Bill Loguidice

There are always things to criticize with aesthetics. I don't think any of the cabinets released - even the Arcade1Up ones - are truly perfect or universally beloved. For instance, the new 1981 anniversary cabinet is criticized for having a pure Ms. Pac-Man wrap-around on the screen instead of a split, and a lot of people also don't like the visual of the 1981 on the bottom of the base. Probably the least offensive ones are the ones like the MVSx, which are pretty plain overall and mostly authentic to the original, although even that cabinet is weird looking when using the base because of the double coin doors.

Not me. I was referring to his AtGames comment. I don't work for Arcade1Up.

We're fine, thanks.

I can see a few scenarios I suppose. One is it's auto aim and you just have to maintain the right shooting (turning) cadence to not overheat the gun, and maybe occasionally press something else to reload. In any case, I think overall you're spot on and the crank gimmick will mostly have to be used in isolation. It's just one of many quirks/questions with the system that we won't really know for sure about until it gets out in the wild. Frankly, I suspect the vast majority of usage will simply be traditional d-pad and buttons, so I think a lot of people who are expecting the limitations to push developer innovation will ultimately be let down by limitations on the user side.

If the rumors are true of no Simpsons Bowling on the Simpsons cabinet, then I can't imagine what the second game is or why they'd have a trackball there. It's way overpriced for a beat'em up game that honestly doesn't have a great deal of replay value and their usual 17" screen when everyone else has moved beyond that. At least with the bowling it would have some additional playability. Even though I don't care for the low quality of Arcade1Up products, I would have actually considered this cabinet. However, with only 2 games (and assuming the rumored hidden game or games are nothing special - and WHY hide them?), this is an easy pass. I guess we'll see what's what when the official full details are released.

In what scenario can Playdate possibly sell more than the low tens of thousands of units even with a wholly unexpected wild sales success? It's an ultra niche product made even more niche by the high $179 price point. Do you really think there are hundreds of thousands of people clamoring for a black and white handheld with a crank? And what do you mean by make "obscure consoles cool again"? The Amico, despite itself being a niche product, is wholly unrelated to anything involving the Playdate or anything else in my opinion. It will succeed or fail based on its own merits and frankly very reasonable gameplan the Amico team has come up with.

Speaking of pricing, I got the Xtron Pro from their Kickstarter maybe 3 or 4 months back (didn't open it yet!) and it's presently listed at $89 and seems to have the same spirit. No crank, though: https://www.ovobot.cc/en/product/detail/xtron-pro/

I think they priced themselves out of a potentially larger success. This seems like it should be a $99 device to be more of an impulse buy rather than $179 (not counting shipping). At that price, it's going to a "super niche" product rather than a regular old niche product. It's more tech toy than gaming system all things considered. It reminds me a bit of the Pico-8 concept mashed together with early smart displays. The black and white display is kind of annoying on its own in this day and age (although the early Mac look of the visuals does appeal to me), but the lack of a backlight is really odd, especially considering some of its potential uses if it had one. With my "complaints" aside, I may still get one, but I'm obviously part of that "super niche" who buys ultimately stupid stuff like this to mess around with.

Understood. Just to clarify, I'm not the PR guy (not my role). I just try to provide info when I can.

You complain about lack of controller support and I tell you it's been expanded, but you're skeptical, and then you complain about not having an option with an included controller and I tell you that we now offer one that also works with all of our other arcade products (and PC and other devices) and you don't like how it looks. Yes, it's an inexpensive controller, but one that performs well. I really don't know what you were expecting. If you want a premium controller, you can get a PS5 or some other, similar option. Nothing is locked down. And again, we do now offer a Core with the bundled controller, but it's obviously priced higher. It's better to have both options since a lot of people already have controllers (or use Gamer Pro or Mini controllers).

Controller support was greatly expanded for the Legends Core several firmware updates back, so it's pretty much a non-issue now. Also, there's a first party Legends GamePad now as well for those that want that option, and it's being sold as a bundle, again for those that want that option.

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They'll be announced soon, but the first batch of 5 will be some of their biggest IP.

Yes, they're doing maintenance. It should be back by Sunday US time.

I like the MVSX, but it's a shame what happened. A company rep was one of the ones responsible for disseminating the hacks. From what I understand, SNK is not going to license any add-on games for the product now, but I guess there's still some hope since it remains an active product. As it stands, only iiRcade and AtGames with the Legends Arcade Family series offer the ability to buy more licensed games.