Speaker 1: Nintendo Labo is making cardboard fun again. I'm rich Jmiro.
Speaker 1: This is rich on Tech Daily. So if you're a parent,
Speaker 1: you've probably known this scenario. You buy your kids a
Speaker 1: new toy and what do they end up playing with
Speaker 1: the cardboard box that it comes in. Well, maybe this
Speaker 1: is what inspired Nintendo's latest creations called Nintendo Labo. This
Speaker 1: is a toy kit that harnesses the power of the
Speaker 1: Nintendo Switch but also uses cardboard to bring toys to life.
Speaker 1: I know it sounds like a head scratcher, and it
Speaker 1: kind of is. Nintendo put a teaser video out on
Speaker 1: YouTube a while back, and lots of people were saying,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, this looks so cool, but you really
Speaker 1: have to try it out to see what it's all about.
Speaker 1: That's probably the reason why Nintendo brought me and my
Speaker 1: son up to San Francisco to test it out. We
Speaker 1: were there at a special Nintendo Labo lab with a
Speaker 1: bunch of other parents and kids, YouTubers, bloggers, all handpicked
Speaker 1: to play with Labo before anyone else. All right, so
Speaker 1: what is It's a toy kit that comes with big
Speaker 1: pieces of cardboard and they're all kind of pre scored,
Speaker 1: so all you have to do is punch out the
Speaker 1: pieces and fold them together to create things. But here's
Speaker 1: the brilliant part. You follow on screen instructions on the
Speaker 1: Nintendo switch, which are really kind of elaborate. You can
Speaker 1: kind of rotate, zoom in and out see how things
Speaker 1: should look and what you should be doing. Think about
Speaker 1: like if you ever play with Lego, how you follow
Speaker 1: those instructions, except these are much much easier to follow.
Speaker 1: So what do we built. We built a radio controlled
Speaker 1: car and here's how it works. You build like kind
Speaker 1: of the cardboard part, but we built the two Nintendo
Speaker 1: controllers into it. Those became the wheels of the car,
Speaker 1: and then when you press the buttons on the Nintendo switch,
Speaker 1: the little RC car would actually go and it went
Speaker 1: by the two controllers sort of vibrating and on a
Speaker 1: smooth surface that would cause the cardboard to move forward.
Speaker 1: I know, it's ingenious and this is the kind of
Speaker 1: stuff that you get with the labbo. So once you're
Speaker 1: done building your creations, kids are gonna love decorating them. Now.
Speaker 1: Because we were at the Nintendo event, they had all
Speaker 1: kinds of cool stuff at our disposal. Today, decorate with
Speaker 1: like little stickers and colored tape and markers and crayons
Speaker 1: and all kinds of neat stuff. None of that comes
Speaker 1: in the box, But if you don't want to find
Speaker 1: that stuff in a place like Michael's, you can buy
Speaker 1: these special accessory kit Nintendo's gonna sell for ten dollars,
Speaker 1: which includes a bunch of that stuff. We also made
Speaker 1: a cardboard fishing rod and this was really ingenious as well,
Speaker 1: so it took a while to put this thing together.
Speaker 1: It was quite elaborate. And then it has like rubber
Speaker 1: bands in it that simulate pulling fish out of the water.
Speaker 1: So I know, again tough to explain, but the Nintendo
Speaker 1: switch slides into like a little cardboard base which shows
Speaker 1: images of fish on the screen, and when you pull
Speaker 1: the rod up, you feel the tension from the rubber
Speaker 1: bands as you try to catch fish, and I thought
Speaker 1: that was really cool. Nintendo really puts some thought into
Speaker 1: these toys. Now, we didn't build the rest of them,
Speaker 1: but we did see all the various Labo toys in action.
Speaker 1: There's a house, there's a motorcycle, a piano, a robot
Speaker 1: suit and they're all elaborate and quite interactive. So with
Speaker 1: the house, for instance, you can play games on the
Speaker 1: screen like the Nintendo Switch. Screen becomes the front of
Speaker 1: the house, and then you insert little cardboard plugs into
Speaker 1: sockets on the side, and when you switch those sockets out,
Speaker 1: you can play different games on screen. It's really weird
Speaker 1: but really fun. So in addition to making and playing,
Speaker 1: there's another aspect to the whole labo thing, and that's learning.
Speaker 1: Each kind of toy gets its magic through interactions with
Speaker 1: the Nintendo Switch. So, for instance, on the RC car,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you realize there's a little ir
Speaker 1: camera on the controller that can follow you around and
Speaker 1: you see yourself on the screen on the Nintendo Switch,
Speaker 1: So that was cool. In the piano, for instance, it
Speaker 1: can change its tune by sort of seeing different reflective
Speaker 1: tapes that are on the cardboard plugs that you insert
Speaker 1: into that It all sounds a little confusing, Well, you
Speaker 1: just kind of have to play with it to understand,
Speaker 1: and I think kids will really get the hang of
Speaker 1: this as they figure this out. We had lots of
Speaker 1: fun building, decorating and playing with the creations, and I
Speaker 1: think that's worth the experience of these toys. But your
Speaker 1: kids can also take it to the next level and
Speaker 1: really understand how they work. And they can also code
Speaker 1: them to do their own commands, so that's kind of
Speaker 1: cool too. I think this is a really unique way
Speaker 1: to use the Nintendo Switch to play more than just
Speaker 1: standard video games. But it's also kind of hard to
Speaker 1: grasp the concept, so I think that could make or
Speaker 1: break the commercial success of this. So if you think
Speaker 1: back in Nintendo's history, They've had a lot of ups
Speaker 1: and downs. They're famous for making these sort of unique
Speaker 1: accessories for their game consoles. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
Speaker 1: Virtual Boy not so much, Light Zapper awesome, power pad awesome.
Speaker 1: Then there was that little gyroscope guy. I always thought
Speaker 1: that was really cool, but I don't really think it
Speaker 1: was very successful. Bottom line, if your kid is into
Speaker 1: video games and building things like Lego Creations, I think
Speaker 1: you should give Labo a try. It launches April twentieth
Speaker 1: with two kits. There's a Variety kit which is seventy
Speaker 1: dollars that includes the part for the RC cars, the
Speaker 1: fishing rod, the house, the motorbike, and the piano. Then
Speaker 1: there's the Robot kit that's eighty dollars and that includes
Speaker 1: everything you need to build this pretty elaborate interactive robot suit.
Speaker 1: There you have it. If you want to see the
Speaker 1: story on my Nintendo Labo feel you can go to
Speaker 1: my website. Just go to Rich on tech dot tv
Speaker 1: for the link. And if you enjoy this podcast, please
Speaker 1: review us and rate us on the Apple Podcasts app.
Speaker 1: That way more folks see the podcast and experience it.
Speaker 1: And thanks to everyone who has done that so far,
Speaker 1: I really do appreciate it. I'm Rich Damiro. Thanks so
Speaker 1: much for listening. Rich on tech dot tv. I'll talk
Speaker 1: to you real soon.