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Nintendo teases strange new motion control experience for Switch

Nintendo teases strange new motion control experience for Switch

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More details coming September 12th

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Fresh off its Nintendo Direct announcements yesterday, the gaming company is already teasing a “new experience” for the Switch — some sort of bizarre new motion controller accessory that uses the console’s Joy-Con controllers, promising more details on September 12th.

The teaser is light on details but it appears that there’s two pieces of the device: a primary, flexible ring that one Joy-Con half is inserted into, and which has some additional handles around the circumference that seems to be the main “controller”, and a secondary leg strap that the other Joy-Con goes in (perhaps for some fitness tracking features?) The video shows players vigorously squeezing the ring, jumping around, and running in place, which seems to imply that it’ll be some sort of fitness or workout experience, but without more details, it’s hard to tell what exactly Nintendo has planned.

Nintendo isn’t a stranger to odd, motion controller based fitness products — the Wii console famously had Wii Fit, a fitness game that included a scale and relied on motion controlled mini-games for exercise. There was also the infamous Wii Vitality Sensor, a canceled accessory that would have measured player’s heartbeats for gameplay purposes, although what exactly it was meant to do was never made entirely clear.

Whatever it is, it seems to be following in the footsteps of last year’s Nintendo Labo cardboard accessories, which also relied on the Joy-Con controllers motion controls and sensors to enable new and interesting gameplay mechanism. Presumably, we’ll find out more next week when Nintendo makes its announcement.