Support NeoGAF

[Slings and Arrows]

I don't know why but this thing makes me feel uneasy. Calling it a Playdate...so creepy.

IMO, this is a scam and some hipsters are going to lose starbucks money,

 

[xool]

And a black-and-white screen? It's like they never heard of Nintendo.

Not having a backlit screen is really stupid, more just monochrome.

Black and white screen...

Pretty sure designed by hipsters

It’s just a hipster handheld for hipsters to use and carry to Starbucks or their local soy food truck.

Nailed it.

 

[ParanoidRED]

The design is legit fantastic, i have no idea if i'll have use it for any actual gaming after the first hour of "oh look new shiny purchase" tho

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Trying to fit an outdated concept rather than just going the Raspberry Pi route.

No Backlight is stupid these days and going for Black and White seems a little too backward. The GB did it to reduce costs but even that got updated.

I don't see it taking off.

 

[Codes 208]

Had me at handheld.

Lost me at literally everything else.

 

[ROMhack]

Not a fan myself and Edge's copy reads like an advert.

 

[Jack Videogames]

Nice, for 30€ it could be a cool gizmo to showoff and play while commut-

Wait, 150€?

Nice of them to provide a new image for the "DOA" entry in the Dictionary of Gaming

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

All my hipster designer associates are thrilled by this, so they'll probably sell their limited stock.

I was about to post something along the lines of it being "designed by hipsters, for hipsters." Lol

 

[CJY]

Looks weird and wonderful. Will wait for reviews/previews before jumping in, but 99% sold just based on:

- panic
- teenage engineering
- yellow

 

[cireza]

It should have a color OLED screen at that price.

 

[Link1110]

Another one of these? Between this and the thing that new earthworm Jim game is coming out on, I think some people are forgetting gaming history, specifically what led to the crash of 1983. Hope were not doomed to repeat that history.

 

[Virex]

Hell no

 

[Aintitcool]

WTF is the analog crank for? raising the volume? Is it an input for games? I am so confused.

 

[Rodolink]

WTF is the analog crank for? raising the volume? Is it an input for games? I am so confused.

Input, you can see in the game they showcase in the website, they can go forward backward in time by moving the analog crank. So it canbe used as another analog input like lowering raising stuff, or reeling in a fish game etc

 

[Zannegan]

Is it an E-ink screen? Because that would be kind of rad. Otherwise I have no idea why they would limit themselves to a black and white screen. Surely they can't be less expensive to buy than the readily available color LCDs out there.

Two face buttons seems arbitrarily limiting. The crank--as something you have to let go of the handheld to wind rather than, say, a dial you can move with your thumb--is just odd, and not in a "Wow! I never knew I needed that," way either.

The whole thing feels... purpose built to no purpose. I'm all for funky designs and new things in a controller space that is pretty hostile to change, but nothing about this attracts me.

 

[Nymphae]

I think that looks awesome and could potentially be interested but not before seeing any of the software.

 

[radewagon]

I see a lot of people wondering what the point of this is and I think it's just supposed to be a fun experimental and artsy little product. The website says quantities will be extremely limited, so I really don't think they're expecting it to become a new handheld of choice or for it to even continue far beyond their first wave of content. The limited quantities also explain the price. With a small production run, the price per unit is going to have to be a lot higher. Someone mentioned here that it was a device for hipsters. I think that just about nails it. It's expensive, limited, retro, quirky, and will play unique artsy games.

Also, as a hipster-ish gamer with a collection of portable consoles, I'm pretty excited about this thing. It looks neat.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

I can see that one game being incredibly good and many of us regretting not buying it as it will never be released on anything else again.

That D-Pad is awful though.

 

[Queso de Grande]

This looks like it would be a real pain to actually play, especially with the crank.

Although this looks perfect for a new Legend of the River King game.

 

[ComptonJapan]

149$? Yeah I'm just going to be the rip off from Ali Express when it comes out for like 20$ maybe.

 

[jshackles]

So, don't get me wrong, but... What or who is this product for? Considering it has no backlight and will be playing their own games, I really don't get who they're trying to reach with this. When it comes to handhelds they're competing with Nintendo and the regular phone, so they'll need a few good arguments to get people to buy into this at a regular price. Also the image looks like a rendering, and I don't trust unfinished products.

Hipsters

Seriously though, I'm guessing they're seeing the niche market for quality gaming systems (Analogue NT, mini Nintendo consoles, etc) and trying to hop in head first without really understanding what it was that make them great. In most cases, Nostalgia. I imagine we would all be singing an entirely different tune if the Link's Awakening remake was coming out for this thing.

 

[Shaqazooloo]

Weird... but i'm guessing that's the point?
Black and white screen and at that price? ouch.

 

[Jigsaah]

this is not for me. Especially not for 145 bucks.

 

[mariosbrother]

Is it an E-ink screen? Because that would be kind of rad. Otherwise I have no idea why they would limit themselves to a black and white screen. Surely they can't be less expensive to buy than the readily available color LCDs out there.

Two face buttons seems arbitrarily limiting. The crank--as something you have to let go of the handheld to wind rather than, say, a dial you can move with your thumb--is just odd, and not in a "Wow! I never knew I needed that," way either.

The whole thing feels... purpose built to no purpose. I'm all for funky designs and new things in a controller space that is pretty hostile to change, but nothing about this attracts me.

Not sure e-ink displays are at the redraw rates you would want.


Edit: I'm actually tickled by the site's screen resolution comparison to Game Boy (that came out 30 years ago), but I guess that's indicative of who they believe they're catering to.

 

[Alter_Fridge]

I like the big ass screen. Don't get anything else

 

[EviLore]

Design aesthetic out of something Teenage Engineering would make, except less useful. Definitely a hipster targeted product. Wildly overpriced at $150, borderline useless without a backlit screen, no reason to be interested without seeing some strong exclusive software.

 

[EviLore]

Oh, turns out Teenage Engineering is actually behind the hardware.

Playdate: Teenage Engineering is co-creating this eye-popping handheld gaming system

But will it get a synth app?

www.google.com

They’ve had some significant quality control issues lately on their hardware releases and a lot of people have complained about poor or non existent support when they encounter defects or failures. I have some of their products like the OP-1 and they’re a lot of fun, but ran into extraordinarily high defect rates on their cheaper gear like the Pocket Operators.

 

[Breakage]

A strange name. It sounds like a toy for young girls.

 

[Spukc]

it has ties from the guys that did the teenage engineering OP-1 . a 1000$ plastic midi keyboard.

teenage.engineering store

teenage.engineering

they make apple look cheap.

 

[EviLore]

it has ties from the guys that did the teenage engineering OP-1 . a 1000$ plastic midi keyboard.

teenage.engineering store

teenage.engineering

they make apple look cheap.

The OP-1 is a stand-alone DAW basically, not a midi keyboard. There’s nothing else like it and lots of top musicians have used it for creative inspiration when getting away from computer-based tools. It’s a synth, sampler, sequencer, etc.

Also it’s aluminum, not plastic.

 

[Spukc]

The OP-1 is a stand-alone DAW basically, not a midi keyboard. There’s nothing else like it and lots of top musicians have used it for creative inspiration when getting away from computer-based tools. It’s a synth, sampler, sequencer, etc.

Also it’s aluminum, not plastic.

Didn't knew the buttons where also aluminium.
My bad!

I heard about those famous artists. But never really seen it. Besides some fancy youtube channels. Stating how innovative the OP-1 is.
All i know is that it starred in that one Swedish house mafia music video. But that song was not actually made with the OP-1.
I will state it is a cool toy.

I am a sucker for great product design and advertising. But this is not it.
If you like sound engineering you should look into behringer,

Behringer NEUTRON

Semi-Modular Desktop Synthesiser Analogue signal path, 2 VCOs with CEM3340 chips, Continuous transition between 5 waveforms, Paraphony mode for two-part sounds, Multimode VCF with resonance, 2 Analogue ADSR envelopes for VCF and VCA, Flexible LFO...

www.thomann.de

Lot of possibilities dirt cheap.

 

[EviLore]

Didn't knew the buttons where also aluminium.
My bad!

I heard about those famous artists. But never really seen it. Besides some fancy youtube channels. Stating how innovative the OP-1 is.
All i know is that it starred in that one Swedish house mafia music video. But that song was not actually made with the OP-1.
I will state it is a cool toy.

I am a sucker for great product design and advertising. But this is not it.
If you like sound engineering you should look into behringer,

Behringer NEUTRON

Semi-Modular Desktop Synthesiser Analogue signal path, 2 VCOs with CEM3340 chips, Continuous transition between 5 waveforms, Paraphony mode for two-part sounds, Multimode VCF with resonance, 2 Analogue ADSR envelopes for VCF and VCA, Flexible LFO...

www.thomann.de

Lot of possibilities dirt cheap.

Yeah, I have a Neutron actually, it's great. Behringer is making huge strides lately.

 

[Rodolink]

Just found out on the faq of their website I can only develop with OSX -_-

 

[93xfan]

$150. No thanks.

Even at $1.50, I’d pass. Would rather play game on my Switch

 

[scalman]

i mean cmon we have allready like $15 NES emulator systems from china same size out there. why we need something like this anyway . we have phones in pockets too...

 

[Cato]

The non-back lit, black and white screen will be the reason it fails. What the hell are these people smoking?

You are not a real gamer and not the target market. /s

Everyone I talked to down at the artisian coffee shop, drinking Lattuchinis with double cream, cacao and caramel, are super excited.
Only issue is the color. That bright color might look dirty if you get mustache wax on it.

 

[scalman]

its not even for gamers... plz... just for some show off...but problem is its shit and worse then your phone anyway ,... they still find those smart people out there lol

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

Imagine paying $149 for that piece of shit.

 

[Pallas]

That price is a bit steep... there has to be more to this to charge that price.

 

[Shifty]

Not a fan myself and Edge's copy reads like an advert.

You do have to wonder how such a scrappy little up-and-comer got a full cover feature in Edge.

Oh wait, what am I saying?

Just found out on the faq of their website I can only develop with OSX -_-

Oof

I wasn't on the 'lol hipsters' bandwagon until now, but this might just seal the deal. The only platforms that can justify that in any way are Apple ones.

 

[magnumpy]

I like $399 regular edition $499 pro version. but we'll see ?_?

 

[BigBooper]

The handle on the side makes this thing look like one of those handheld fishing games from the late 90s.

Exactly what I was thinking. They gonna bring back fishing games?

 

[BigBooper]

$150. Black and white screen. Season 1 has 12 games.

Sure seems worth it. lol

12×60=$720-$150=$570 discount

 

[Zog]

No backlight is a deal breaker.

 

[Hinedorf]

It looks incredibly stupid and outdated. 2 primary buttons is a big indicator of how in depth the games you'll be playing.

Likely for ages 8 and up.

 

[jshackles]

It looks incredibly stupid and outdated. 2 primary buttons is a big indicator of how in depth the games you'll be playing.

Likely for ages 8 and up.

Show me a single 8 year old alive that would rather play this than a smart phone, 3DS, or Nintendo Switch.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

12×60=$720-$150=$570 discount

Those aren't full budget games you're getting.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Show me a single 8 year old alive that would rather play this than a smart phone, 3DS, or Nintendo Switch.

None.

I bet the designer's kids won't play it for more than 5 minutes despite getting it for free.

 

[Hinedorf]

Show me a single 8 year old alive that would rather play this than a smart phone, 3DS, or Nintendo Switch.

Challenge accepted!

 

[n0razi]

I don't know why I find that thing so .....nifty looking . I don't know what else to say really

Teenage Engineering... their hardware aesthetics are pure artwork