Nintendo Labo Concept Review

You are tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek Hello and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your

host Steve Megatron Phillips and in this episode

I am joined by Michael Booth and Joe Powers and

We Got listener interaction Whoa Okay, last minute.

Yes last minute so that either way it still counts

right it counts, but literally last minute because

otherwise we're going to go with our our other

choices which can be saved so right nintendo

levo and peripherals is basically our topic for

this episode which i want to give a shout out

since they took the time to suggest something

uh this came to us from a friend of the show

art danner yep uh who gave us a couple of different

suggestions prior to that I think he was being

a troublemaker. He was being a troll, but it

still works. Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong,

the topics he wanted us to talk about were geeky

enough to talk about, but we admit we don't know

enough to talk about what he wanted us to talk

about. Nope. So luckily, he threw out the whole

Nintendo Labo debut, which... Don't know okay,

so you okay, so all I've seen is the three minutes

YouTube video that Nintendo put out yeah, which

I'm assuming is all that you have seen as well

Yep, I had seen Beforehand I'd seen some pictures

That people had done with them, but I hadn't

seen I didn't really understand what it was.

I was looking at Okay Until I watched the video

and then now I understand it. It's basically

a 3d printed, you know Cardboard adapter that

you add on to the the device right? So, okay

A little bit of a I guess a little bit of a primer

here. I have a switch you do not know I'm not

the biggest fan of the Switch, mostly because

I can't think of anything to play on it. Basically,

I take it out of the dock, I let the battery

slowly die due to standby time, and then I put

it back in the dock and I let it charge back

to full. That has been the extent of my interaction

with the Switch since Black Friday. I don't know,

like, okay, so let's remove the fact that you

don't have one from the equation and the fact

that I can't find something to play on it. What

do you think, like, I see this, I don't have

kids, I don't plan on having kids anytime soon,

but I see this and I think this is really cool.

I see this as almost like a, like a pre -robotics

class. Yeah, cuz some of this stuff seems pretty

intricate like the the backpack with the with

the pulleys or the the fishing pole That's extendable

or the camera or the even the the digital piano

Yeah I mean it all seems it all seems really

neat And the the kits themselves it's like Don't

I don't know how what the individual kits are

it looks like you get the whole kit and caboodle

for about $70 Yep, it says and and what it is

is it'll be sold in two kits Coming out April

20th of this year. There's a variety kit variety

and robot. Yep. So the whole the whole kit and

caboodle is 150 bucks roughly. Yep Right around

there and it's you're right. It's like you basically

get We've seen these before on a smaller scale,

right? It's a cardboard sheet that has dotted

or perforated edges that tell you where to fold

and bend. And you create different things out

of it. And as you stated in this, you can make

a telescoping fishing pole. Yep, the variety

pack allows you to do the RC car, brushbots,

a house, a motorbike, a fishing rod, and an 11

key piano, whereas the robot lets you build the

robot suit, which includes the headset, backpack,

straps, and the tension cords to assemble it.

And then they both come with software for the

Switch. I find this interesting, and I don't

even have a kid. If I had a kid, I would have

pre -ordered this by now. Where do you come down?

For the sheer concept of it, I think it's really

interesting. I think that it's like your own

homemade robotics class and it kind of teaches

them the building ability of actually basically,

I mean you're building a machine and you're just

inputting the OS with the software that's going

to run it and the technical... pieces into it,

which are the controllers and the screen, and

you've got yourself basically a digital interface

for whatever it is. It kind of reminds me of

those old LEGO Mindstorm. Think this is a little

more. I think this is a little less than Lego

Mindstorm Yeah, it's a little less, but it because

I've tried the Mindstorm thing that was insane

to even try and program or do anything with I

think that this will be super simple Just because

it's Nintendo, and it's it's kind of like a game,

but it's at the same time its own kind of Intricate

kind of circuit playground well with the I don't

I I think I think I think you're looking at it

like, I think you're making it more complex than

it actually is. Just from what I've been able

to see on my Twitter feed, like the, for example,

you can make a cricket, okay? And you slot the

Joy -Cons into it and through the haptic feedback

or what do they call? I forget what they call

their haptic feedback engine, but like you can

make it hop, okay? But that there's nothing more

than you folding a piece of cardboard into something

that looks like a bug and sliding the controller

in there and it makes it hot like the the piano

you're not it Like you're I'm It's not like you're

wiring things up to anything. It's you're you're

you're putting things in a position where Certain

buttons can make the motion controls do do things

like like the fishing pole for example Yeah,

it telescopes and it's got the hand crank, but

what you end up doing is you slot that Joy -Con

into the fishing pole, and you just crank it,

and that makes the Joy -Con spin, obviously,

and through motion control, that tells the thing

that you are reeling in a fish. You're not so

much as connecting wires to things as you are

applying more realistic motion to what you are...

doing? Like, they're asking you to build your

own accessories. It's basically taking the concept

of the Nintendo Wii, but actually putting something

to it. Well, okay, yeah, remember the Wii had

all of those extensions for the the Wiimote,

like the tennis racket. I believe they had a

fishing pole. I think they had a light gun. They

had a tennis racket. They had a steering wheel.

Yep, steering wheel, a baseball bat. Yeah, so

it's it's it's that stuff, but they're asking

you to you know Create that out of a sheet of

cardboard. Obviously that they've they've stenciled

out for you Which brings me to one of the things

that I thought was kind of interesting about

it, which was I was a big fan of rock band and

guitar hero. Mm -hmm and You know that the whole

plastic instrument peripheral craze that popped

up around that, right? And now, I mean, I still

have my rock band stuff, but it's just kind of

languishing somewhere in my basement. And I'm

pretty sure a lot of people probably sent that

stuff out to either Goodwill or a garage sale.

Yeah, I haven't even played Guitar Hero in years.

I mean, it's been a long time. That was a whole

lot of plastic right? Oh, yes, where's this?

This is all like recyclable You know like it's

it's You know that you don't think about what

you're gonna do with it when you're done with

it. I guess is what I'm saying Yeah, we've done

with it. You just kind of throw on the recycle

bin and be done Yeah, I mean that that's on the

that's not that's on the the downside of this

product right, but Mean the other cool thing

is the ability to like personalize everything

obviously because it's cardboard you can draw

on it to your heart's content Well, the other

thing too is I remember when I was going to get

rid of my guitar hero stuff That they weren't

worth anything anyway in the store, and they

wouldn't even take the peripherals for the games

Like they would take the software. They just

wouldn't take the the device itself. Yep So like

in this essence, they're kind of curbing that

whole need to Try and off that too. So I mean

it's it's kind of a Kind of a win -win because

when you decide you're done with it don't want

it anymore. It's not really that big of a headache

to throw out right not saying that like It you

know, I mean that's the other downside too is

like you can ruin it really easily and have to

buy another one It looks like though You get

multiple attempts to make something Or unless

I'm looking no nevermind. I don't think so. I

think it's a one -shot near Yeah, it is I was

looking at the what's included in the variety

kit, and I thought there were a number of a Steps,

but then I realized it was a B C D E F. You know

Until they until the contraption you were trying

to make was built. I Think that this is like

I said, I think this is pretty cool And I don't

even have kids Like is this something that you

would Do with your kids? This is something that

I would consider actually getting it for because

My thing is is I don't want my kids sitting still

not doing anything He because like that's that's

the reason why I won't let him sit and watch

TV or play a tablet is because He just sits and

veges out like there's no no physical movement.

He'll he'll stare into oblivion for hours if

you let him And so with this, it would kind of

give him that kind of that accomplishment, that

sense of accomplishment of having done something

and having built something like he does with

Legos. And yet he would still get to play that

digital game, but it wouldn't be something that's

necessarily going to be impairing or bad for

him. It would just be something that he could

have fun and kind of learn with. Right. Kind

of like You know bowling on Wii Sports, but you

don't let anyone sit down. Yeah, basically So

But no, I mean I think that the the whole concept

like I kind of noticed this the other day and

And it didn't really click with me what I was

looking at and then you know upon watching the

video I was kind of like, oh it makes so much

more sense now What's going on with that and

it's I don't know. It's kind of inventive that

that's the one thing that I can give Nintendo

is they may not always have the greatest game

library, but they always have the most innovative

thought -provoking products. Yeah, they... I'll

agree with you on both accounts. They don't seem

afraid to try something new for better or worse.

But I will say, and this didn't really come from

me, but this came from... seeing it on Twitter,

like, they're in a better spot right now than

they've been in. It was like they spent the last

year going after quote unquote hardcore gamers.

One, I think it also helped that they distanced

themselves from the Wii U. Well, absolutely.

But the way that they did that is they, I mean,

one, they've, you know, they finally, I mean,

At the end of the day, in my opinion, the Switch

is a kindle fire with a controller added onto

it. But they found a way to make a home console

portable, which is cool to a lot of people. I

don't play mine that way. I can't stand to play

it that way when I do play it. But they also

brought the games that everyone wants to play.

They've got Doom and Wolfenstein. And they brought

Mario and Zelda in both in the first year of

release. So it'll be a while before we see another

set of core games in those series. And they're

continuing down that path. They just released

Skyrim as well. They're going to release Dark

Souls this year. But... because they've done

that and they've grown their install base and

everything seems to be healthy for the system,

now they can kind of lean the other way and go

after the casual people that like the motion

controls, that like, that this is for. you know

they they like the peripherals they like you

know being able to do stuff the the question

is how cool are these games and will other games

be made that use this stuff well for instance

i think that you could end up seeing something

in the vein of like with the camera peripheral

i could see them using that in like another one

of those kind of like pokemon snap type scenarios

or like a mario thing or you know, like the piano

thing, I could see them doing like kind of a

fun, maybe like a piano playing music thing,

like not necessarily, it wouldn't be like rock

band or guitar hero kind of cool, but it would

be interesting in this, you know, in the least,

but. Or if somebody made a fishing game, can

they use the Labo fishing rod, you know, or can

you use the, it looks like one of the things

that you can create here is the handles for a

bike. Which would be cool. Can you use that in

Mario Kart? That would be awesome. That's what

I'm wondering. Are these single -use, one -off

things like Wii Sports was? Or are these pieces

that you're building, could a developer potentially

use them in their game? On the back of the box,

instead of just seeing Joy -Cons in the Pro Controller,

will you see works with Labo? bike peripheral

thing if you still have it, you know? Yeah, I

would be interested to see how that all plays

out as they progress through this because that

will determine whether people will want to fork

over the $150 worth of cardboard to do this.

I don't think that's really up for... I think

this will do well. I think it'll do well, but

I think it'll do great if it does have a lot

of that. If they can do more with it. Yeah, they

can do just more than just what comes with it.

Like if it's a glorified Wii Sports in essence

with these cardboard peripherals, I don't see

it sticking around very long. But if they manage

to incorporate it into other games or mini games

like another, you know, Mario Party and you're

having to use these different... You don't have

to, but you could use these gear. Oh yeah. I

see it going over really well or in... If they

were to do a full -blown... Because Pokemon is

kind of getting big again with a movie coming

out next year or this year or something. They

could have the fishing rod. They could have the

camera. Some of this stuff could be reused for

that as well. I see a lot of application in other...

Products right. It's all it's all there. It's

just will they do it. Yeah, I You know it's this

just makes me go you know, there's there's three

games that I'm looking forward to But there's

two games on the switch that I'm looking forward

to this year one was not even this year. So there's

Bayonetta The Bayonetta collection which is Bayonetta

one and two And then there's Bayonetta 3, which

is coming sometime within the next year or so.

And then there's Metroid Prime 4, which is also

coming sometime within the next year or so. Like

those three games are like what I'm looking forward,

like what I have to look forward to, like what

I know is coming. Seeing this just makes me want

like a Switch sports. Like remake Wii Sports

for the Switch. But make it look cooler. A little

bit. I don't even need it to look cooler. It

was so, it was so... It was fun though. Just

the bowling. Or put just the bowling... I love

the bowling with the bowling pins. That was like

by far the coolest thing in the world. Just put

bowling on the eShop. That's all you have to

do. Like just charge like 10 -15 bucks for just

bowling. Could you imagine like a bowling ball

almost shaped piece of label cardboard? that

you actually would throw? No, that's you wouldn't

throw but that you could just, you could, you

know, you would have the little, I think, I don't

think. The finger holes. Yeah, the finger holes

so you could pretend and although I see somebody

still launching that at their TV with the remote

inside, but. Did you ever throw a Wiimote? No,

I never needed the hand strap, but I had them.

I did it once and only once at my parents' house.

I didn't hit the TV. My parents used to have

a clock on top of the TV, one of those like,

it's not like a grandfather clock, but it's got

the pendulum. They used to have one of those

on top of their TV. And I don't remember what

we were, I think it might've been baseball or

it may have been bowling. I'm not quite entirely

sure, but that thing just went right out of my

hands, like a dart right to the clock. It knocked

it completely off. I mean, it didn't break the

clock or anything. But it was like a missile.

Yeah, but it was a really sturdy clock. And of

course, the TV wasn't damaged in any way. And

the controller was fine, too. But yeah, I guess.

Obviously, there's a lot of memes going around

the Internet about this stuff. I mean, I've seen

a lot of funny ones. I haven't seen any of the

memes, actually, which is surprising. I've seen

some. That, you know, there's one where someone

took a piece of cardboard and wrote Mother 3

on it. I don't know if you know what that is.

Yeah, isn't that the... It's the sequel to Earthbound.

Yeah, that's what I thought. So they wrote Mother

3 on the box and then they stuck a Joy -Con inside

of it and then they put the caption under it

says, it's not working. Which I thought was really

funny. There's the M16 that I sent you that picture.

And then there was one that made me cry which

was it was it was tweeted out by the fake Peter

Molyneux account He said it basically it was

like Metroid Prime 4 and it said directed by

Peter Molyneux and it had the the kid wearing

the robot kit Like it like playing Metroid Prime

And I saw that and that made me cry. I was like,

some of this stuff was funny and some of this

stuff just makes me really, really cry. So yeah,

let us know what you think, what you guys think

about the Labo stuff. Is it cool? I mean, if

you had kids, would this be something you'd want

them to do? If you don't have kids, is this still

cool to you? It's cool to me, but I just don't

see myself. doing this stuff But definitely if

I had kids I would totally I would totally do

it because I Feel like when you have kids like

it gives you a reason to do the more Insane things

that you might want to do like the more childish

things that you might want to do you mean like

go back and Sit for hours playing with random

Legos that aren't even a kit that you bought

specifically for a model Possibly yeah something

like that and and of course something like this

too, right? Like I can't justify putting together

a bunch of cardboard things and leaving them

laying around my house But if I had kids I could

totally justify that you know So yeah, let us

know what you think about the labo thing Let

us know what your whole opinion is on the whole

peripheral craze from like ten years ago and

the toys to life stuff we didn't really hit on

the toys to life stuff, but like That's the Skylanders

and the Lego stuff, which has now been discontinued.

Disney Infinity. Disney Infinity, which has been

discontinued. The only one that's still out there

and kicking as far as I know is Skylanders, and

it's not even that as big as it was. I got into

Skylanders. I still have all my figurines because

they were really cool. But let us know what you

think about that using the hashtag. Altered Labo?

Yep, sounds good. Sure. Altered Labo, you can

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At scp21. Until next time, get altered, get geeky

with the Altered Geeks.