CARDBOARD COMPUTER

In a previous era, an experiment like Labo would have drawn ire, rather than acclaim. Why is Nintendo wasting its time on cardboard when it should be patching the gaps in its console’s release list? Yet with software support no problem, Labo can be taken on its own terms – a carefree, gently bonkers yet ingenious invention from the only videogame company bold enough to try it. The two packs available at launch were later joined by a third, and Koizumi confirms Nintendo is thinking about it in the longer term as well. Takahashi, meanwhile, is thrilled at how it has already spread beyond the living room. “It’s being used by teachers in classrooms in the UK, and there’s a programme in cooperation with the Institute Of Play to distribute Labo in grade schools in the US. It’s also being used in Italian museums as part of their education program. It makes me really happy to see.”