Nintendo’s VR Goggles. Image : Nintendo The Nintendo Switch already felt like the best part of a VR experience thanks to the wizardry of the Joy-Con controllers in some games, but now it’s going full VR. Tonight the company announced the Nintendo Labo: VR Kit, an $80 Labo kit that lets users build a VR headset out of cardboard. This is the first major foray into VR for the company since the 1995 Virtual Boy. Advertisement Labo is a very clever idea, allowing people to create all sorts of peripherals for the Switch that might not be used every day, and then letting them dismantle them and toss them in a drawer when not in use. We’re a fan of Labo for the possibilities it provides for creative gamers and programmers, and we’ve found it’s a decent tool for learning how to program or tinker. Using it to turn the Switch into a handheld VR headset is such an obvious idea it kind of makes me want to kick myself for not considering it before this. Particularly as one of the most widely experience forms of VR to date is Google Cardboard, which took a similar tact but for phones instead of game consoles. As with Cardboard the Labo VR Kit won’t have you strapping anything to your face, and you likely won’t be playing AAA titles. Instead, you’ll play smaller VR experiences designed for one of the six Toy-Con projects found with the Labo: VR Kit. Those projects are the Toy-Con VR Goggles themselves, the Toy-Con Blaster, Toy-Con Camera, Toy-Con Bird, Toy-Con Wind Pedal, and Toy-Con Elephant...which I guess will let you turn yourself into a cardboard elephant? An elephant. Image : Nintendo A bird. Image : Nintendo A blaster. Image : Nintendo A camera. Image : Nintendo Advertisement You can skip ad after 1 second You can go to the next slide after 1 second Continue A...wind pedal? Image : Nintendo 1 / 5 The $80 kit of very fancy cardboard (as well as the Labo software) will be available April 12. A cheaper Starter Set, which includes the cardboard necessary for the Goggles and Blaster will be available for $40, and there will be two additional expansion packs, each for $20. One including the Elephant and Camera, and the other including the Wind Pedal and Bird. This is a strikingly safe way for Nintendo to toe the VR waters it fled way back in 1995. Personally, I’m wondering if the goggles will have as distinctive and memorable a smell as the Virtual Boy, and somewhere I’m sure my dad is delighted he can just buy a bunch of cardboard instead of renting us an entire headset at Blockbuster.<doc-sep>It's been rumored for years, but now the Switch console is finally getting virtual reality support by way of Nintendo Labo. The complete Nintendo Labo: VR Kit, priced at $79.99 (roughly £60 / AU$113), comes bundled with VR goggles and software, along with five cardboard sets, including Wind Pedal, Camera, Elephant, Bird and Blaster. Read more: Nintendo Labo VR Kit review Nintendo is also offering a Starter Kit, priced at $39.99 (about £30 / AU$57) that includes just the googles and Blaster design. Two additional expansion packs (Camera + Elephant, or Bird + Wind Pedal) will be available to purchase at a later date for $19.99 (around £15 / AU$28). Labo VR Starter Kit (image credit: Nintendo) “We wanted to design an experience that encourages both virtual and real-world interactions among players through passing around Toy-Con creations,” said newly-appointed Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser. Nintendo's two Labo VR sets will be available in the US from April 12, 2019, with releases in the UK and Australia expected to arrive around the same time.<doc-sep>
Nintendo’s latest Labo kit fuses DIY cardboard construction projects with virtual reality, promising a simple and shareable VR experience for kids and families. The Nintendo Labo: VR Kit comes out Apr. 12. It costs $80 and it includes the Nintendo Labo software, six new Toy-Con creations: 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. A second Nintendo Labo: VR Kit is a starter set that comes with the Toy-Con Blaster. It costs $40 and includes the Nintendo Labo software, the Toy-Con VR Goggles, the aforementioned blaster, the screen holder, and the safety cap. The Nintendo Labo: VR Kit Starter Kit will also launch with two optional expansion sets for $20 each. The first includes the Toy-Con Elephant and Toy-Con Camera, while the second has the Toy-Con Wind Pedal and Toy-Con Bird. While the VR Kit will be available in stores next month, the two expansions will be available online only. The VR Kit is designed to be passed around and shared among a group of people, Nintendo said. To help encourage this social gameplay, people can simply slip the Nintendo Switch console into the Toy-Con VR Goggles and hold it up to their eyes to play a variety of games. Unlike other VR devices, it doesn’t require a headset. “This new kit builds on the core tenets of Nintendo Labo — make, play, and discover — to introduce virtual reality in a way that’s fun and approachable for both kids and kids at heart,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “We wanted to design an experience that encourages both virtual and real-world interactions among players through passing around Toy-Con creations.” Nintendo said it will offer more information about other VR experiences in the future.