It’s yellow. It fits in your pocket. It’s got a beautiful black and white screen. Playdate from Panic is coming soon.
You would be forgiven, dear reader, for thinking today might in fact be April 1st.
It’s not. I assure you. And the Playdate is very much a real thing that macOS software developer cum game publisher and now hardware makers, Panic, are planning on bringing to market.
The Playdate handheld gaming system is a combination of nostalgia mixed with new-world tech and just pure oddball madness.
The small, pocket fitting device consists of a 2.7″ 400 x 240 black and white LCD screen, a D-pad, two buttons and a crank. Yes a fu#$ng crank?!
What is the crank for I hear you ask? Well it’s not a sequel to yet another Jason Statham hard-ass franchise, nor is it to charge its battery, instead its another input device with the only known game at this time, Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure, using the it to move a character back and forth in time.
Which leads us to the biggest unknown and that’s what you’ll be playing on your Playdate. Panic are tight lipped saying only that twelve are being worked on, with some coming from big names in indie gaming circles like Shaun Inman — whom oddly enough also developed RSS software I used to use back in the day.
Retailing at US$149 the Playdate is set to go on sale later in the year, but will only be available in limited quantities according to Panic ahead of its early 2020 ship date.