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Homebrew Labo kit gives you a full-body 'Mario Kart' workout
An enthusiast has built a Ring Fit kit that gives you a full-body workout while you play 'Mario Kart 8.'
Nintendo's Labo VR starter set drops to $20 at Best Buy
Nintendo's Labo VR Starter Set is once again on sale.
Nintendo's Vehicle and VR Starter Set Labo kits are $20 each at Best Buy
Best Buy has once again discounted select Nintendo Labo kits to $20.
A few Nintendo Labo kits drop to $20 each on Best Buy
Best Buy is offering discounts on select on Nintendo Labo kits, including a VR starter kit.
Select Nintendo Labo kits are $20 today at Best Buy
For today only, Best Buy has discounted all four Nintendo Labo kits it sells to $20, including the Variety and Vehicle kits, which usually costs $70.
Save $120 on a 32-inch Dell QHD monitor
If you're looking for a new desktop screen, Amazon has a compelling offer on a Dell monitor. The company's S3219D is currently $179.99, down from $299.99. It features a 32-inch VA panel with QHD 2560 x 1440 resolution. Additionally, it comes with 5W speakers and a variety of HDMI, DisplayPort and USB ports for a good spread of connectivity options. It also features 99 percent sRGB color gamut coverage, making it a good fit for photo editing work. With FreeSync support, it can also double as a decent gaming monitor if you have an AMD graphics card. Just note that the monitor's refresh rate is limited to 60Hz, so you won't get as smooth of an experience as you would with a 144Hz monitor. It's also not on NVIDIA's list of G-Sync compatible monitors, so your mileage will vary if you own one of the company's GPUs. All that said, for $180 you'll be hard-pressed to find a better monitor for the price, especially one with a QHD panel.
How do kids (and adults) like Nintendo’s Labo VR kit?
Nintendo's Labo VR kit is certainly a step up from the historic gaming company's earlier Labo kits. With five cardboard projects for kids to construct (including the headset itself), senior editor Kris Naudus found it to be a unique, endearing and playful experience, mostly because of its clear building instructions and fun mini games. However, while the VR headset displays decent 720p, it still lacks a killer app and the VR updates to existing games leave a lot to be desired.
Nintendo Labo VR review: Cute, cardboard and kinda boring
Virtual reality devotees scoffed at the introduction of Google Cardboard five years ago: Why would anyone settle for such a limited, feeble-looking piece of paper when "real" headsets were on the horizon? But Cardboard was never about competing with Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Instead, it was a way to give non-early adopters a low-cost taste of immersive technology. Years later Cardboard has faded into the background as the VR scene has taken off, but Nintendo never forgot about the promise of low-tech VR. Labo VR builds on both the initial ideas of Cardboard and the inaugural Labo sets to create a unique, endearing and most important, playful experience.
Labo VR modes come to 'Super Mario Odyssey' and 'Breath of the Wild'
Still on the fence about Nintendo's latest push into VR? There's one more thing to know about Nintendo Labo VR: it will work with hit Switch titles Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. According to Nintendo you won't have to press it up to your face to replay either game in full, instead updates will enhance each title in different ways. In Breath of the Wild, players can jump in and out of the VR experience at will, while playing the same game as always. In Super Mario Odyssey, however, it will gain three "bite-sized bonus experiences" crossing the Cap, Seaside, and Luncheon Kingdoms. Software updates for both titles will arrive on April 25th, a couple of weeks after the VR kit and its accessories hit shelves on the 12th. Nintendo didn't say whether VR upgrades are planned for any other games, but if the add-on takes off then the potential is certainly there.
Nintendo's Labo turns the Switch into a perfect VR gateway
Nintendo proved that its cardboard Labo kits could actually be decent gaming accessories -- especially for kids. But the idea of using Labo to bring VR to the Switch sounds even more far-fetched. Could an under-powered system with a low-resolution screen actually produce believable virtual reality? It turns out, it can.
Nintendo's next Labo kit brings VR to Switch on April 12th
The line of cardboard DIY kits Nintendo offers for its Switch console keep expanding, and the latest one is Labo VR. It will go on sale April 12th in a few different packages: a $40 Starter Set + Blaster that can be grow with two $20 Expansion sets adding either a Camera & Elephant or Bird & Wind Petal, or as a complete $80 VR Kit with everything included from the start. Nintendo claims that by eliminating the head strap of most VR wearables and opting for devices that players hold up to their faces, it will make for a more social experience. While we're waiting to find out exactly how quickly our arms get tired, another fascinating question will be how engrossing an experience be with the Toy-Con VR goggles pressed up against the Switch's 720p, 60 fps display. Most VR headsets on the market feature much higher refresh rates and pixel density to enhance realism, so we'll need to go face-on with one to see how it fares. However, the addition of a tactile system with most of the projects could enhance the experience considerably, moving beyond the simple handheld controllers connected to other systems. So far the Labo toys have been a rewarding -- if time consuming -- investment, and it will be interesting to see if the trend continues next month. Nintendo Labo: VR Kit will launch in retail stores with two primary configurations, one that includes all Toy-Con creations and one that includes a smaller selection of projects to get started: Nintendo Labo: VR Kit: Available at a suggested retail price of $79.99, the complete Nintendo Labo: VR Kit includes the Nintendo Switch software and materials to build all six Toy-Con projects – the Toy-Con VR Goggles, Toy-Con Blaster, Toy-Con Camera, Toy-Con Bird, Toy-Con Wind Pedal and Toy-Con Elephant – as well as a Screen Holder and Safety Cap. It's a good option for kids and families who want to dive in to the full experience. Nintendo Labo: VR Kit – Starter Set + Blaster: Available at a suggested retail price of only $39.99, the Starter Set includes the Nintendo Switch software, plus all the components to build the Toy-Con VR Goggles and Toy-Con Blaster, as well as the Screen Holder and Safety Cap. The Starter Set is a great entry point into the world of Nintendo Labo VR. Players that own the Starter Set can purchase the following optional expansion sets to expand their experience: Nintendo Labo: VR Kit – Expansion Set 1**: Available at a suggested retail price of $19.99, Expansion Set 1 includes the Toy-Con Elephant and Toy-Con Camera. Nintendo Labo: VR Kit – Expansion Set 2**: Available at a suggested retail price of $19.99, Expansion Set 2 includes the Toy-Con Wind Pedal and Toy-Con Bird.
Nintendo is bringing Labo to elementary school classrooms
Nintendo's Labo kits for the handheld Switch platform have always had a STEM foundation, which is why the company's latest announcement makes complete sense. Nintendo is partnering with the Institute of Play to introduce Labo kits into elementary school classrooms around the country.
Nintendo Labo Vehicle Kit: Rewarding builds with better games
Nintendo Labo has been out for a while now. We've been charmed by the company's inventive designs and the way they fuse cardboard with the Switch's powerful Joy-Con controllers. The product line hasn't been a runaway success, though. In its last quarterly earnings, Nintendo revealed that 1.39 million Labo sets were sold between their debut in April and the end of June 2018. That's by no means a disaster, and not a huge surprise given Labo is more education focused than Nintendo's usual wares. The kits are also a tad more expensive than a typical Switch game like ARMS.
Nintendo Labo Vehicle Kit hands-on: The Toy-Cons we've been waiting for
Nintendo's first few Labo Toy-Con kits let us go fishing and pretend to be a giant robot. But aside from the motorcycle kit, they didn't really get you moving much. That's where the upcoming Toy-Con Vehicle Kit comes in: It has an actual steering wheel; a joystick for flying; and a unique dual-dial submarine controller. And, thanks to a wide variety of game modes, you'll actually want to use them for more than a weekend.
Nintendo's Vehicle Labo kit delivers cardboard driving fun
The Nintendo Labo family of cardboard Switch accessories is growing, with a third kit that will arrive September 14th. The Toy-Con 03 Vehicle Kit can be configured to control an on-screen car, plane or submarine, plus a key to activate them. The various pieces and rubber bands put your Joy-Con to work in a steering wheel, pedal or joystick-like configuration, similar to the other Labo kits (Robot and Variety). Once they're built you can link them to your Switch and go adventuring via land, sea or air in one- or two-player modes. We've seen a few expansions arrive already for the existing Labo devices like an update adding support for use as a Mario Kart controller, and anticipate similar enhancements for this one. When it arrives, it will go on sale for $70 just like the existing Variety kit, which is $10 cheaper than the Robot setup.
Nintendo Labo contest champions include a solar accordion and teapots
If it wasn't already apparent that you can do much more with Nintendo Labo than what comes in the box, it is now. Nintendo has unveiled the winners of a Creators Contest that challenged them to produce games and musical instruments, and the results go well beyond what you might expect. One of the more inventive examples is Momoka Kinder's solar-powered accordion. It uses the Joy-Cons to both play notes (when you cover one of the holes with your finger) and change volume based on tilt, while pressing buttons on the Switch screen controls the octave. You probably won't serenade someone with it, but it's complete and relatively easy to make (you can use tissue boxes if you like).
Nintendo's next Labo kit should include these laser tag guns
If you wish Nintendo's Labo projects did more to help your friends partake in the fun, you're in for a treat. Japanese tinkerers Miyuki and Ran have developed a homebrew laser tag system that uses a Switch for some two-player blaster action. The duo used Labo's Toy-Con Garage to turn pairs of Joy-Cons (which have infrared sensors and emitters) into both light guns and targets, with the Switch itself both recording hits and reducing a player's "health" as they take shots.
Now Nintendo's cardboard Labo controller works with 'Mario Kart'
If you have the Nintendo Labo cardboard Variety Kit and a copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, then you can play the game in a new way. Build yourself the Toy-Con Motorbike controller, and you can use it as a steering wheel. It should work whether you're playing on the TV or with your Switch inserted directly into the controller and, assuming you have enough kits and Joy-Cons, can be used by up to four players at once. We already thought the game was basically perfect, but if what you really needed was a motorcycle-style pair of handlebars, then this is exactly the upgrade you were looking for.
Here's a $20 arcade cabinet made of cardboard and a Switch
Where Nintendo goes, others follow. Off the back of Nintendo's popular Labo cardboard kits, accessory maker Nyko has concocted its own cardboard creation -- the PixelQuest Arcade Kit. Like Labo, it comes flat-packed as cardboard sheets. Where it differs is that the Arcade Kit doesn't come with any software. It's instead meant to act as a miniature arcade cabinet for games that support play on a single Joy-Con. That's a lot of games -- including major titles like Mario Kart 8 -- but the PixelQuest Arcade Kit is going to be at its best when paired with something like Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection or Metal Slug 3.
Nintendo Labo review: A labor of love
Over the last week, I've spent more than 20 hours folding and assembling cardboard, and I've learned a few things. One: You don't want to follow exactly in my footsteps. And two: Nintendo's Labo is ingenious. It's something few other companies could have produced and turns the Switch into so much more than a game console: With Labo, it's an engine powering a whole new world of DIY creations. The only downside? Building Labo kits can be a pretty huge time sink. But for some, that might be a good thing.
