SAN FRANCISCO, March 8 — The Nintendo Switch’s cardboard self-assembly range, Nintendo Labo, is moving into virtual reality through Nintendo Labo: VR Kit, due April 2019.
Nintendo is joining Google Cardboard in offering an entry-level, self-assembly VR device.
Nintendo Labo: VR Kit will retail from US$39.99 (RM163.58) for its most basic Starter Set, which is designed to work with the Nintendo Switch console (currently US$299, rumoured 2019 revision notwithstanding.)
The Starter Set includes a set of cardboard VR googles and an oversized blaster gun-shaped Toy-Con, a self-assembly cardboard casing into which the Nintendo Switch’s detachable controllers can fit.
A Nintendo Switch game card contains software for use with the VR Kit.
In addition, a pair of expansion sets, offered at US$19.99 apiece, contain various other controller housings.
Expansion Set 1 supplies the pre-cut material required for a camera and an elephant design, while Expansion Set 2 allows for a bird and what Nintendo is calling a wind pedal.
Each accessory, save for the foot-operated wind pedal, accepts Switch controllers as well as the Labo goggles.
All three kits will be made available together in the US$79.99 Nintendo Labo VR Kit.
Like Google Cardboard, which uses a compatible smartphone as its display, the Labo VR googles are strapless and must be held up to the face. Nintendo accommodates this by having Switch controllers placed within reach inside each variation on Labo’s goggle setup.
The most affordable offering from Facebook-owned VR company Oculus is the Oculus Go, which retails for US$199, integrates a headstrap, and doesn’t need a smartphone after initial setup, while the US$399 Oculus Quest is targeting a Spring 2019 launch.
The Labo range launched in April 2018 through a Variety Kit and Robot Kit, with a Vehicle Kit following in September.
Nintendo has been able to frame the line as a hybrid of play and education, as players are encouraged to exercise their creativity, develop confidence in constructing clever design solutions from basic materials, and increase their technological understanding through use of the various kits. — AFP-Relaxnews
