Playdate: A new handheld console- with a crank?

[Intellivision Master]

 

[Zap!]

What's the expected shipping date now? I can't even remember if they charged my card or not when I pre-ordered...

[gmaletic]

1 hour ago, Zap! said:

What's the expected shipping date now? I can't even remember if they charged my card or not when I pre-ordered...

Your ship date depends on the Group you're in (which you can find by looking at your order page, which -should- be linked to from your email receipt.) Scroll half-way down this page for estimates: https://lists.play.date/w/C1CCc0cxLPvgKc6tC8jVmg

 

And we do charge cards at the time of pre-order.

 

Thanks for your order!

[Zap!]

2 hours ago, gmaletic said:

Your ship date depends on the Group you're in (which you can find by looking at your order page, which -should- be linked to from your email receipt.) Scroll half-way down this page for estimates: https://lists.play.date/w/C1CCc0cxLPvgKc6tC8jVmg

 

And we do charge cards at the time of pre-order.

 

Thanks for your order!

Glad to see that I was already charged, as I prefer it out of the way. I pre-ordered on July 30th 2021 (a day or so after pre-orders started). I'm in Group 4.

[Intellivision Master]

 

[+jgkspsx]

Neat tutorial and neat little game!

[Intellivision Master]

 

[Intellivision Master]

 

[Intellivision Master]

 

[Intellivision Master]

 

[SegaSnatcher]

It is a pretty cute little device.  Hopefully it finds an audience.  Looks like the build quality is really good. 

[Zap!]

Have any units been shipped? On the PlayDate official site it says the following:

 

We’ll ship units as they are received from the factory, some each week, starting in early 2022

 

Since it's technically no longer early 2022, has the shipping begun?

[Intellivision Master]

https://www.polygon.com/23013686/playdate-panic-crank-history

[Intellivision Master]

 

[Intellivision Master]

 

[Bill Loguidice]

All I can say is that based on the video reviews my early concerns over the viewability of the screen seem to be valid. Besides the clunky ergonomics, I suspect that will be one of the biggest challenges to getting people to really love the platform once it's in their hands.

[Zap!]

Metal Jesus just did a video on the Playdate yesterday.

 

 

[orange808]

I really liked this piece. It's fair and honest:

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/review/playdate-review/

 

Some of the other reviews feel very very enthusiastic. It's almost as if a lot of people loved it before they ever played it. That's great, but is that the right state of mind for writing a "review"?  Hard to say. I could be wrong. Maybe I am.

 

The $180 price proposition will (and really should) be polarizing right now. I understand the price is justified, but I am still on the fence. Guess it doesn't matter, because the machine is unavailable for the immediate future. 🙂

 

Would be nice if they eventually implemented a curated store and let more indies in. I do love the ability to sideload as a built in option. Hopefully, that will deliver more than just emulators...

 

 

Edited April 19 by orange808
touch keyboards stink

[Osgeld]

I have been indifferent to this product and honestly thought its time had came and gone

Now that is in the news again I am still racking my brain on how it cost so much, and where the heck did they source a non backlit screen of that resolution in mono? 

 

went into rant mode, concussion is you can pay a hobby modder like me postage and a couple beers and get an absolute shi+ ton of games spanning the GB, GBC, and GBA life in one unit that "looks" HD to our modern eyes, providing you are willing to shell out for a gameboy IPS mod (when available) , game carts or a flash card (last one I did was 90ish dollars without a flash cart and I had to buy the gameboy)

 

Where's this things software and why would I want to look at a 2022 device with a 1990's screen? 

Edited April 20 by Osgeld

[Bill Loguidice]

11 hours ago, Osgeld said:

Where's this things software and why would I want to look at a 2022 device with a 1990's screen? 

We can point out the obvious all day, every day, but there's no denying that they've hit upon a winning formula, at least at this stage of the process. To play devil's advocate, perhaps if it had a nicer screen and better ergonomics, it wouldn't have gotten as much attention. The purposeful nod to outdated legacy technology and concepts seems to be a winner for them so far.

[jerseystyle]

3 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

We can point out the obvious all day, every day, but there's no denying that they've hit upon a winning formula, at least at this stage of the process. To play devil's advocate, perhaps if it had a nicer screen and better ergonomics, it wouldn't have gotten as much attention. The purposeful nod to outdated legacy technology and concepts seems to be a winner for them so far.

I'll cop to that- what appeals to me is the toy-like aspect of the whole thing.  I like how reductive it is, in terms of design.  I'm not sure if the weekly delivery will make sense if I buy it, say, a year from now, so I'm hoping they rethink that once we are past the early adopter phase.  I wouldn't wanna grab it in 2023 and have to wait like 6 months to play everything.

[zzip]

3 hours ago, Bill Loguidice said:

We can point out the obvious all day, every day, but there's no denying that they've hit upon a winning formula, at least at this stage of the process. To play devil's advocate, perhaps if it had a nicer screen and better ergonomics, it wouldn't have gotten as much attention. The purposeful nod to outdated legacy technology and concepts seems to be a winner for them so far.

I could never figure out the appeal of this thing.  So basically the appeal is because it's a curiosity?   

 

I don't think that bodes well for the future of the device because it means people will buy it to say "look what I got".   But being underpowered and having very little software I can see most of these sitting on shelves or in drawers and not getting used much.

[Bill Loguidice]

29 minutes ago, zzip said:

I could never figure out the appeal of this thing.  So basically the appeal is because it's a curiosity?   

 

I don't think that bodes well for the future of the device because it means people will buy it to say "look what I got".   But being underpowered and having very little software I can see most of these sitting on shelves or in drawers and not getting used much.

It's clear it has significant appeal and I have agreed with and agree with the idea that it's hard to say exactly why and that it's likely a lot of people don't realize what they're getting and/or will be disappointed. How that plays out for the platform long-term remains to be seen. All we know is that short-term, they've had unequivocal success and even most of the recent reviews have been favorable, so it's certainly possible that their once-in-a-lifetime luck will continue to hold out despite some of the obvious issues.

[RevEng]

Teenage Engineering, the folks who designed the Playdate hardware, have made a solid career out of their quirky hipster electronics gear. I bought one of their Pocket Operator synths when they launched, and have enjoyed the hell out of it.

 

The Playdate isn't very different than the other Teenage Engineering stuff - they run with some core premise, and remove anything that doesn't support or reinforce that core premise; it's a very minimalistic strong-flavoured aesthetic. I actually like their designs quite a bit, but not at the prices on offer. I picked up the Pocket Operator when they were launched at $60, and now they go for $120 new. Playdate is pretty neat, but for me it would be a $70 buy, tops.

[+jgkspsx]

On 4/20/2022 at 3:06 PM, zzip said:

I don't think that bodes well for the future of the device because it means people will buy it to say "look what I got".

Literally the story of homo sapiens since before civilization even existed.