Labo, the do-it-yourself kits that released on April 20, 2018, are pure genius on the part of Nintendo. They’re somehow breathing new life into the Nintendo Switch, which right now is burning bright like a phoenix, while teaching kids (and adults) the principles of engineering and physics.
One of the projects that the high-quality pre-cut cardboard can be turned into is the Labo Toy-Con Piano, a keyboard peripheral that turns the Switch into a functioning piano. It’s part of a $70 Variety Kit that features five do—it-yourself cardboard projects.
NINTENDO LABO PIANO
The Labo Toy-Con Piano is a 13-key, 1-octave piano. Once assembled, the Switch console sits in it and acts as its command center. One of the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers has a built-in camera, and when this controller is buried within the bowels of the constructed piano, it uses the camera to read which key is being pressed. The Switch, which sits above the keys in full view, would then respond appropriately.
While Nintendo came up with an ingenious and innovative way to distribute a piano peripheral, it is certainly not the first time that a piano has been available for a videogame console. With Labo Toy-Con Piano, Nintendo hasputanovelspinonaperipheral category with a winding, noteworthy history in gaming. Piano-style peripherals have been around for decades, and developers have offered very different visions and uses for these sometimes expensive videogame instruments. These are the industry’s Keyboard Creations.
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Leonard Herman, The Game Scholar, is regarded as one of the earliest and most respected videogame historians. The first edition of his book Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Home Videogames, which was published in 1994, is considered to be the first serious and comprehensive book about the history of videogames. He has written articles for Videogaming & Computer Illustrated, Games Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly, the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, Pocket Games, Classic Gamer Magazine, Edge, Game Informer, Classic Gamer Magazine, Manci Games, Gamespot.com and Video Game Trader, which he also edited. He has also contributed articles to several videogame-related books, including Supercade, The Video Game Explosion and The Encyclopedia of Video Games. Mr. Herman has also written the book ABC To the VCS (A Directory of Software for the Atari 2600), a compendium of game summaries. He has also written and designed user's manuals for the following Atari VCS games: Cracked, Save the Whales, Pick-Up, Rush Hour, Looping, The Entity and Lasercade, as well as the user's guide to Ralph Baer's Pinball! for the Odyssey2. In 1994, he founded Rolenta Press, a publisher of videogame books, whose catalogue included Videogames: In the Beginning, by Ralph H. Baer, the inventor of the videogame console, and Confessions of the Game Doctor by Bill Kunkel, the world's first videogame journalist. Two Rolenta Press books were included in a list of the top ten videogame books of all time by Game Informer magazine in 2008. Mr. Herman has served as an advisor for Videotopia, Classic Gaming Expo and the National Videogame Museum. He has appeared in several episodes of G4's Icons and in the documentary, The King of Arcades. In 2003, Mr. Herman received a Classic Gaming Expo Achievement Award in recognition for his accomplishments in documenting game history
