Ok, so, this isn’t necessarily Vita related (directly speaking), but it’s very interesting to see that some people (cof, Nintendo) still see a future in dedicated handheld gaming. The surprise, however, is where it’s coming from: Panic. This publisher went from making mobile games to widely-acclaimed console releases, and now they’re looking to explore the… handheld market?
Meet PLAYDATE:
Introducing Playdate, a new handheld gaming system from Panic.
It fits in your pocket. It’s got a black and white screen. It includes a season of brand-new games from amazing creators. Oh and… there’s a crank???? https://t.co/WiIPUkpjSq
Yes. A thread… pic.twitter.com/47BwSOtiiP
— Playdate (@playdate) May 22, 2019
The concept is certainly interesting, and so is the design. There’s a crank, but it won’t be used to power the device via a dynamo, but rather as a controller:
Oh yeah, the crank! No, it doesn’t power the device. It’s a flip-out rotational controller that puts a fresh spin on fun. Some games use it exclusively, some use it with the d-pad, and some not at all. pic.twitter.com/XYW97nLZKK
— Playdate (@playdate) May 22, 2019
Confused? So are we. Here’s more info on it:
Playdate is our celebration of the video game. We reached out to some top game designers, like Keita Takahashi and Zach Gage and Bennett Foddy and Shaun Inman. We showed them Playdate and asked, “Want to make a game for it?”. Then we lost our minds when they said “Yeah!” So Playdate isn’t just the hardware.
It’s twelve brand new video games, one each week. What are these games? Here’s the thing: we’d like to keep them a secret until they appear on your Playdate. We want to surprise you. Some are short, some long, some are experimental, some traditional. All are fun.
When your Playdate lights up with a brand new game delivery, we hope you can’t wait to unwrap your gift. And there’s so much more to come. Playdate is alive with possibilities and surprises, future games and new ways to make them. We’ll have even more to talk about at launch.
There’s going to be 12 games in “season one”, and it’s all included in the price of the console. Which, by the way, isn’t cheap: The novelty of owning a PLAYDATE will set you back $149 of your finest dollars, which puts it in “second-hand Vita” territory, or in other words: “the value of 2 used 2DS consoles”.
Is the PLAYDATE going to be worth the money? It’s hard to tell. It’ll all depend on the games, as is usually the case, but with only 12 games for the system confirmed, it’s a little puzzling, to say the least.
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