A couple of days ago, Nintendo was teasing a new interactive way to play with the Switch, and I don't think there was anyone who saw this coming... Their new experience is Nintendo Labo. Say it with me again, Nin-ten-do .... La-bo.... What is Nintendo Labo you ask? Well, that's why I put Nintendo's video up at the top.
In case you don't know, Nintendo Labo are activity kits, two in number, that let you punch out pre-cut cardboard pieces and put them together to make such things as fishing rods, houses, pianos, even "remote-control" bugs. You place controllers or even the Switch itself in them and suddenly, it becomes a physical toy you can actually play with instead of a video game system you merely play on.
Now, whenever Nintendo decides to do something original, something wacky, something only Nintendo has the gumption to come up with, it splits the internet down into two camps. There's the camp that just doesn't get it and has to lash out at Nintendo for being so stupid to make something like this and believes it will be an instant failure. Then, you have the other camp, the one that sees the promise in it, and also realizes its not made specifically for them. I belong in the latter camp.
Let's just get this out of the way, ok?
NINTENDO LABO IS NOT MADE FOR YOU!
Nintendo Labo is simply not made for gamers, not even the 6-12 age group they're targeting. If you were looking for a new awesome first party game, I'm sorry, this simply will not be it. This isn't gaming; this is edutainment. This is for a select group of young children who enjoy putting things together. Nintendo is looking to stimulate imaginations, and the age group of 6-12 is when a lot of kids show imagination and creativity. Nintendo Labo will help facilitate this because it marries two things together: virtual and physical. As I said earlier, Nintendo Labo transforms the Switch into something they don't just play on, but play with. This is a move that should be lauded. Any company that shows interest in the development of children should be praised.
Let's address a commen complaint, though.
"They're selling cardboard for 70 and 80 dollars!"
Yeah, this is a little hard for even me to defend. First off, let's just remember that software is coming with Labo, so it's not just the cardboard. With that said, how robust can the software actually be to inflate the cost of these 70 and 80 dollar kits? I got to thinking, though. As with most toys, you're not really paying for cheap material. You're paying for all the R&D. You're paying for the engineering. Even though it's cardboard, it's precision cut cardboard and has to be manufactured exclusively for Nintendo.
You know what else is cheap but costs more than it should? Legos. Legos are just plastic, but for some reason, they cost about 10 dollars for every 100 pieces. This means that the larger sets can very easily become quite expensive. Just a few months ago, Lego released a massive 7,500+ piece Millennium Falcon. The retail price? 800 dollars! EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS for plastic! And what do the kids get out of it? Something that they play with for a few days and then let it collect dust somewhere.
Ok, yes, Legos are more durable than cardboard, but the one point I think just about everyone has missed is that Nintendo will replace these pieces. For free. Even better, you can probably make your own pieces with your own cardboard so you don't have to wait for Nintendo to ship out replacements to you. If you lose a piece in a Lego set, you're pretty much screwed, but if you lose or break a piece in Labo, you can literally replace it yourself.
True, Nintendo Labo is not Metroid Prime (although we are getting a new one eventually). It's no F-Zero. It's no Pilotwings; no Super Smash Bros; no StarFox; no Paper Mario. It's nothing that any hardcore Nintendo fan actually wants for their Switch. What I'm honestly most disappointed with is that it's still no Virtual Console. I get it. Nintendo fans are pissed about Nintendo Labo because they feel that Nintendo isn't giving them what they want, what they need, what they feel they deserve to have for supporting Nintendo for so long.
You just have to keep patient. Nintendo has always tried something new and for the most part, it usually involved their entire demographic, but this time Nintendo is focusing on young children. I tend to think children aren't stimulated enough, and STEM activities are becoming more popular by the day. For Nintendo to bring something to younger gamers that actually involves them to play WITH their system, not just on it (ok, that was the last time, sorry), it's actually a genuinely good thing. A kid can put together a cardboard piano and then find out he wants to be a pianist. A kid could put together the Robot kit and find out he wants to work in robotics. Hell, a kid could put together a fishing rod and then have a newfound desire to go outside and fish for real.
Without really trying to sound like a Nintendo fanboy, I have to say this much. Out of the three console makers, Nintendo is really the only one to truly think outside of the box... even if it's with cardboard boxes. Sony and MS are in the hardware race pushing each other to make incremental upgrades just to up resolution and frame rate.... and that's about it. No strives to further enhance gameplay, no real innovative tech, nothing distinctively unique. The only reason why you can't play one game on the other console is because of who owns the licenses.
Labo is proof positive that Nintendo is dedicated to innovation and creativity in the console market, as if the Switch wasn't already proof enough. It's weird to think that in order to stand out, you sometimes have to scale back, and Nintendo's scaled so far back as to involve a basic childhood playtime material: cardboard. There's something to be said about simplicity, and it's the simplicity of Nintendo Labo that I find to be... simply genius.
No comments:
Post a Comment