All the buzz about Nintendo’s Alarmo clock

Look, I’m a sucker for instant gratification. It’s often one of my favorite things about living in New York City. This morning, Nintendo announced its $99 Alarmo clock, and when the company’s store in Rockefeller Center opened a couple hours later, I walked in and picked one up. Did I feel a little iffy about paying $108.91 after tax for a plastic alarm clock? You bet. But fortunately, in my field, this counts as a work expense. (Technically, this product is called Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo — but no one is ever going to refer to it that way. It’s Alarmo.)

The Verge’s senior entertainment editor Andrew Webster will have a full review of Alarmo coming up, but I wanted to check it out for myself. Mostly, I was curious about the audio quality. If the speaker in this relatively tiny clock sounds tinny or shrill, that would ruin the whole concept for me.