Video: Tiny hands-on with Swinxs

When this Swinxs RFID game console arrived at the doorstep of our European annex to test, we realized our dilemma: kids, we need kids, preferably the type who won't mind being tricked into a little physical activity. Fortunately, we always have a few 3-footers lurking around the Engadget "waste acre" scrounging for circuit boards to strip of their gold. Presumably then, in violation of several international child labor laws, we put Swinxs to the grueling challenge of entertaining three kids, city-hardened, and angry at the establishment after their respective 5-, 6- and 7-years of big city livin'. How did Swinxs fare? Click on through to witness the laughter and tears spilled during a typical Swinxs afternoon.

As you can see from the video, Swinxs was a success. Initial setup was very quick. Within 10 minutes, the kids were playing on their own leaving us time to consume the daily quota of whiskey and cigarettes required per editorial cycle.

There are a few frustrating points of course. For example, the RFID reader doesn't work well in games like Countdown where it must read several XS bands within milliseconds of being slapped down together on top of the console. The RFID reader would also be better served if it could detect the XS bands from a slightly longer distance away from the console.

Other interesting observations:

• As veteran users of robots, the kids were often talking to Swinxs expecting it to respond to their voice commands
• SwinxsLink software (Windows-only) is required to communicate with the www.swinxs.com website to download new games -- no games for you Mac owners (at least for now)
  
• At one point, CircleSwinxs, a frenetic ring-around-the-rosie game, busted out with a plague-inspired, death-metal musical surprise which had us ROFLing
  

Bottom Line: The €150 / $235 Swinxs does what the Disney or Nintendo babysitter can't: it gets kids moving, really moving... and that's a good thing too, chubby.

[Daniel @ Jul 8th 2008 7:04AM]

i thought the wii got kids moving

[Metkis @ Jul 8th 2008 7:19AM]

Don't lie, I'm not the only one that sits down when playing Wii Tennis off Wii Sports.

That boxing game gets you pretty damn worked up though.

[Agent42 @ Jul 8th 2008 7:08AM]

Why would this be posted so early in the morning?

For us coffee guzzling early morning readers?

...How thoughtful =]

[Metkis @ Jul 8th 2008 7:28AM]

So you can hear screaming kids before and after your own wake up.

[niax.hollett @ Jul 8th 2008 7:46AM]

I'm guessing because this has been posted from Europe

[BorgMan @ Jul 8th 2008 7:33AM]

Ha, I saw it on display ( I believe it was the Swinxs) during a demo day at the local gameshop. Kids can be so cruel to eachother >) Oh well, I guess that the problems with the XS bands can be solved with the next version, and to be honest no need to slap down that €150 until that moment.

[Darth Abe @ Jul 8th 2008 8:02AM]

I don't even care about this game and I read the article because of the introduction. Amazing.

[ShadowKain @ Jul 8th 2008 8:14AM]

What does this exactly do? Is it a Simon clone? Just haven't seen much of it...Oh and I hope you are paying your teeny workers Tom. XD

[rock99rock @ Jul 8th 2008 12:56PM]

well, you could watch the video.

[jonyb @ Jul 8th 2008 8:24AM]

its a good way to get kids moving i guess, rather then getting ridiculously fat playing Halo.

[hunter @ Jul 8th 2008 8:25AM]

Seems very similiar to Hyper Dash a $20-25 USD game we bought recently from amazon.com, check it out for those not wanting to drop big bucks on this toy...

[Kevin @ Jul 8th 2008 9:26AM]

Looks fun, and something kids could probably relate to more than Wii Fit. The video was cute. :)

[Emma @ Jul 8th 2008 3:29PM]

i have both: hyper dash and Swinxs. Swinxs is a platform: you can download new games for free. there are 20 available now. my kids seem to like it a lot. we own it for 4 weeks now. hyper dash is a low quality (sound and plastics are cheap) one trick pony.

[Shawonda @ Aug 15th 2008 1:59PM]

You are comparing a $235 toy to a $20 toy and finding the $235 item superior? That is surprising.

I was part of the HyperDash dev team so I'm definitely biased. Swinxs looks like a great product and I can't wait to check it out. But I don't understand why the pricing is so high: on the face it's got 85% the same electronics as most RFID games (HyperDash, Cosmic Catch, etc). RFID reader, antenna, remote tags and speaker. These all retail for $20-$30. Why does the addition of a USB connection and flash memory add $200 to the price? Clearly the software development is expensive, but you could buy all of the other RFID active games out there for less money.

If HyperDash feels like a cheap toy to you, I'm sorry to hear that. I suspect you feel that way about most mass-market toys. However I think it's fair to say HD delivers on the promise of active fun for kids (with RFID!) for a low price. And there are 4 game modes, including Memory and Team play. Surely not as expandable as Swinxs, but a few more tricks than 1.

[JAmerican @ Jul 8th 2008 10:11AM]

I doubt that the amount of movement performed is enough to be considered movement. There are studies that indicate that even kids on the playground are not getting enough exercise due to they move and stop continuously. In this case, the kids just run and do an activity and then sit down and relax.

Not much exercise. Especially in a confined space.

[JAmerican @ Jul 8th 2008 10:26AM]

First Line correction: ...enough to be considered movement.

movement = physical activity.

[Jim Silverstein @ Jul 8th 2008 10:42AM]

RFID Chug Timer

[master_sword @ Jul 8th 2008 10:48AM]

poor kid can't win ring around the rosie...

[Lea Hernandez @ Jul 8th 2008 11:51PM]

If he's playing Ring around the Rosy, no wonder he's losing. The other two boys are playing Musical Chairs.