WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.040 When I heard that the Xbox wasn't the top seller 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:06.600 this past holiday season, it didn't come as that much of a surprise. 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:10.200 But then I learned it wasn't even in the top three. 00:00:10.200 --> 00:00:15.200 That's right, the box in third was less X and more necks. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:21.040 But what is this thing? Well, if you've found yourself missing the days 00:00:21.040 --> 00:00:24.640 of wee bowling on the couch, this modestly specced cube 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:29.900 has been quietly providing the solution, becoming the go-to box for family gaming 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:35.320 over the last two years. But while the brand is undeniably fun and friendly, 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:38.520 offering up old school local multiplayer fun for gamers 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:42.660 and their game curious friends and family, not to mention that its entire catalog 00:00:42.660 --> 00:00:50.240 is KidsSafePlus Coppa certified, there are some modern games industry habits 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:54.160 that make it a little less wallet friendly 00:00:54.160 --> 00:00:58.700 than it might seem at first glance. Maybe if I glance at it a third time, 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:02.400 I'll see something that makes me feel a bit better about it. 00:01:02.400 --> 00:01:04.400 Like this segway to our sponsor. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:11.400 The packaging for the next cube is delightfully well organized. 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. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:24.840 But you won't be gaming with that. 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, 00:01:32.300 --> 00:01:36.060 an ultra-wide lens camera that accommodates full body motion controls 00:01:36.060 --> 00:01:40.180 across as many as four players. We'll be trying that out very shortly. 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:43.980 First though, let's talk about behind the lens where there's an ARM-based computer 00:01:43.980 --> 00:01:48.100 that should perform about like a mid-range phone from a couple of years ago, 00:01:48.100 --> 00:01:54.860 alongside a dedicated AI coprocessor that, shockingly, is not shoehorned in for no reason. 00:01:54.880 --> 00:01:58.120 It offers benefits to both latency for your controls 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:03.400 and, surprisingly, privacy. See, having a local NPU on the playground 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 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:15.000 and allows it to run completely offline, only using the internet to authenticate your account 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:20.880 during setup and to download games to its 64 gigs of non-expandable storage 00:02:20.880 --> 00:02:24.600 that has five games pre-installed out of the box. 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:27.060 Let's try a couple out. Let's try Wack-A-Mole. 00:02:29.100 --> 00:02:30.780 We're Wack-A-Moles. Boom. 00:02:34.860 --> 00:02:39.100 What is that? Wait, the fire, ah, that. Don't touch the fire, that. 00:02:39.100 --> 00:02:43.380 Okay. Oh yeah, well, this is, wow, this is so much more fun than that. 00:02:48.180 --> 00:02:49.580 I don't wanna bump my head. 00:02:51.380 --> 00:02:56.240 Oh, where'd it go, Linus? Sorry. All right, the gameplay tells us a lot 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. 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:07.680 But, unlike Jeffy E. and his friends, Nex is also interested in attracting an older audience 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. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:19.920 Let's try out Starry. On boot, it basically asks Beat Saber or Synth Riders. 00:03:19.920 --> 00:03:25.400 I think we all know which one I wanna play. Man, there's like, no. 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:29.680 Shut up. What am I supposed to be doing? 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. 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:41.540 Kind of fun, definitely got me warm. Oh, perfect opportunity to show off 00:03:41.540 --> 00:03:44.860 our new clean-up wizard T-shirt available now at lttstore.com. 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:49.020 Let's talk about the tech. Since there's only an AI-assisted camera feed, 00:03:49.040 --> 00:03:54.560 the playground infers depth. Rather than mapping it out like its spiritual predecessor, 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:57.840 the Xbox Connect, which used IR in order to perceive depth. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:01.680 In some games, you can even see some of the 18 tracking points 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:07.160 that it uses to guesstimate your position in 3D space and the positioning of your joints. 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, 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 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:22.600 that makes the playground usable very close up in smaller living spaces 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:26.160 and or with more players. So yeah, it's not perfect. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:29.720 And if you're a latency nerd, you are going to notice that. 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. 00:04:35.640 --> 00:04:41.880 Wait, adults? Yes, one of our new writers had two college-aged girls over. 00:04:41.880 --> 00:04:45.920 Weird flex, okay. Anyway, the point is it was while he was working 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:49.660 on this project and they ended up not only trying out 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:55.300 the next playground, but playing Barbie dance party for hours, which, okay, less impressed. 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. 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 00:05:06.700 --> 00:05:10.820 from surprisingly mainstream artists. They even got a couple of Dula Peep tracks. 00:05:10.820 --> 00:05:15.220 I mean, check this out. These are just a few of the many titles 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:18.760 that become available on the next cube once you subscribe to Nex's Play Pass, 00:05:18.760 --> 00:05:22.880 which, uh-oh, this is where that wallet unfriendliness comes in. 00:05:22.880 --> 00:05:26.760 See, none of these games, even Bluey Buster Move, 00:05:26.760 --> 00:05:30.960 can be purchased outright. There's no App Store, so you either play 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 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:39.520 counts as one entire game, or you pay the monthly subscription 00:05:39.520 --> 00:05:42.880 to get access to the entire game library forever. 00:05:42.880 --> 00:05:46.620 And you know that your kids are gonna lose their minds if you miss a payment, 00:05:46.620 --> 00:05:49.860 and all of a sudden, their next cube turns into a lame cube. 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 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, 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, 00:06:05.300 --> 00:06:09.220 I'm actually pretty impressed. They're up to 55 games now, 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:13.660 and they've been adding about 20 per year. With that said, most of the games 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:17.560 are more like arcade games than like the rich gaming experiences 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:22.000 that you might expect on a different console or on a PC. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:25.840 Let's try a couple. Hmm, oh, that's cool. 00:06:25.840 --> 00:06:27.240 It even tracks your position. 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:32.720 Yup, that's Wii Tennis, all right. All right, let's try a different game. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:34.960 Boy, okay. 00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:44.540 Okay, oh, dang it. This is, okay, this is not that easy. 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 00:06:49.980 --> 00:06:54.680 of space, which helps to stretch out the usefulness of that 64 gigs of onboard storage. 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:57.700 Now, at this point, I can practically hear you screaming. 00:06:57.700 --> 00:07:00.880 Mobile grade graphics, no raw input tracking, 00:07:00.880 --> 00:07:05.520 no third party games, not to mention a subscription. If you want more than five games, 00:07:05.520 --> 00:07:09.280 who could possibly want this? And the answer is families. 00:07:09.280 --> 00:07:12.680 A lot of three to 10 year olds just wanna jump around 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.840 and play and a lot of parents need them to jump around 00:07:15.840 --> 00:07:20.400 and play in a way that isn't destructive. 00:07:20.400 --> 00:07:25.840 And in that context, Nexa's business model actually starts to make a lot more sense. 00:07:25.840 --> 00:07:30.360 The playground may be expensive, not to mention have an ongoing cost, 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 00:07:34.840 --> 00:07:39.340 or broken or come up with Cheeto dust. And sure, the gameplay is basic, 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 00:07:44.500 --> 00:07:47.580 could appeal to both kids and drunken adults. 00:07:47.580 --> 00:07:52.940 Just maybe don't mix the two. You obviously will need the Play Pass 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 00:08:00.540 --> 00:08:03.740 and then infinity beyond that since you pay for it forever. 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 00:08:09.400 --> 00:08:12.480 are us gamers who didn't even know it existed anyway 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:16.480 before it made headlines in December. The non-gamery families who buy this thing 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:19.880 seem to absolutely love it. And when you compared a Nintendo, 00:08:19.880 --> 00:08:24.000 whose console is more expensive, whose games are more expensive 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:29.400 and who wants an annual subscription from you anyway, just for basic functionality like cloud saves. 00:08:29.400 --> 00:08:32.960 At least this is like getting bent over gently with lube. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.540 And once you're bored of it, I guess you just cancel your subscription. 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. 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. 00:08:44.260 --> 00:08:49.420 And at least they haven't embraced other crappy industry norms like microtransactions 00:08:49.420 --> 00:08:52.420 or in-game loot boxes yet. 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, 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 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 00:09:06.760 --> 00:09:10.240 every single day? For younger kids, or let's say you're a mom 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:13.480 who runs an after-school care program for other parents in the school, 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:16.560 the answer might be no, they probably wouldn't get bored. 00:09:16.560 --> 00:09:20.160 But for everyone else, unless you have very casual friends 00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:23.480 that are only willing to touch we sports level experiences 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. 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:31.680 That is, unless one of your drunken friends ends up pregnant, 00:09:31.680 --> 00:09:34.780 then the next playground will be there for the next generation to enjoy. 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, 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 00:09:45.260 --> 00:09:47.460 of what kind of performance you can expect.