Picoo digital gaming wand drags kids away from screens and back oudoors

techradar.com:

Picoo won't be a brand that rings a bell of familiarity in our brains in the same way that Sony Playstation does, but its 'console' announced at CES 2022 is certainly worth keeping an eye on, especially if you have kids.

If the recent buzz around VR headsets and Metaverse has you concerned for the future then it might be a relief to know that projects to encourage children to put down their tech and leave the house once in a while are still being developed. Namely, Picoo has created a screenless, handheld, outdoor gaming console for kids that encourages outdoor physical activity disguised as games like Whack-a-mole.

It's a stretch to call it a console, but the torch-like design is incredibly user-friendly. In fact, while innovative, the Picoo console is pretty spartan on actual tech, requiring no internet connection to use (though you do need to use an app for an initial setup), and with games that use feedback systems, including haptics, lights, accelerometer detection and sounds to run, allowing the control to flash if, for example, children find each other while playing Hide & Seek. 

The only buttons you'll find are a single on/off switch, so there's no sedentary thumb-swirling or button-mashing involved. Some of the games are very physical, such as 'Zombierun', which involves players trying to infect each other in a glorified game of Tag, and players know if they've joined the 'undead' light on their Picoo changes color.

Thankfully it can automatically alter game difficulty based on a player’s capabilities too, so there's no need to stress about having kids with varying levels of fitness. It can even prevent fights by automatically pairing players together in games that need teams so that nobody is made to pick who they