Swinxs

Will Swinxs be the next big thing? Billing itself as a "revolutionary, active gaming concept" it aims to tear kids away from tvs and video games with a portable console intended for both indoor and outdoor use and with the aim of encouraging active physical play and social interaction.

Swinxs is the newest project of Eduard Zanen, founder of the Bugaboo company. It launches in the Netherlands next month and will surely be making its way to the U.S. But what exactly is it? It's a talking console that acts as coach and referee - explaining game rules and keeping score. Up to four children play at once and each wears a RFID wristband embedded with a microchip that communicates with the Swinxs console. There are three types of games - active, social and adventure. You can get a better idea of how it works and the kinds of games kids play with it by watching the video below.

The Swinxs unit attaches to a computer via USB so kids can upload performance data and download new (free) games. No word yet on the price of the unit.

What do you think of the Swinxs concept? We like it in comparison to the passive and often solitary nature of computer and video games, but wonder if we can't just convince kids to go out and play.

Comments (6)

Myth: video games are passive and solitary. The trend in gaming for the last ten years is co-op play. It started on the PC with games over LAN, and now it's standard stuff on consoles. Just look at the Wii. There's hardly anything passive about it. Have you played any of the games?

It looks fun. I would buy it. I would buy Wii, but it does not have gaves for small kids yet.

The Swinxs is a vurtual nanny overloaded with tons of simple ideas for a good time. You COULD play those games if you CAN make the kids listen to you and organize them. :-) As sad as is it, kids will do almost anything the talking box [but not you - boring parent] says.

hmmm... certainly more appealing than video games, but yes it would be nice to just have the kids to be able to do it themselves. there needs to be a modern and attractive book of games ala "dangerous book for boys" that kids *and adults* can pick up, read & learn, and do these sorts of games for themselves. and maybe make up some of their own games themselves while they are at it.

Hi genxmom, I do play video games, including Wii (which I don't own, but friends do). We have an Xbox 360, a Playstation2 and plenty of computer games. Sure, the Wii is more social than most and the new generation of games is geared toward entering social worlds, but I would still argue that video games are often still solitary experiences and that even those where you play others online is not the same kind of social experience as playing a board game or doing a physical activity.
Carrie

No, it's not the same kind of social experience. But it's still a social experience. Some people find social experiences through online play *more* or *as* meaningful and real as playing with others in the same room, in different ways and with different pleasures. Some people don't. The point is an attempt at classifying videogame play, online or off, is just a generalisation. And more often than not, assumptions are made that are quite false, or at least do not reflect the experience of game play many people have.