DON'T BUY THE NINTENDO LABO: What you NEED to know!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The Nintendo Labo has released today. Don't fall for its trickery.

Today, Nintendo released their build-it-yourself-peripheral-toys-to-play-shoddy-software combination, the Nintendo Labo.

By... sheer coincidence, of course, today KoopaTV formally declares war against Nintendo Labo and urges all readers to not purchase it. Anyone who has already bought a Labo is urged to return it to your retailer and get a refund. 

Don't buy the Labo. It's as simple as that. That isn't... much of an article, so let's review what got us to this point, and why exactly the Nintendo Labo endangers the lives of you and (your?) children.

Launching LaboTV!

By TROJAN BOWSER - What was known as KoopaTV is fully transitioning to LaboTV.

Koopa Kingdom is proud to announce the best Internet hub in the world for all things Nintendo Labo: LaboTV.

The Nintendo Labo is releasing to the world this April 20th, and LaboTV wants to be there at the forefront. In the coming weeks, we'll change this domain name (www.KoopaTV.org) to www.LaboTV.org, and the staff will have awesome new sections to the site. 

Already, you can see LaboTV's new logo, and the new color scheme/layout:

LaboTV's logo!

LaboTV will formally launch when the Nintendo Labo does, on April 20th. LaboTV will be updated as often as there is content to update it with. Until then, look forward to...

Nintendo Labo News

LaboTV will keep you in the know for every bit of news that happens in the Labo world, straight from Nintendo! Or if any other company has news, then that will be just as valid, but also fact-checked.

Nintendo Labo Inventions

LaboTV will showcase your creativity by displaying the cool, novel uses for the Labo that you come up with! This includes the awesome things you'll make in the Toy-Con Garage.

Nintendo Labo Lifestyle

LaboTV is also very interested in how you use your Labo as a lifestyle decision. Are you raising your kids with Nintendo Labo? Have some cool pictures or videos with you using your Labo? Anything with you and the Labo, we want to know about!

Nintendo Labo Software Strategy Guides

For the software that comes with the Nintendo Labo Kits, LaboTV will dissect everything you can do in these interactive experiences, as well as any optimal decisions you may need to make.

These guides will be multimedia — text, pictures, and yes, videos.

Nintendo Labo CAD Repository

Broke your cardboard? Well, LaboTV will take submissions for any CAD (computer-aided design) files you may wish to share. LaboTV is agnostic as to what file formats you submit, but neutral STEP or IGES files will likely have the most impact with the general audience. With those, you could even 3D-print a good-as-new Labo!

LaboTV is even prepared to compensate you for your designs!

LaboTV Discord

We thought about converting KoopaTV's Intranet website and old forum, Planet Koopa, into a LaboTV forum for all of you to enjoy, but forums are on their way out anyway. We will be opening a public LaboTV Discord server once LaboTV opens because we want to be the premier Nintendo Labo community, and Discord servers are the modern way of doing that.

What About KoopaTV?

KoopaTV's staff will be moving full-time to support LaboTV. When I write full-time, I mean it. LaboTV will be funded by a Patreon, as well as advertisements. We anticipate a LOT more traffic —  traffic that can be monetized — with LaboTV than we ever did KoopaTV, so it will actually be able to self-sustain without infusions of capital from Koopa Kingdom's treasury. We hope to be able to support your love of Labo.

KoopaTV's articles will be archived on a read-only domain once it becomes May 6th. The KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program Round 19 will be allowed to conclude at the end of April and its winner will be honored with the prize, the $10 Nintendo eShop code. The KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program will then conclude, and LaboTV does not plan to have a comparable replacement.

The Last Word

We're going all-in with the Nintendo Labo with LaboTV. It's a new chapter in the staff's lives, and we hope you'll enjoy LaboTV as much as we will.


These footers won't exist on LaboTV articles. Just a heads-up.


It turns out that Trojan Bowser is a cardboard imposter, and LaboTV isn't King Bowser's true wishes! LaboTV is canceled, and KoopaTV is saved!
Because of the unforgivable act of pretending to be King Bowser and trying to end KoopaTV, KoopaTV has declared war on the Nintendo Labo.
The Labo cannot build cardboard constructs where there aren't any. A whole group built TROJAN BOWSER.
It's time to go heavy weapons on the Labo.
We can conclusively prove that Labo and Mario are teamed up.
The Labo was responsible for a whole train outage.
The shipping industry is responsible for the proliferation of Labo into homes and businesses.
The real King Bowser would be responsible for the real shutting down of KoopaTV, though he wouldn't byline the article.

The Stealth Mode Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit Launch

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - They're trying to cover-up the Nintendo Labo's actions. We shine the light of truth.

In the midst of all of the controversies and news in the last week, between the delay of the Nintendo Direct, the controversial Nintendo Direct itself, not to mention the uproar over Nintendo Switch Online (more about that in tomorrow's article), there was a product release that happened on Friday that wasn't just a new version of Splatoon 2.

The Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit launched on Friday, now in retail stores everywhere. Not many people seem to be paying attention to that, but we at KoopaTV can't let this moment slip by. 

Not with what we already know about the threat of the Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit.

What Nintendo Labo Is, and Why You Might Care

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - A new product line from Nintendo.

Yesterday, we gave our live reactions on Nintendo's brand-new product line releasing in three months: Nintendo Labo, presumably pronounced as the “labo” in “laboratory.” Specifically, our reactions to the three-minute introductory trailer. If you didn't watch it (and all you have to do to get up-to-speed is click that hyperlink), Labo, per Nintendo's accompanying press release, is a series of “new line of interactive build-and-play experiences designed to inspire kids and those who are kids-at-heart.” The experiences are a physical kit made of materials like special cardboard, string, and tape, that work with the Nintendo Switch.

Since then, Nintendo has been marketing the Labo as three components: MAKE, PLAY, and DISCOVER. That's how I'll organise this article to explain what the Labo really is. But first, I have some words to say about what people thought Nintendo were going to announce, because I think people's weird expectations have a lot to do with how the Labo was received.

Two Years Later, We Won. You Are Avoiding Cardboard!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Glory to KoopaTV. We killed the Labo and changed your mind.

It was exactly two years ago (April 20, 2018) that the Nintendo Labo made its commercial release and attacked the world. It was also two years ago that KoopaTV declared war on the Nintendo Labo, due to a cardboard TROJAN BOWSER coming in and attempting to conquer and convert KoopaTV into its likeness. We likened it to many other current and then-defeated enemies.

I think now is an appropriate time to declare victory on our Labo war. There hasn't been a new Labo kit in over a year (with the Nintendo Labo VR Kit). The existence of the Labo-incompatible Nintendo Switch Lite has severely degraded the Labo's capabilities to control gamers.

The Labo is completely “sold out” now on Nintendo's store, including replacement parts. Any obliterated Labo won't be able to respawn. They're finite and depleting.

I've discussed before how the shipping industry is allied with the Labo by transporting around cardboard boxes (that are really Labo in disguise, ready to spread their insidiousness). I also wrote last week that spending on the shipping industry is down, and I said I'd talk more about that this week.

Source: The New York Times, citing Earnest Research.

So here we are. Let's go!

How Nintendo Labo Is (Almost Literally) A Trainwreck

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - And you thought the Labo would stick to cars, planes, and submarines?

At the end of December 2017, Kamek wrote (yeah, Kamek wrote) about why Amtrak should not exist, providing KoopaTV an expansion of our transportation philosophies by describing trains as one of the worst modes of transportation out there.

Afterwards, the Nintendo Labo decided to test our transportation ideals by announcing the Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit. We immediately geared up for war. Things were quiet afterwards... even after the Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit hit store shelves. It was really a stealth launch.

Don't mistake quiet for benign, however. Just recently, days following the great American tradition of Thanksgiving, an Amtrak train stopped right after leaving the station. ...It not only stopped, but it was stuck. For six hours.

To be specific, it was an Acela Express going from New York's Penn Station (around 9:40 AM) to Massachusetts's South Station. Amtrak markets the Acela Express as:

The Threat of the Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Keep the Labo away from my vehicular treasures!

I might be the only one in Koopa Kingdom to think this, but great taste is often only distributed to a particular set of geniuses: The Super Ludsub is one of the greatest technological marvels of all time, and the best vehicular weapon ever made. Also near the top is the Doomship with my face attached to it, along with the Landship. (Planes are better than cars, and if you were wondering, submarines are the best of all!)

Last week, however, Nintendo announced a global threat to transportation: Nintendo Labo: Vehicle Kit — due for a September 14, 2018 release. Given what we know about Nintendo Labo — it's highly dangerous and can possess cardboard objects and turn them against their owners — this is a unique threat to the Super Ludsub. The Super Ludsub, as the name suggests, is a brilliant submarine that is, get this, made of cardboard.

Do you know what's in the Vehicle Kit? A car, a submarine, and a plane.

...And a pair of keys, the Toy-Con Keys, that reportedly enable the hijacking of any vehicle.

Yeah, you think I'm nuts for what I've written about the Labo? You don't think it's possible for a cardboard-with-sensors product to do everything I've said since it was announced? Well, for all the evidence you'll ever need, read this quote from the press release:

The Nintendo Labo VR Kit In Comatose Cappy Capturing Cahoots

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Virtual Reality for kids is bad news.

Today, a horrible new evil was let out into Earth, coming to stores near you. I'm writing about the Nintendo Labo VR Kit, also known as Toy-Con 4. That's VR for Virtual Reality, a technology most known in the gaming world for giving people headaches after experiencing it.

But why do you get headaches? Forget whatever science tells you. I'm going to tell you the real reason, and how the Labo amplifies that. Having your kids near any kind of Labo is a bad idea for any mother (or father), but that's especially true for the Virtual Reality kit.

I've been writing from the beginning of my anti-Labo advocacy a year ago about a Labo-Cappy alliance, but I never went into much detail about how those two anti-Koopa forces complement one another. I'm finally going to cover that as well.

Enough teasing. Time to start with what exactly is in a Labo VR Kit. It actually comes in several flavours that are varying combinations of the Nintendo Switch software, and Toy-Cons of VR Goggles, a Blaster, a Camera, an Elephant, a Bird, and a Wind Pedal. That's summarised in picture form below:

Details on the Nintendo Labo Kits!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Do these more details generate more Labo interest?

I told you in my Nintendo Labo announcement analysis article that I don't particularly care about Nintendo Labo, but I don't hold anything against you if you care. (Normally, I'm more judgmental.)

At the end of last week, apparently to distract from their Bayonetta re-re-release, Nintendo released three (3) new detailed, longer-form videos on the Nintendo Labo. These answer a lot of questions I've had about what exactly you'd be getting if you commit to the Labo's purchase prices, and the value the Labo imparts on its players and builders.

I think the most logical way to present you my thoughts is to just go through each video one-by-one and give commentary. I've embedded each of the videos under their respective header, of course. It's the least I could do. As you watch the videos, don't pay attention to how the Nintendo Labo music is basically a remix of the gym theme from No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.

The Nintendo Labo Robot Kit's Sneaky Price Cut

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - There's something weird going on with the Labo. Weird by Labo standards.

According to the Wayback Machine, the Nintendo Labo Robot Kit's Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price was reduced from $80 to $60 between October 22 and October 29, 2018. This isn't a sale. It appears to be a permanent price cut that remains to this day, reflected in all the retail outlets.

But you don't hear about it in the mainstream gaming media, or even in Nintendo's press releases. The only Labo-related bit of news during that time period is a feel-good story about Nintendo distributing free Nintendo Labo Variety Kits (and Variety Kits only, not the others) to the Institute of Play, where they'll be redistributed to elementary schools similarly to Minecraft for education.

At first glance, it appears that the Robot Kit got a $20 permanent (?) price cut because it doesn't have an award on its box.

Now Nintendo is trumpeting a bunch of awards. The Variety Kit made it to the Toys, Tots, Pets & More's Arts, Crafts, & Activities list of most wanted toys in 2018. The Toy Insider put the Vehicle Kit on the top 10 STEM toys, in the top 4 for ages 6–8. The awards continue, with the frauds at TIME Magazine rating the Nintendo Labo one of the best inventions of 2018. I disagree with that.

No one wants to give the Robot Kit an award (and I don't blame them), so I guess that's why it got a price cut that absolutely no one talked about. Usually, Nintendo creates press releases just to talk about price cuts, such as when the Nintendo 3DS went from $250 to $180. We all know that happened not because Nintendo is nice, but because that $250 was priced way too high for the market and the 3DS was failing as a result. (It was such a famous price cut that back when KoopaTV staffer RawkHawk2010 was in college taking Intro to Macroeconomics, he used the 3DS price cut as the basis for his project on supply & demand. He got a C.) Same thing with a Wii U Deluxe price cut (remember when the Wii U released at two different price points?) and individual permanent game price reductions.

Is the Nintendo Labo that toxic and knowingly dangerous that they refused to mention the Robot Kit's 25% price reduction?

ShinyGirafarig and her daughter go to the Nintendo NY Labo Workshop

By SHINYGIRAFARIG - ShinyGirafarig spied on Nintendo Labo Propaganda.

Nintendo NY had a Labo Workshop for the weekend of when the Labo was released, and I went on April 22nd. This time, there was no age limit of being able to attend the closed Labo event, so I did not have to pass my one year old daughter as a six year old. I like taking my daughter out to Nintendo events. I previously took her to the Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon event and the Kirby Star Allies event. My daughter loves playing with the recycling rather than all those toys we bought her, so I felt this event might be a good fit. I also feel like I bond better with my daughter when we go out to places together. I prepared for the event by purchasing a lightweight umbrella stroller to navigate around Nintendo NY because her other stroller is very large and I bump into a lot of people otherwise.

(I got this from Target.)

I got to the event half an hour late. I was delayed by her need of a nap, needing to change her diaper in case she thought to fill her diaper at the workshop with her opinion on the Labo, getting to the subway, the subway being delayed, and navigating the streets after leaving the subway because I needed to go to a farther away stop which had elevators for her stroller. But it looks like I did not miss too much. After taking my daughter out of her stroller, I sat her on my lap by the Nintendo Labo desks. I sat with three others on that table. There was another table with four more chairs, leading to eight participants in all per session. No wonder these workshops filled up so fast.

I held my daughter with one of my hands so I barely worked on the Toy-Con myself. The NY employee basically did all the work for me, though I used my free hand somewhat to punch out pieces out of the perforated cardboard kit and to bend some parts of the cardboard. She also gave my daughter cardboard scraps, pipe cleaners, and stickers to hopefully have my daughter entertained as well. When the RC was done, my daughter was encouraged to put a sticker on but she is probably not in the developmental stage in her life to know who to peel a sticker and place a sticker on a surface and to press down on the sticker. She did like the sticky back though. She also liked dropping the cardboard pieces and other crafting equipment on the floor. I guess we know her method to play with the Labo now. She got to press on the Switch screen to move the Toy-Con and we pressed the option for the RC to use its camera so my daughter could see herself on the Switch screen.

Next was the fishing rod, but we barely made it as time ran out to the workshop. The employee said the plan was to fully build the RC and partially build the fishing rod, and then the rest of the workshop was to try the demos of the already-built Labo projects. My daughter sort of played with the house, it took some encouragement to play with the piano and she went on a plastic motorcycle that had the Labo-made handlebars to pose for a cute video for me. I thought I recorded her playing the piano but either I never pressed the record button or the video got corrupted.

I had asked a few questions during this workshop. Questions such as if they plan to make future kits as my child grows older. The employee seemed to not know. I guess big Nintendo does not tell little Nintendo employees about everything. The employee did seem enthusiastic that my daughter will eventually enjoy the Labo. You can see that Nintendo is really trying to encourage parents to buy the Labo for their children. I did not buy the Labo at the time, even if I was already at Nintendo NY and attended a workshop. My apartment is already cluttered and I would not have time to build these projects anyway.

The Nintendo Labo Entering Virtual Reality

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Nintendo really is entering virtual reality after all.

Normally, if a KoopaTV article has the name “Nintendo Labo” in the title, you may expect hysteria on my part. However, I'm going to reserve that for a future article, and just deal with virtual reality discussion.

With that said, Nintendo has just announced the fourth Nintendo Labo Toy-Con kit: The Nintendo Labo VR Kit. That's VR for Virtual Reality, a hot technology in general that is seeing its way into a lot of non-gaming settings. Virtual Reality really started getting its popularity as a gaming technology, but I don't think gamers really care about it anymore.

Interestingly enough, I've already made at least two references to Nintendo and Virtual Reality on KoopaTV, and both are extremely on-topic to this new Labo announcement.

KoopaTV's Sporadic Live Reactions to Nintendo Labo

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Well... okay.

On Facebook earlier today, Nintendo published this post:

“Tune in here on Facebook or at youtube.com/nintendo at 2 p.m. PT/ 5 p.m. ET to discover a new interactive experience for Nintendo Switch that’s specially crafted for kids and those who are kids-at-heart.” 

So I'm going to write my whole thoughts and expectations on this in tomorrow's article. This one is just Rawk and I live-reacting (at different times) to what is a 3-minute announcement video. Let's just say, in typical Nintendo fan fashion, people (but not yours truly) were hyping this up to be something it was never going to be.

Find out what Nintendo Labo is by watching this and reading our raw reactions:

The Koopa Bros. Have Been Compromised By Nintendo Labo

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - There aren't bad bananas in every bunch, but for this bunch? Yeah. Bad.

Remember the Koopa Bros.? They starred in Paper Mario. ...I also wrote about the Koopa Bros. just last week, so yeah, you better remember them. I compared them favourably to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who now have the distinction of being the subject of an article five weeks in a row. Can we get rid of these guys?

...Can we also get rid of the Koopa Bros.? KoopaTV has been investigating the incident where “TROJAN BOWSER”, posing as King Bowser Koopa, declared the end of KoopaTV in favour of a new site, LaboTV. We concluded that the Nintendo Labo itself was behind this corrosive activity — anything made of cardboard is susceptible to the Labo's control.

The best way to avoid having your constructed cardboard turn rogue is to avoid constructing cardboard to begin with. But why did TROJAN BOWSER exist at all? Well, through our investigations, we've found out that the Koopa Bros. created the cardboard TROJAN BOWSER — in a completely unauthorised action.

The Koopa Bros. even lied to the enemy about King Bowser's opinion on TROJAN BOWSER.
(He never saw it, so he never loved it. Also, I don't trust double exclamation points.)

Nintendo 78th Annual Meeting of Shareholders: Fun Q&A!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - No, the amusement park won't take away from game sales.

I like to share Nintendo-related moments of amusement with my audience. In that spirit, here is the questions & answers summary from Nintendo's 78th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, which may be the last time we ever see now-former president Tatsumi Kimishima say stuff to people. (The meeting took place on June 28, and the Board of Directors voted in Shuntaro Furukawa as the new president after the questions.)

I guess I'll just give a paragraph to interesting question-answer combinations and let you know which I'm talking about. That sound alright?

Take Question 2, for example. The investor is freaking out about Nintendo's stock price, which is falling ever since E3 2018 and before. (Buy low, sell high, folks.) Just to illustrate:

In the picture: Nintendo's stock collapsing since the end of April.
(As you can see from the watermark, courtesy of Yahoo! Finance.)

Shinya Takahashi and Kimishima discussed E3 to divert the topic, and Shinya Takahashi claimed that E3 2018 was dedicated to not only Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but also Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!. And I'm not too sure, based on what we saw, that the latter is true. It only had one (lame) appearance on Nintendo Treehouse Live, after all. It was at the beginning to get it out of the way.

December 31, 2018 Nintendo Quarterly Financial Update

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - ...Featuring lowered expectations that everyone knew would happen.

Today, Nintendo released their quarterly update about the state of their business, covering the beginning of October to the end of December—the biggest time period for them of the year in terms of selling software and hardware. I'd say it didn't disappoint, but their stock dropped 4% today, so it kind of did. That's because Nintendo's goal of selling 20 million additional Nintendo Switch consoles from April 1 2018 to March 30 2019 was reduced to a goal of 17 million. I thought everyone already knew that Nintendo's goal was overly ambitious and they weren't going to reach it, and that would have already been baked into Nintendo's stock price.

Guess not.

Here's some updated sales numbers Nintendo has provided, in my quarterly chart of fun:

Featuring no sales data on ARMS, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, or the Nintendo Labo!

I'm pretty sure, to this day, ARMS is outselling the Nintendo Labo, collectively. One Labo is too many, so over a million Labo is a concern. In any case, KoopaTV's anti-Labo crusade is clearly having a big impact and the Labo is widely considered across the industry to be a failure. That's another victory.

Nintendo Labo... SMASH Kit?! Oh no!

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Cardboard does have spirits. And they're dangerous.

Any hour now, Nintendo is going to publish their report covering their financial results between April 1, 2018 and March 30, 2019. Then they'll start a new fiscal year. That's always a big deal in terms of news and interesting analysis, and you can bet it'll be the topic of a KoopaTV article in the very near future. But not tonight. Tonight, there's some bad news to report.

The Nintendo Labo has invaded Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in a way more pervasive than a mere Mii costume. There is an entire Spirits event dedicated to four new Spirits added to the game post-release that are “exclusive” to this event. Added...for free, because no one would ever pay DLC money for these.

There are four Spirits, and each gets six dedicated hours. Every. Day.

The event lasts for five days, while normal Spirit events only last three.

The sneaky Toy-Con Robot is present, as is the stealthy Toy-Con Car (the worst of the vehicle kit), and the recent and really evil Toy-Con VR Goggles.

I have no idea who Professor Riggs, Professor Plaise, or Professor Lerna are. I think they each have full names that are some kind of pun. Regardless, I wasn't aware that the “Nintendo Labo series” has characters in it, or that it has more original characters than Paper Mario: Sticker Star.

The presence of original characters doesn't make me like the Labo more or anything. These professors are just the latest example of how academia operates against the interests of the average person.

Personally, I'd prefer four free Spirit Battles featuring Rawk Hawk, Maya Fey, Franziska von Karma, and Godot. I even wrote out how each of those would work!


Ludwig hopes that the Labo ceases to infect Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and that maybe this whole thing is a joke. Boycotting the event won't do any good, since there was already a cardboard box Spirit. That's just matching the already-established Trojan tactics of the Labo.


It wasn't enough for the VR Goggles to become a Spirit. Now they're compatible with the game itself.
Ludwig got his one and only Spirit Battle thanks to the Toy-Con Car.

June 30, 2018 Nintendo Quarterly Financial Update

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Featuring some very long-awaited sales figures.

No matter how good Nintendo's. financials get, it's like the stock market doesn't care. Bummer.

In other news, Nintendo is making some sweet money as of their quarter ending June 30, 2018. I know you don't care about the particulars (you don't go to KoopaTV for stock picking or financial news), but just know that everything is holding pretty steady (aka good) except for the 3DS, which continues to collapse in terms of numbers sold, as you'd expect. There's only so many kids 5–8 to sell to.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch has sold 19.67 million units as of June 30, and 86.93 million units of software. Among the top software are Super Mario Odyssey (11.17 million), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (10.35 million), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (9.32 million), and Splatoon 2 (6.76 million). And then there is a big gap going down to the 2 million units, but your takeaway for those four games is that they make up almost half of all Nintendo Switch software sold.

So let's look at the bottom-tier million-plus sellers again: 

Parking out of the Toy-Con Garage and into the Game Builder Garage

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The specifications are unclear, but quite important!

In a surprise news drop, Nintendo revealed a new experience coming to Nintendo Switch next month: Game Builder Garage. Here's the trailer, and here's the info page.

As the name implies, you are building games in this...garage. Well, Game Builder Garage is meant as an educational tool (for $30) on some basic concepts of game programming and design via guided tutorials and a Free Programming mode. But it's very familiar... and that's because it's obviously inspired by the Toy-Con Garage infamously associated with the Nintendo Labo that also tried to teach programming the very same way.

If you click that link in the preceding paragraph, you'll get to an article filled with videos set to Private. That's because Nintendo has totally given up on the Nintendo Labo after KoopaTV waged a very justifiable war against it for two years and vanquished it. The Labo videos are put on private and the Labo mini-site is gone. The cardboard forces have moved on to other things, the success of which we should be able to evaluate very shortly as Nintendo is about to do a financial disclosure covering their recently finished fiscal year.

All of that said, before our righteous anti-Labo defensive war, I didn't think that poorly of it. I mean, I wasn't enthusiastic, but I could recognise some potential in the concept. So what about Game Builder Garage?

Giving UPS A Second Chance To Give Sennheiser Headset A Second Chance

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - As you'll read, their shipping practices may have improved, but their cardboard boxes? Dangerous.

Ever since my famous article a year ago chronicling my experience with the shipping company UPS and how they kept my amiibo hostage, I've been trying to avoid them both personally and professionally. Especially now during the November–December holiday season when they hire a bunch of clueless temporary employees—which was apparently the cause of the problem I had a year ago.

Unfortunately, bad timing struck me. I didn't mention this in another throwback to an article from a year ago, but along with my new (at the time) gaming PC, I also bought myself a Sennheiser GSP 300 gaming headset. It's served me well for the past year, with great-quality audio (and it's relatively effective in shutting off the world around me) and an okay microphone.

Well, the microphone doesn't work anymore, which just makes the headset a bulkier-than-normal set of headphones. Not great if I want to, say, record audio or voice chat with others while gaming. (And believe me, I do want to record audio. Let's just say there's a voice-acting-related project coming up for KoopaTV before 2018 ends.)

The Sennheiser GSP 300 features a 2-year warranty. I decided to use it and ship it to Sennheiser via their service portal. One slight problem: in order to ship to their Connecticut office, they provide people with a UPS shipping label. The fact that shipping will be conducted via UPS is even in their warranty conditions document. What am I going to do?