Um... hi. <.< So, that's a thing. The Playdate handheld console is a quirky little device being made by Panic, the developers of Firewatch. It's one thing for a company who makes software to suddenly venture into hardware manufacturing, but it's another thing entirely for a company to make not only a handheld that has a crank... but to do so retroactively.
The Playdate's screen is monochromatic: black and white. Technology for screens in mobile devices is always improving, but Panic feels that there's a certain place in gamers' hearts that will welcome in a new handheld that decides to not only stop and smell the roses, but to go back to when they were first planted. The way Panic describes it, though, is that it won't be like the old Game Boy screens where there's motion blur and jagged lines; it should be clean and sharp. So, it seems Panic is giving us the old with the new.
It's not just the hardware with the antiquated screen and the gimmicky crank that's peculiar. It's the library. There's going to be a "season" of twelve games distributed once a week for twelve weeks, included in the machine's 150 dollar price tag, and these games won't be revealed until they show up on your Playdate. They will all be exclusive titles developed by indie game companies. One such game will be developed by the people who made Katamari Damacy, which really piqued my interest as I love that franchise. There's also a game called Crankin's Time Travel Adventure where you'll use the crank to rewind time. I love time traveling games, so this is another notch in this weird little handheld's favor. And I'm sure there will be a fishing game for it. I mean, come on!
I've decided I'm going to try to get one of these. I signed up for notifications on their website and they said that stock will be very limited. I have no idea how many they'll make. I'm hoping that more people will be turned off by this idea than turned on so that I have a chance. This Playdate thing is just too unique of an idea to pass up.
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