Nex Playground revives motion-controlled family gaming

For a brief period in the 2000s, motion-controlled games made video gaming a living-room pastime for people who rarely touched a controller. Now a new device, the Nex Playground, aims to bring that spirit back. About the size of two and a half Rubik’s Cubes, the camera-driven console uses a wide-angle lens and AI tracking to put players directly into more than 50 minigames, replacing traditional controllers with body movement.

At hands-on demos I found the tracking impressively accurate: players leapt through puddles in Peppa Pig: Jump and Jiggle, danced to Rick Astley on Starri and sliced watermelons in Fruit Ninja, drawing smiles from children and adults alike. The Playground retails at £269 ($299) but includes only five free games, with the remainder available through a £90 annual subscription.

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