Nintendo Labo VR: the Willy Wonka of video games tries virtual reality

A cheerful, endearing approach to VR makes Nintendo's Labo VR kit a fascinating family prospect

VR was meant to be the future, and it still yet might be, but the current selection of virtual reality devices is in the main expensive, impractical and nausea-inducing. Initially tethered to high-end computers with wires, neither the Oculus Rift nor the HTC Vive VR headsets have yet captured the public imagination as much as that of investors, and lower-end contraptions such as Google Cardboard haven't offered interesting enough experiences to become popular. Nintendo Labo, on the other hand, shows virtual reality for what it really is, at least right now: an interesting toy. With a 7+ PEGI rating, in contrast to the 12+ recommendation for every other VR device, it has the age suitability to match.

Labo is not the VR device that will finally break through and make the technology ubiquitous, but that's not what it's trying to do. Like the other Nintendo Labo kits, released last year for Nintendo Switch, it is an interesting and educational toy aimed at curious children and their families. In the box are sets of cardboard sheets and a game cartridge containing the instructions to fold them into ingenious models. Pop the cart into the Switch, assemble your viewer according to the friendly directions, slot the console into the model, and you have a little working VR headset.