Every child loves the box, sometimes even more than the gadget or game itself. With that in mind, Nintendo is making the box into the game.
You can call it genius or creative, but Nintendo’s latest idea is definitely interesting, and feels like a classic Nintendo move. The creator of some of the world’s most inventive consoles is deciding to shake things up.
After building a console that is both portable and meant to be used at home, the Switch is about to grow an imagination. Specifically, it will be your imagination, as the world of papercraft becomes an actual tangible accessory, with Nintendo developing a concept that will have you build the peripherals for the Nintendo Switch.
Called Nintendo Labo, it’s literally a digitally-connected execution of papercraft, connecting the wonderful world of paper and cardboard with software for the Switch, building your very own fishing rod handle or motorcycle controller, or piano or robot or other things, each accessory arriving with its very own software made to work with the Nintendo Switch.
Almost like a form of imagination meeting the cardboard equivalent of Lego, Labo is about the most interesting take we’ve seen on a video game system in ages, as the console becomes creative once more, and folks playing the games are encouraged to use their imaginations again.
Coming out of the blue (and surprisingly missing a perfectly timed announce window at CES 2018), Nintendo’s cardboard Labo idea will be coming to Australia in several packs, but won’t be here for a few months.
In fact, if the idea of a cardboard gadget grabs you and you’re all ready with your Switch, the bad news is that you’ll be forced to wait until April 20 to get your fingers all over the cardboard playset an give that imagination a work out.
But hey, when it does, expect to see Nintendo’s crazy cardboard concept at video game retailers across the country, where it will carry price tags not unlike other video games, and a pile of cardboard and instructions on the inside, too.
