1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,040 When I heard that the Xbox wasn't the top seller 2 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:06,600 this past holiday season, it didn't come as that much of a surprise. 3 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:10,200 But then I learned it wasn't even in the top three. 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:15,200 That's right, the box in third was less X and more necks. 5 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:21,040 But what is this thing? Well, if you've found yourself missing the days 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,640 of wee bowling on the couch, this modestly specced cube 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:29,900 has been quietly providing the solution, becoming the go-to box for family gaming 8 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:35,320 over the last two years. But while the brand is undeniably fun and friendly, 9 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,520 offering up old school local multiplayer fun for gamers 10 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:42,660 and their game curious friends and family, not to mention that its entire catalog 11 00:00:42,660 --> 00:00:50,240 is KidsSafePlus Coppa certified, there are some modern games industry habits 12 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:54,160 that make it a little less wallet friendly 13 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:58,700 than it might seem at first glance. Maybe if I glance at it a third time, 14 00:00:58,700 --> 00:01:02,400 I'll see something that makes me feel a bit better about it. 15 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:04,400 Like this segway to our sponsor. 16 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,400 The packaging for the next cube is delightfully well organized. 17 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:21,760 You get the console itself, a power cord, an HDMI cable to connect your TV or monitor and a remote. 18 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:24,840 But you won't be gaming with that. 19 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:32,300 It is solely for navigating the UI. All gameplay input is handled by this little guy right here, 20 00:01:32,300 --> 00:01:36,060 an ultra-wide lens camera that accommodates full body motion controls 21 00:01:36,060 --> 00:01:40,180 across as many as four players. We'll be trying that out very shortly. 22 00:01:40,180 --> 00:01:43,980 First though, let's talk about behind the lens where there's an ARM-based computer 23 00:01:43,980 --> 00:01:48,100 that should perform about like a mid-range phone from a couple of years ago, 24 00:01:48,100 --> 00:01:54,860 alongside a dedicated AI coprocessor that, shockingly, is not shoehorned in for no reason. 25 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,120 It offers benefits to both latency for your controls 26 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:03,400 and, surprisingly, privacy. See, having a local NPU on the playground 27 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:10,120 turns your movements into a trackable skeleton that eliminates any need for the camera to capture any video 28 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:15,000 and allows it to run completely offline, only using the internet to authenticate your account 29 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,880 during setup and to download games to its 64 gigs of non-expandable storage 30 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,600 that has five games pre-installed out of the box. 31 00:02:24,620 --> 00:02:27,060 Let's try a couple out. Let's try Wack-A-Mole. 32 00:02:29,100 --> 00:02:30,780 We're Wack-A-Moles. Boom. 33 00:02:34,860 --> 00:02:39,100 What is that? Wait, the fire, ah, that. Don't touch the fire, that. 34 00:02:39,100 --> 00:02:43,380 Okay. Oh yeah, well, this is, wow, this is so much more fun than that. 35 00:02:48,180 --> 00:02:49,580 I don't wanna bump my head. 36 00:02:51,380 --> 00:02:56,240 Oh, where'd it go, Linus? Sorry. All right, the gameplay tells us a lot 37 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:01,960 about the age group that they're targeting with this device. Just a shy bit younger than the average billionaire. 38 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:07,680 But, unlike Jeffy E. and his friends, Nex is also interested in attracting an older audience 39 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:14,000 and snuck in some more compelling gaming experiences based on two of the best-selling rhythm VR games. 40 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:19,920 Let's try out Starry. On boot, it basically asks Beat Saber or Synth Riders. 41 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:25,400 I think we all know which one I wanna play. Man, there's like, no. 42 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,680 Shut up. What am I supposed to be doing? 43 00:03:32,340 --> 00:03:36,620 VR is definitely better for this. I mean, I'm still getting some colors, I don't know. 44 00:03:36,620 --> 00:03:41,540 Kind of fun, definitely got me warm. Oh, perfect opportunity to show off 45 00:03:41,540 --> 00:03:44,860 our new clean-up wizard T-shirt available now at lttstore.com. 46 00:03:44,860 --> 00:03:49,020 Let's talk about the tech. Since there's only an AI-assisted camera feed, 47 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:54,560 the playground infers depth. Rather than mapping it out like its spiritual predecessor, 48 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,840 the Xbox Connect, which used IR in order to perceive depth. 49 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,680 In some games, you can even see some of the 18 tracking points 50 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:07,160 that it uses to guesstimate your position in 3D space and the positioning of your joints. 51 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:12,680 Now, when you're looking out for it, you can tell that this approach gives up some accuracy, 52 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:18,220 even compared to much older body tracking solutions. But it also made way for the ultra-wide lens 53 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,600 that makes the playground usable very close up in smaller living spaces 54 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,160 and or with more players. So yeah, it's not perfect. 55 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,720 And if you're a latency nerd, you are going to notice that. 56 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:35,640 But it is responsive enough that kids and even casual adults should be able to overlook it. 57 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:41,880 Wait, adults? Yes, one of our new writers had two college-aged girls over. 58 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,920 Weird flex, okay. Anyway, the point is it was while he was working 59 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:49,660 on this project and they ended up not only trying out 60 00:04:49,660 --> 00:04:55,300 the next playground, but playing Barbie dance party for hours, which, okay, less impressed. 61 00:04:55,300 --> 00:05:00,660 But it's not as bad as it sounds either. For the blissfully unaware, it's pretty much the just dance of Nex. 62 00:05:00,660 --> 00:05:06,700 And like much of the rest of their game lineup, it is a small game, but it includes content 63 00:05:06,700 --> 00:05:10,820 from surprisingly mainstream artists. They even got a couple of Dula Peep tracks. 64 00:05:10,820 --> 00:05:15,220 I mean, check this out. These are just a few of the many titles 65 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,760 that become available on the next cube once you subscribe to Nex's Play Pass, 66 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,880 which, uh-oh, this is where that wallet unfriendliness comes in. 67 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,760 See, none of these games, even Bluey Buster Move, 68 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,960 can be purchased outright. There's no App Store, so you either play 69 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,560 the five games it comes with, and yes, that whack-a-mole thing we showed you earlier 70 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:39,520 counts as one entire game, or you pay the monthly subscription 71 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,880 to get access to the entire game library forever. 72 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,620 And you know that your kids are gonna lose their minds if you miss a payment, 73 00:05:46,620 --> 00:05:49,860 and all of a sudden, their next cube turns into a lame cube. 74 00:05:49,860 --> 00:05:54,740 Obviously, the easiest way to avoid that disappointment is to just never let them try any of these games 75 00:05:54,740 --> 00:05:59,740 in the first place, but let's say you're one of the millions who bought one of these already, 76 00:05:59,740 --> 00:06:05,300 what kind of content is in here? I gotta say, if we're measuring based on sheer quantity, 77 00:06:05,300 --> 00:06:09,220 I'm actually pretty impressed. They're up to 55 games now, 78 00:06:09,220 --> 00:06:13,660 and they've been adding about 20 per year. With that said, most of the games 79 00:06:13,660 --> 00:06:17,560 are more like arcade games than like the rich gaming experiences 80 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:22,000 that you might expect on a different console or on a PC. 81 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,840 Let's try a couple. Hmm, oh, that's cool. 82 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:27,240 It even tracks your position. 83 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,720 Yup, that's Wii Tennis, all right. All right, let's try a different game. 84 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:34,960 Boy, okay. 85 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:44,540 Okay, oh, dang it. This is, okay, this is not that easy. 86 00:06:44,540 --> 00:06:49,980 I guess the upside of the games being kind of simple is that each title only takes up roughly 400 megabytes 87 00:06:49,980 --> 00:06:54,680 of space, which helps to stretch out the usefulness of that 64 gigs of onboard storage. 88 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,700 Now, at this point, I can practically hear you screaming. 89 00:06:57,700 --> 00:07:00,880 Mobile grade graphics, no raw input tracking, 90 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:05,520 no third party games, not to mention a subscription. If you want more than five games, 91 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,280 who could possibly want this? And the answer is families. 92 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:12,680 A lot of three to 10 year olds just wanna jump around 93 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,840 and play and a lot of parents need them to jump around 94 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:20,400 and play in a way that isn't destructive. 95 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:25,840 And in that context, Nexa's business model actually starts to make a lot more sense. 96 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:30,360 The playground may be expensive, not to mention have an ongoing cost, 97 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:34,840 but it's a lot cheaper than a babysitter and there are no expensive controllers to get lost 98 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:39,340 or broken or come up with Cheeto dust. And sure, the gameplay is basic, 99 00:07:39,340 --> 00:07:44,500 but it's also easy to pick up. So it's not hard to imagine why this casual console 100 00:07:44,500 --> 00:07:47,580 could appeal to both kids and drunken adults. 101 00:07:47,580 --> 00:07:52,940 Just maybe don't mix the two. You obviously will need the Play Pass 102 00:07:52,940 --> 00:07:59,620 in order to get any value out of this thing, which rockets the cost from $250 to $340 in the first year 103 00:08:00,540 --> 00:08:03,740 and then infinity beyond that since you pay for it forever. 104 00:08:03,740 --> 00:08:09,400 But if you look at the community reaction to this thing, it seems like the only ones who are really upset about it 105 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,480 are us gamers who didn't even know it existed anyway 106 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:16,480 before it made headlines in December. The non-gamery families who buy this thing 107 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,880 seem to absolutely love it. And when you compared a Nintendo, 108 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:24,000 whose console is more expensive, whose games are more expensive 109 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:29,400 and who wants an annual subscription from you anyway, just for basic functionality like cloud saves. 110 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,960 At least this is like getting bent over gently with lube. 111 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,540 And once you're bored of it, I guess you just cancel your subscription. 112 00:08:36,540 --> 00:08:40,580 I mean, I don't love that they want a yearly lock-in to get the better price. 113 00:08:40,580 --> 00:08:44,260 That sucks. But it's also kind of par for the course for these types of products. 114 00:08:44,260 --> 00:08:49,420 And at least they haven't embraced other crappy industry norms like microtransactions 115 00:08:49,420 --> 00:08:52,420 or in-game loot boxes yet. 116 00:08:52,420 --> 00:08:58,300 Bottom line then, next is built a business model where Uya and others have failed to compete with the big three, 117 00:08:58,300 --> 00:09:01,980 but it's not gonna be right for everyone. And the question that I would be asking myself 118 00:09:01,980 --> 00:09:06,760 as a parent and potential buyer is, would my kid get bored of going to the arcade 119 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,240 every single day? For younger kids, or let's say you're a mom 120 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,480 who runs an after-school care program for other parents in the school, 121 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,560 the answer might be no, they probably wouldn't get bored. 122 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:20,160 But for everyone else, unless you have very casual friends 123 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,480 that are only willing to touch we sports level experiences 124 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:28,600 and you desperately want to game with them, I think the novelty is likely to wear off pretty quickly. 125 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,680 That is, unless one of your drunken friends ends up pregnant, 126 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:34,780 then the next playground will be there for the next generation to enjoy. 127 00:09:34,780 --> 00:09:40,460 Now you can enjoy this segue to our sponsor. With all the buzz around the other cubic console, 128 00:09:40,460 --> 00:09:45,260 the Steam Machine, we DIY'd one of our own and you guys should check it out to get an idea 129 00:09:45,260 --> 00:09:47,460 of what kind of performance you can expect.