You know you’ve hit that age in parenthood when you not only think about Peppa Pig multiple times a day, but have apparently gotten to the point where you write about it too.
As the parent of a child who is currently in the inevitable Peppa Pig watching phase of her growth and development, I’ve learned quite a bit about the titular pig largely through osmosis.
I know, for instance that my daughter’s sudden interest in dinosaurs sprang from Peppa’s younger brother George’s love for dinosaurs. I’m also aware that Peppa has a baby cousin with whom I share a first name, and which my daughter is more than happy to remind me.
Then there’s also the fact that a whole amusement park of sorts exists in London, devoted to the show like some miniature Disney Land.
And lastly, that there is a family-friendly videogame console called Playground that seems largely geared towards feeding even more Peppa Pig content into households everywhere.
What the heck is the Playground console?
I largely suspect that unless you also have kids in the toddler to small person stage, that there’s a good chance you never heard of this console.
Most of the marketing and promotional materials for it flew under my radar, except for the Peppa Pig related aspects of it.
In a nutshell, it’s a console / entertainment system that focuses on multiplayer motion-controlled games (or, if we’re being picky, mini-games) that’s billed as fun for the whole family, but possibly more so for the little ones.
The colourful little cube sits below your TV and using its camera and some AI tracking for the motion capture, projects you back on the screen so you can watch yourself whacking moles or slapping other stuff out of the air with graphics that definitely remind me of the early green school / soccer goalie games we saw back in the late 90s / early 2000s.
Realistically, of course, the console is more reminiscent of the early days of the Microsoft Kinect or the Nintendo Wii and their libraries of odd little games you could download sometimes for a buck or two.
Only, because we’re in 2024, nothing costs a dollar and all the games are bundled on a yearly subscription for something close to $100.
Is the Nex Playground console any good?
As I happen to be currently in between jobs of sort, and not enjoying a healthy amount of spending money like I was in my past and very soul-crushing career, I’ve elected not to splurge $200 on one more electronic device that will get my daughter addicted.
Fortunately, there are, well not exactly plenty, but some reviews out there on sites like Wired.
Their bottom line is that it’s accessible and affordable, but’s it’s not exactly a must-have device filled with killer apps – unless, I would assume, your household needs one more device that can load Peppa Pig content.
For any more details, you realistically just need to watch one of the promo videos on the Nex website and you’ll probably understanding everything you’re getting into in about 5 seconds or less.
Does the Playground Console from Nex matter?
In the grand scheme of gaming, no, not likely.
Hell, if Microsoft can’t even make their latest Xbox feel relevant and purposeful (Series S, X, which one is it now?), what chance do other competitors have?
I suppose in this case, the Playground isn’t a rival console, but more of a complementary one. It’s the one you bring out when people show up from out of town, or that you let the kids play until they’re old enough to be little bastards in Call of Duty.
What I find more interesting about the whole thing is how motion-controlled gaming has now apparently become one of gaming’s perennial cycles. You know, the kind of thing that will pop back up every ten years or so, maybe for retro feel goods and nostalgia, disappear, an then pop up again.
Motion-controlled gaming sure felt like a big thing when it first came out and then promptly fizzled, and no doubt it’ll be like what 3D movies were before Avatar and have become once again since – a fad that’s good for a couple of days, before we promptly forget about it again and move onto other things. But, of course, we’re always happy when it comes back around in a couple of years.
Ultimately, Nex’s claim that the Playground is some new kind of entertainment system feels a bit misleading, especially since it feels like we’ve seen it all before.
Though for the younger generation, especially my daughter who was born a couple years too late for me to still own my old Wii console, she can likely appreciate the novelty of something like this – at least until the next best thing comes up, or she reaches the age when kids start reading Nancy Drew novels.
