The whole purpose behind the Nex Playground was to create a gaming experience for kids who don’t want to leave the couch. Since there’s no controller to give away or straps to put on anyone, the ultra-wide-angle camera reads how your body moves and turns your living room into a play area. Up to four people can join at once, and the console identifies each player. It connects via a single HDMI cable, and the Nex Playground is a three-inch cube small enough to fit in a backpack.
Head over to Amazon to get the Nex Playground for just $239, down from its usual price of $299. That’s a $60 discount and 20% off.
A new way to game for the entire family
Controllers create barriers that keep younger children from participating in video games. Five-year-olds don’t need to know a button layout or hold anything down; they simply move around, and the AI Motion Engine tracks their movements. Eighteen-point body tracking allows instant responses, unlike the lag we’ve seen with previous motion-based technologies. The company used its prior knowledge of tracking basketball shots in real time to build this, and the results show accuracy.
Since the Nex Playground can track four players at once, the whole family can play together instead of each member taking a turn holding the same controller around the couch. Because the camera uses individual body shape identification, the system doesn’t require calibration. At the start of each round, everyone simply raises their hands, and the system knows who is who and where each person is standing.
The Nex Playground includes five preloaded games: Fruit Ninja, Starri, Whac-a-Mole, Go Keeper, and Party Fowl. In addition to those five games, the Play Pass subscription provides access to the full game library and adds new games monthly. Other licensed titles include Barbie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Peppa Pig, Elmo, Gabby’s Dollhouse, and Kung Fu Panda. The library currently has roughly 40 games total.
Parents should like several things about the Nex Playground. The system has no advertisements, in-app purchases, or mature content, so when you give a child the remote control, you don’t have to worry about what they may find. The Nex Playground has been certified under kidSAFE+ COPPA standards, and since motion-tracking data is never stored or transmitted to the cloud, everything the camera sees stays in the room.
In addition to the console, a thin remote lets you select which game to play and turn the Nex Playground on. This makes it easy to determine which games your children are playing before you hand the room over to them. At $239 instead of $299, the Nex Playground works with any TV or projector with an HDMI port, and Nex rates the whole system for ages 5 and up.
