Despite Nintendo being among the earliest adopters of virtual reality as a medium to play video games, it has remained conspicuously silent on the subject ever since the critical and commercial failure of the Virtual Boy. However, as the technology improves and VR games become increasingly more impressive, it seems Nintendo is getting back into the virtual reality market.

Nintendo has announced that its Labo platform, first released last year, will be getting virtual reality kits that use the Switch as a screen. Coming April 12, the Nintendo Labo VR Kit will introduce Switch players to the world of virtual reality with peripherals like a blaster, camera, elephant, bird, and wind pedal. The Toy-Con VR Goggles will be sold in two different kits: the Starter Set + Blaster and the more complete VR Kit, which includes the two Expansion Sets available at launch.

Virtual reality headsets range drastically in price and performance, from sub $100 units like Samsung's Gear VR all the way to the high-end HTC Vive Pro. As for Nintendo, the Labo VR kit is priced firmly in the former category, with the Starter Set costing $40 USD and the VR Kit set at $80.

Despite VR picking up steam in recent years, there's still no indication that the new technology will overthrow traditional consoles any time soon. In fact, even Facebook's position in the VR market has yet to guarantee a successor to the Oculus Rift, with some reports indicating the Rift 2 may be suspended in development purgatory.

The news that Nintendo will be releasing a VR headset as part of its Labo series seems to lend credence to a recent rumor that the Switch is poised to get 11 currently unannounced games this year, one of which was predicted to be a new Labo kit. The rumor also lists a "Mystery Wii U port" from 2013 as a likely Nintendo Switch release this year.

Source: Nintendo