!
- vvanders 9y agoYeah, pretty darn clever. With a camera you can do rotary encoders and all sorts of other awesome tricks too. Nintendo really seems to be hitting their stride with the switch.
- photojosh 9y agoI always wondered what that IR plastic bit on the controller was all about... not enough to actually go research it though. Hah.
- joezydeco 9y agoWill Nintendo fight copycats who provide cheap replacements? You've already purchased the console and software - and Nintendo doesn't sell either at a loss. The cardboard is a trivial part of the picture. Kids could also just cut another pattern out of their own boxes, and I bet Nintendo would love to see kids doing that.
- dpkonofa 9y agoI'm excited for this but also, at the same time, a bit skeptical about what the target for this is. It looks like it could pair well with schools and places where many different kids get to try out different things. I don't really see it working on an individual basis, though. Why would a kid want to buy this? Why would a parent want to buy it for their kid? Would an adult even want something like this?
- celticninja 9y agoMy kids like the switch and papercraft so this seems like an ideal game for them.
- aikinai 9y agoTo play with it.
- qiqing 9y agoI can imagine this causing our family to need more than one Switch. And it's totally ok if kids play rough with it and break it because you can build another one. And building it is half the fun.
- neuland 9y agoThis looks way too good to be true. It's a pretty awesome concept, though kinda like lego mindstorms but more focused on things that you interact with. Hopefully there's people that come along and create kits with more durable components than the cardboard that this page and the ad show.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y agoI'm super excited for where this is going, but $80.00 for a controller made out of cardboard that will break the first time a dog jumps on it or a child falls over..... Definitely not too good to be true territory.
- neuland 9y agoI did not notice the price. Wow, totally agree about $80 being way too much. Plastic or some other more durable material would be a big improvement to justify the cost. Edit: It looks like they're providing templates to make these yourself too. [0] So, the $70/$80 can be considered more cardboard + software to interact with it. From that perspective, I don't think this is too bad of a deal. For something innovative like this, I personally think it's work the price of a game ($60) and then the other $20 is for cardboard, but you can just make more if it breaks. [0] http://fr.ign.com/nintendo-labo-nintendo-switch/33103/news/nintendo-labo-annonce-pour-inventer-de-nouvelles-facons-de-j http://fr.ign.com/nintendo-labo-nintendo-switch/33103/news/n...
- oliyoung 9y agoOr… it's $80 for a game and $0 for the controller, and then (admittedly still over-priced) price point matches their other mini-games titles (1-2 Switch, Arms)
- TheAceOfHearts 9y agoDirect link to the first look video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Bd3HUMkyU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3Bd3HUMkyU This looks really neat, if a bit expensive. Despite owning a Switch, I can't see myself buying either kit. Maybe when more information becomes available I'll reconsider. Admittedly, I might not be in the target demographic. Although on the other hand, most Switch owners that I know are male adults. I like anything that gets kids to play around with building stuff. Even when you're just following instructions, you get a sense of accomplishment. I'm sure after building a couple of these cardboard toys some kids will start wanting to experiment with their own creations too. Although if my limited experiences with kids are anything to go by, you'll probably need to buy a couple cardboard replacements in order to survive prolonged contact with children. It's also a fairly innovative. I genuinely hadn't considered something like this as a possibility. Have other console developers done anything similar?
- photojosh 9y ago> most Switch owners that I know are male adults Early adopter issue? Availability heuristic? We got one in December, and I'm the one who plays it least. My two primary-school boys are enamoured with Zelda and the wife's hooked on Overcooked, and we all play Mario Kart together. Other families with children (peers to ours) are slowly buying them. Probably helped by the fact that we rave about ours and view it as a great family activity due to all the co-op games. Other families have expressed regret they got Xbox etc.
- bsimpson 9y agoMy cousin is an elementary school girl who was very excited to get one for X-mas and plays it with her sister.
- hrktb 9y agoI was seeing this as directly in line with Google’s cardboard initiatives. I also think the main point is not to sell kits but to show the way to the very few people who’ll get a spark of genius and build something original. They also organize camps for parents to come wih their kids to build something, so I really think te goal is to stimulate creativity. For the ‘why cardboard’ part, I also think it’s to avoid that their labo stuff are seen as long term appliances or officially sanctionned peripherals.
- crooked-v 9y agoI look forward to an indie dev making a cardboard version of the Steel Batallion controller.
- Tiktaalik 9y agoWith the slogan "Make Play Discover" it seems like Nintendo is marketing this product as something a half step away from games and partially oriented toward the educational STEM toy market. I get Lego vibes from this. This product may also allow Nintendo to gain a presence in retailers that they haven't worked with before. Indigo, Canada's big box book/toy retailer, stocks the Kano computer kit in their toy section but no other video games. I wouldn't be surprised to see Nintendo's Labo series appear there too.
- david90 9y agoI've read through many negative comments on Labo (esp. on other sites) But I think - hey this is amazing as I wished to build things when I was a kid. This inspires kids to create, interact and invent. Making connections to machines or instruments we daily use. Looking forward to support custom models.
- westmeal 9y agoI don't get it. They're selling cardboard for 70 dollars.
- sioa 9y agoWith softwares that can turn them into innovative toys. So its an one time investment, if you want you can just use your blueprints to make a toy when you eventually break it
- laurentoget 9y agoOn one hand these look way less durable than Legos. On the other hand replacing a broken or misplaced part will be easier than with lego pieces. They look way less painful to step on, too.
- anotheryou 9y agohow do they sense the piano keys? ah, IR illumination and tracking of white dots. So the little controllers have cameras? https://youtu.be/P3Bd3HUMkyU?t=133 https://youtu.be/P3Bd3HUMkyU?t=133 (freeze the frame here to see it)
- ggus 9y agoonly the right one have a IR camera
- cupofjoakim 9y agoIt would be really cool to see some collaborations with other companies on this - Pizza boxes or whatever company uses some cardboard for packaging and targets families or kids. I highly doubt this will be popular for adults, but for kids this could be amazing, especially if nintendo does their job right.
- nukeop 9y agoCan't wait to see all these over 30 Switch owners wearing cardboard helmets in front of their wives and kids while they play the newest legend of something.
- AndrewDucker 9y agoIf you've reached the age of 30 and are still afraid of looking a little silly while playing games, then you've not done a great job of growing up.
- nukeop 9y agoMaybe, but at the same time if you're over 30 and wearing a cardboard helmet in your living room getting excited about games aimed at children aged 4-12, then there's something wrong with you too.
- Double_a_92 9y agoWhy? You are getting excited about something that makes you happy and hurts no-one... Why is that bad? Just because it doesn't fit your serious adult worldview?
- croon 9y ago> “Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” -- C.S. Lewis
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- neonIcon 9y agoProbably won't personally buy either one, but I think it's going to be a home run for Nintendo.
- didibus 9y agoAs long as they keep churning out awesome AAAs and continue to get lots of quality indie and third party games to the Switch, I'm okay with this also being a thing they do.
- prawn 9y agoI'm amazed that this announcement has barely made the front page and has only 75 comments. It's a novel release from a major brand. It's a product that would ordinarily intrigue technical types, curious people, makers, etc - people that are all over Hacker News. Is there another discussion I've missed or is there another reason this hasn't captivated the community? I would've thought there'd be 50+ comments each about the use of cardboard, about how the piano even works, or the potential in schools, or as an activity for parents with curious kids, etc.
- TheAceOfHearts 9y agoMy guess is that it dropped from the front page pretty quickly so not many people got to see it, which is definitely a disappointment. The front page algorithm here can be pretty perplexing at times.
- mercer 9y agoThe activity does seem a bit lighter, but I think 78 comments in a day (or a little more than that) qualifies as more than 'barely'. Perhaps there'll be more activity when the product is actually released?