Gaming is criticized for being a sedentary hobby, but it doesn’t have to be. The Nex Playground is a colorful cube-shaped console that gets you up off the couch and jumping around your living room. It reminds me of Microsoft's Kinect platform for Xbox—the Nex Playground similarly sports a motion-tracking camera that puts you in the game. You play physically with gestures and movements, without the need for a controller.
My family and I have been dancing, shooting baskets, and facing off in various party games that make you look daft for the last couple of weeks, and it has been a blast. But with limited content, questionable fitness credentials, and a subscription model, claiming a place in that crowded TV cabinet may prove tough for the Nex Playground.
The Nex Playground feels like a well-made toy. With an eye-catching green and yellow color scheme, this simple 3-inch cube is super cute. It has a soft-touch finish and a wee magnetic eye patch attached by a cord that acts as a privacy shutter for the camera lens. Setup is as simple as plugging the HDMI cable into your TV and finding a power adapter for the USB-C cable (any old phone charger will do).
Pop the Nex Playground beneath your TV and the wide-angle camera does a good job of capturing the whole room. I placed it on the shelf under my screen and used the included yellow wedge to angle the camera up. You ideally want a decent amount of space. We cleared the coffee table away to create a roughly 8-foot square and that worked fine. You get a cylindrical rechargeable remote with the Nex Playground, a bit like a Wiimote, but it’s mostly just used for navigating around the menus.