With Labo VR Kit’s launch, Nintendo will compete directly with Google Cardboard and use its unlimited creativity to melt fans.
In April 2018, Nintendo drove the world crazy with the official release of Nintendo Labo, a Switch-enabled gaming device made from cardboard. Labo demonstrates creativity at an entirely different level from Nintendo, taking gamers’ experience in a more unique and strange direction.
In April 2019, Nintendo will continue to release the Nintendo Labo VR Kit, Labo’s upgraded product suite with virtual reality technology and six mini devices to play VR games from the cover carton.
With VR technology, Nintendo will compete with Google Cardboard, a very cheap VR glasses device made from cardboard from big Google.
Nintendo Labo VR will compete with Google Cardboard
Google Cardboard is a technology developed by Google to advance the potential of virtual reality (VR) but at a meager cost. True to its name, Cardboard, users will experience VR technology with just a cardboard box folded into a virtual reality glass.
Google Cardboard supports mobile platforms like Android and iOS. As of March 2017, this product has been used by more than 10 million users, with more than 160 million downloads of applications supporting Cardboard. With this success, Google announced a more advanced VR platform, Daydream, in 2016.
What about with Nintendo Labo VR? It does the same thing. Nintendo will release the covers so that users can fold into a glass, then slip into the Switch and enjoy the VR world.
The difference between Labo VR and Google Cardboard lies in the price and creativity. Cardboard aims to spread VR technology to more customers, so its price is extremely comfortable. Users only need to spend about 5 USD to 20 USD. And Nintendo will undoubtedly release Labo VR at a much higher price, ranging from $ 40 to $ 80, not to mention the user must have a Nintendo Switch.
However, the higher price means that Nintendo must make its users feel worth the money. Nintendo’s unlimited creativity has previously been confirmed with the Nintendo Labo product line released in April 2018. And with Nintendo Labo VR, the company can allow itself to break the limits of creativity. , taking users to things even more than imagined.
The potential of Labo VR lies in the games
As I mentioned above, the difference between Labo VR and GG Cardboard is beyond the creative price. And Nintendo will bring these “unbelievable” ideas into virtual reality games, exclusively for Nintendo Labo VR.
In addition to acting as a virtual reality headset made of cardboard, Labo VR also can transform into six different gaming products. Labo VR can be expanded into six other gaming controllers to support VR games in a nutshell. And this is something that Google Cardboard has yet to reach.
Like Sony’s PlayStation VR and exclusive series of PSVR games, take full advantage of the virtual reality glasses and controller to take the user experience to a completely different level. Nintendo Labo VR will take full advantage of the two Joy-Cons and the cardboard’s virtual transformation to bring the gaming experience closer to reality. From the covers, maybe Nintendo will let you fold into a steering wheel to play Mario Kart VR, for example.
However, Labo VR still has limitations that fans are waiting to be answered.
First, with Labo VR, users will have to wear a virtual reality headset on their head, and this headset will be extended to fit devices for many different game genres. This means that Nintendo Labo VR will be quite bulky. So, how can a baby use it for a long time without getting tired of his neck and hands?
Unlike Google Cardboard that stuffs the phone inside, Labo VR requires users to use the Switch as a virtual reality screen, and it’s thicker, much heavier than today’s smartphones.
Next up is the display capabilities of Labo VR. Nintendo Switch has a screen resolution of 1280 × 720 HD at a frame rate of 60fps. This is quite a clear loss of Labo VR compared to other VR products on the market when they have all been upgraded to Full HD 1080p resolution to improve the ability to perceive the frame of the user. This begs the question of how good the VR image quality will be?
Put in perspective, PlayStation VR also gave experience with a resolution of 1920 × 1080, the actual each eye will be 960 × 1080. Sure, the Switch picture quality is a step backward, but we’re not sure how Nintendo compensates for that.
Apart from those two drawbacks, Nintendo Labo VR will bring a completely new and exciting virtual reality experience.
Conclusion
Nintendo Labo VR has potential. The previous Labo suite has disrupted the gaming community because of its creativity. With Labo VR, Nintendo can open new limits for more unique ideas, turning them into virtual reality games exclusively for its system.
Labo VR products can bring virtual reality technology to users at a younger age, but that’s what Nintendo targets. Cutting pieces of panels into different control devices will be a good complement for children of development age.
Although the price for Labo VR is not low, in return, it offers a good experience for the money. We’ll probably have to wait at least until April to see if the Switch VR is stuck between virtual reality devices already on the market or will be a perfect leap forward, taking Nintendo far ahead of them all.
