In May 2019 we shared a most curious news. It was about Playdate, a portable console similar to Game Boy (features a black and white screen and crank) developed by Panic, the distributor of games for Nintendo Switch such as Firewatch or Untitled Goose Game.
We briefly remind you of its characteristics:
- It is a very cool console, since it looks like a Game Boy, with its crosshead and its A and B buttons. However, it has a small crank on its side. This is a new switch on the console to perform different mechanics in the game. The only one presented up to that moment is the game Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure by Keita Takahashi (creator of Katamari Damacy), which allows you to rewind or speed up the game time.
- Its content purely indie. All the games that it will include will be indies and surprise. By purchasing Playdate, with an Internet connection, the owner will receive a game weekly (included in the price of the console).
- For now, they have been confirmed 12 sets, although they promise more. And the only one featured is precisely Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure.
- The games will be more or less long, with or without use of the crank, at the free decision of the different creators who will participate in the project. The following developers have participated: the aforementioned Keita Takahashi, Zach Gage (Ridiculous Fishing), Bennett However (VVVVVV, Ape Out) y Shaun Inman (The Last Rocket). Others are yet to be revealed.
However, although the console was scheduled for early 2020, time passed and we did not know anything more about it. However, the wait is coming to an end, as the company recently released an update video confirming all sorts of details. Here it is:
These are the most outstanding details:
- The price will now be $ 179, which is an increase over $ 149.
- The number of games that will be included in the price as part of the weekly downloads of “Season One” doubles, going from 12 to 24.
- Some test projects are also shown in the video, revealing the quirky Playdate Stereo Dock, an accessory that serves as a charging base, speaker system and pen holder.
- It was also revealed Playdate Pulp, an easy-to-use, browser-based tool that will allow anyone to develop games and transfer them to their system.
- Pre-orders will open in July, and that they will not “run out”, although the orders will be fulfilled gradually depending on the manufacture; the company has promised that there will be a week’s notice before pre-orders go live.
- The first shipment of some 20,000 units expected later this year, and orders after that initial batch will arrive in 2022.
What do you think?
Via.
