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'Playdate' Handheld Game System Now Available for Pre-Order

Nicky G said:
I love all of the above systems that I just mentioned, and various games on all of the platforms. None of them, not even the Game & Watch, are anything like the Play Date. As far as I'm concerned, that's what makes the Play Date genuinely attractive, fun, and interesting. I'm obviously not getting it to be able to play the same types of mobile games I can just play on the Switch I already own.
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I love that!
I also think that's the most sanguine way to be approaching this.

Playdate, by design, has some parallels to older systems, but it also is very much doing a new twist on it all.

That could be very cool for those looking for that! (as you are)

The Panic guys are awesome, so I won't be surprised if they've created something unique and with an interesting twist here. I've been a paying customer and fan of theirs since they first opened shop many many moons ago.

I think probably 10 years ago, I might have been a buyer of something like this - just "for the hell of it"...

Something happened to me a decade back and I've become much more frugal and conservative with my purchases (particularly in tech). I somehow got more in touch with what makes me tick and it made me way less materialistic. I sort of "figured out" that buying this kind of stuff ends up not scratching any itch once I got over the initial rush of it all -- and now I just don't buy the stuff to begin with - lol
 
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umbilical said:
I love black and white gaming screens, I would buy it for $49, but not $179.
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I would imagine that even Panic folks would privately admit it's really a sub $100 device, but due to their size and the much smaller scale they are operating at here, they had to price it much higher to be able to do it at all.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
I would imagine that even Panic folks would privately admit it's really a sub $100 device, but do their size and the much smaller scale they are operating at here, they had to price it much higher to be able to do it at all.
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I mean, Panic isn't hiding that it costs $98 to build, but something's gotta go towards R&D, the games themselves, and leave a bit for them to profit as well.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1147690006690947073
 
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neoelectronaut said:
I mean, Panic isn't hiding that it costs $98 to build, but something's gotta go towards R&D, the games themselves, and leave a bit for them to profit as well.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1147690006690947073
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Yes - exactly!

They don't have the scale to get better pricing on components & manufacturing to get device pricing down...nor the complementary ecosystem to rely on to make back losses on the devices themselves (as MS/Sony/Nintendo have been known to do)

I get why they priced it where they did - they had to - or they wouldn't be able to do it at all.

When I said "sub $100 device" I mean it in terms of consumer expectations of the experience, size, use case, etc.
It's not always "right", but this is the sort of gadgety play thing that people expect to cost less than this one does.

I'm not really taking a side on that - more just making a consumer behavior/expectations observation.
 
neoelectronaut said:
You’d be surprised to learn that some individuals purposely use black & white film despite color photography existing for over a century.
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No I wouldn't. Considering I studied photography at school, and have enjoyed black and white films, including modern ones like The Lighthouse and Mad Max Fury Road.

It's one thing to make a black and white game like Limbo... It's another to make a PLATFORM that limits ALL it's games.
It's a key difference.
 
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Regbial said:
No I wouldn't. Considering I studied photography at school, and have enjoyed black and white films, including modern ones like The Lighthouse and Mad Max Fury Road.

It's one thing to make a black and white game like Limbo... It's another to make a PLATFORM that limits ALL it's games.
It's a key difference.
Click to expand...

So I guess you don't like Kindles, either?
 
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People don't like the Playdate. That's perfectly fine and I understand where you're coming from. Have a nice day. :)

I ordered two - one for me and one probably for my brother (who knew nothing about it and didn't sound too keen when I told him about it which is fine - if not him, then somebody else will take it I'm sure). For the two Playdates, it was over $500 including taxes and shipping to the UK) - not inexpensive but I work hard and so why not an impulse buy like this ?

I don't play games on my Mac. I don't have a PC, a games console or any other handheld games device. I have games on my iPhone but I hardly ever play them. I subscribe to Apple Arcade (not as part of Apple One) and GameClub more to show my support for them rather than anything else.

However, I grew up in the 1980s and have happy memories of Apple ][ games from that era. And the possibility then of writing simple games myself - whether using Applesoft BASIC, Integer BASIC or something else - and hacking around in the Apple ]['s monitor (I can still remember CALL -151 after all these years). To be honest, I'm looking forward more to the Playdate's Software Development Kit rather than the games themselves. Hopefully the Playdate will scratch that itch.

Last but not least, it's by Panic. If all I knew about the Playdate is that it's from Panic and the price but no other details at all, I'd still stump up the cash.
 
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Imposing purposful constraints can promote creativity and create a brand identity. See Tik Tok (short format video), Instagram (vertical photography), Twitter (character limit), or even the iPhone (no physical keyboard). The success of these platforms is not in spite of, but because of their imposed limitations.
 
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nosnhojm said:
Imposing purposful constraints can promote creativity and create a brand identity. See Tik Tok (short format video), Instagram (vertical photography), Twitter (character limit), or even the iPhone (no physical keyboard). The success of these platforms is not in spite of, but because of their imposed limitations.
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TikTok's success is due to the crack cocaine algorithm, not the format

(I find the format fun myself, but it's the success it is because of the insane Algo....)
 
This has to be the dumbest invention of 2021. Who would buy this? $180, its not back lit, even she said "maybe" it will work under candle light. Then, games from companies you heard of, and some you didnt... oh ok... All that brain power wasted on a project like this. If it takes off, good for them. But for me and the people I know... no way...
 
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cmaier said:
How, exactly, does not being backlit effect playability more “nowadays” than it did when the Gameboy was the most popular thing on the planet?
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Because nowadays almost every screen has backlighting? I own an original Game Boy, and loved it during my childhood but last time I tried the experience was terrible, difficult to go back to non-backlit screens.
 
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nosnhojm said:
Imposing purposful constraints can promote creativity and create a brand identity. See Tik Tok (short format video), Instagram (vertical photography), Twitter (character limit), or even the iPhone (no physical keyboard). The success of these platforms is not in spite of, but because of their imposed limitations.
Click to expand...

podcast.panic.com

Panic Podcast. Follow the sidequests, subplots, and accidents of history that round out Portland’s Panic.

Given enough time, even a business starts to collect some interesting stories. And Panic, Portland's long-standing software company/video game publisher/hardware developer/who knows what, has been around for a long time. Our host, Christa Mrgan, takes a look at the strange, funny, interesting...
podcast.panic.com

Cabel Sasser: All of the quirks of Playdate, I think, helped tremendously in attracting developers to want to make something for Playdate. If Playdate had a full-color OLED screen and a powerful 3D chip, it would take a very long time for one person to say, yeah, I'll make a game for that. By going in the opposite direction of where gaming has gone lately, we return to a scale in which one person, two people, three people can make an awesome, entertaining, you know, lengthy, meaningful title, and the constraints enable that.

Shaun Inman: And it's like, oh, constraints! I love constraints. And so that was an obvious yes.
Click to expand...
 
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PabloSRT8 said:
This has to be the dumbest invention of 2021. Who would buy this? $180, its not back lit, even she said "maybe" it will work under candle light. Then, games from companies you heard of, and some you didnt... oh ok... All that brain power wasted on a project like this. If it takes off, good for them. But for me and the people I know... no way...
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It’s sad that you and the people you know don’t like fun things then. Just because something isn’t a 4K 3D pixel blasting powerhouse with games that require 742 buttons to control doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Games are meant to be fun, and fun can come in a huge variety of different ways. It truly boggles my mind that people like you are so offended by the Playdates very existence. And to dismiss “all that brainpower” being “wasted”, good lord get off your high horse. The people who made this CHOSE to do so because they enjoyed the idea. That’s not wasting anything. We should all be so lucky that we get to have fun like that in our jobs, that we get to make things we are passionate about, things meant to bring people joy.

If the Playdate doesn’t interest you, fine! I’m sure there are things that interest you that I would find uninteresting. It may surprise you to know people enjoy different things. But there is a difference between “this isn’t for me” and “this is a waste of brainpower”. Try learning that.
 
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jhman said:
Panic said on Twitter that the first 20,000 (shipping in 2021) sold out in 17 minutes from launch.
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Sure sounds like they're doomed. :)

These guys (Panic) make specialty software for an OS that makes up...5%...of computers? I think they understand their market. Looking forward to seeing the games people dream up to play on this thing.
 
turbineseaplane said:
I'm curious, is there a post in here that said it was dead on arrival?

I've seen lots of "I don't get it" and "It's not for me"..
But I don't recall anyone saying it's DOA.

Did anyone?
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Arpe:
>This is just electronic waste because it is too limited

Chrisdazzo:
> Can't wait to throw this in a drawer with my Google Glasses, Pebble Watch, HP Touchpad, and Microsoft Kin.

Macsplusmacs:
> Send me $179 and I will send you a Pet Rock.
> Same "fun" lifespan as the PlayDate.

Morganland:
> And there will hardly be any more for this DOA.

Djlithium:
> DOA

So...yes?
 
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turbineseaplane said:
I love that!
I also think that's the most sanguine way to be approaching this.

...

Something happened to me a decade back and I've become much more frugal and conservative with my purchases (particularly in tech). I somehow got more in touch with what makes me tick and it made me way less materialistic. I sort of "figured out" that buying this kind of stuff ends up not scratching any itch once I got over the initial rush of it all -- and now I just don't buy the stuff to begin with - lol
Click to expand...
So you're saying I might grow out of it one day, and go all Marie Kondo? lol I can dream... ;)

Honestly, the Playdate (I guess I should write its name correctly) feels like a piece of technology that fell into our world through a wormhole from an alternate dimension (much like a lot of both Panic and Teenage Engineering's stuff). I loooooove it. The really awesome but still 1-bit non-backlit display? LOLOL omfg... THE CRANK?! hahahaha How can I not support this awesome ludicrousness?! 😆

Out of all the gaming systems I mentioned that I own, my Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch has gotten BY FAR the most playtime since it came out, than all of my other systems combined. I have a feeling that the Playdate may end up being the system I use the most, once that little lovely yellow slab is out in the wild. So happy I got an order number under 10K, I assume that means I made first batch. :)
 
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I have no interest in this but my god are people negative about this. Besides retro gamers I think the people that are gonna like this are people that care a lot about aesthetic. For them, the fact it looks good on their tiny coffee table in their Brooklyn apartment with a record player near by is all they need to get it.
 
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