16 ms·

Playdate pre-orders begin in July

353 points by cepp 5y ago

antidaily 5y ago
Still mad the crank doesn't charge it.
- arthurcolle 5y ago
  That would be interesting. Can someone who took a Physics class calculate how much energy you could get by cranking (and maybe how many cranks you'd need) to charge this bad boy up?
  - mmastrac 5y ago
    Lazy googling suggests 30-50Wish [1]. The gameboy uses about 1W, so maybe a 1:30 ratio of time cranking to playing? Lazy math, feel free to correct. [1] https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2007/12/wind-up-your-la.html https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2007/12/wind-up-your-la.html
    - arthurcolle 5y ago
      1 minute of cranking for 30 minutes of play time seems honestly pretty great. Wish I could do that with an iPhone! I have been in Miami this last week and went to the Mayweather v Paul fight and leaving there was absolute hell. Phone was at 2%, thousands and thousands of people were all trying to get Ubers at once. It was a disaster. Took two hours to find someone who was headed to Hollywood and then I charged my phone along the way and got another Uber back down to my Airbnb. #salty Could be a cool idea to have a "dual mode bike" that could let you pedal to charge your phone. Anything like this exist lol?
      - Ekaros 5y ago
        Dynamo lamps have been around for decades if not longer, but they make biking less fun. Output isn't too great either at 6V/3W that seems to be typical. Though it can be bought for cheap 5€ to 36€...
- asciident 5y ago
  Speaking of charging, does anyone know if usb-c charging is properly implemented? I've bought a number of new devices with usb-c and am disappointed they require the old usb-a to usb-c cable to charge. Has anyone tested with a Macbook charger, or a "smart" usb-c to usb-c cable?
jswny 5y ago
I think the design and concept are really cool but it seems like actually owning it would get old too fast and be more of a novelty. I could see myself buying this if it could emulate NES or GameBoy games though.
- salamandersauce 5y ago
  Yeah. They do have an SDK coming out soon looks like so I would be shocked if someone DIDN'T put a GB emulator on the thing. There is also lots and lots of cheap emulator devices these days with more buttons and color screens like the Retroid Pocket 2 and Anbernic RG350 that also cost a fraction of the price. Price is a bit much for me personally.
- jmcgough 5y ago
  The included games seem really creative and interesting, but you're right that it'll be a fun novelty for most people, then get less interesting after a few hours or so. I think the people who will get a lot out of it are people who get involved in the homebrew community - I spent hundreds of hours on ZZT as a kid, despite the limited ascii graphics. It's not trivial to make your own gameboy game then load it onto an actual gameboy. It seems like they've put a lot of effort into the SDK, game maker, and ease of sideloading new games.
- jonny_eh 5y ago
  You want the Analog Pocket: https://www.analogue.co/pocket https://www.analogue.co/pocket, but its preorders instantly sold out, and its first shipment has been delayed until end of year. Or one of the cheaper Chinese devices like the Retroid Pocket or RG531p
  - fermentation 5y ago
    Wow the Analogue marketing is really working on me haha. These devices look really great!
  - vlunkr 5y ago
    As far as I know, everything they make sells out instantly, you'd think they could start doing bigger production runs. I realize scarcity can drive up demand, but everything in their store being out of stock is little much.
hoppyhoppy2 5y ago
Ars Technica has a good article about it, if you want an overview: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/06/playdate-the-console-with-a-crank-gets-july-preorder-for-179-game-details/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/06/playdate-the-console-... as well as an article from a couple years ago about the device: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/why-the-quirky-playdate-portable-could-succeed-where-ouya-failed/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/why-the-quirky-playda...
mlindner 5y ago
Humor me, why would this be interesting in any way shape or form? I can see this only being interested to people with fetishes for old LCD-based semi-disposable toys.
- aaroninsf 5y ago
  Subtract the word "only" and you've got it. I suspect the market is there to enable modest success, for the same reason cassette labels flourished.
  - shadowgovt 5y ago
    It's a big bet. Even in the modern era of low-cost pipelines from concept to fabrication, novel console devices are incredibly expensive and risky to bootstrap into life.
MivLives 5y ago
180 dollars (plus shipping) is more than it'd cost for a modified gameboy plus a flashcart, and is near the price of an Analogue. The Analogue can play any gameboy (and advance) game every made, and is also a musical instrument. If this was around 80$ I would be all over it.
- nkellenicki 5y ago
  You're not wrong, but neither of those devices come with any games (unless you buy a flashcart, which is piracy). The Playdate cost includes 20 games by (relatively) well known indie game developers.
  - mmastrac 5y ago
    Piracy is competition.
    - cableshaft 5y ago
      Not really. I've got like 5 or 6 ways I can play Game Boy games now, I don't need another device for it. There's no other way I can play these games, so it's a new experience for me.
- dexterdog 5y ago
  It is about $80. The subscription that will make it useful is the other $100 which is what you'll be paying annually to keep using it.
- Operyl 5y ago
  I’d kill to finally get me an Analogue product, they’re always out of stock whenever I try. :(
artembugara 5y ago
So, there'll be a subscription to new games, right? What's the price for that?
bythreads 5y ago
Knowing teenageenginering, that thing is built like a brick, full aluminium and will outlast you
- canadianwriter 5y ago
  My pocket operators disagree - Love them to death, but I just know I'll break them some time soon (and I know I can get a case, but the device itself is NOT build that strongly).
  - neom 5y ago
    My op-z (buttons fell off or stopped working), ob-4 (buttons fell off or stopped working), pocket operators (battery doors snapped, buttons stopped responding, lcds leaked) all join you in the disagreement. As far as I can tell the only thing they've made that is robust is the op-1 (yet..., I still love TE).
rockbruno 5y ago
It looks amazing, but... why? I can't see myself spending more than 10 bucks on something like this. There are plenty of "vintage styled" games on Steam, getting a Raspberry Pi and putting it into a nice cover would be probably cheaper.
- AGorilla 5y ago
  You could do it in a weekend, right?
- criddell 5y ago
  Nobody is buying this thing because it's cheap. First, it's coming from Panic. They have enough fans that they can probably sell out the first run just on their reputation. Secondly, the industrial design looks great or at least novel. For $180 you get a neat looking toy and are supporting the development of new stuff. $180 feels like a sustainable price. It is a lot of money, but for many people on HN $180 is an easy impulse buy.
  - shadowgovt 5y ago
    Oh, I thought I recognized that logo! The publishers for House House's "Untitled Goose Game." It's a neat concept for a system, but a bit unfortunate that one can't play Untitled Goose Game on it.
    - jakelazaroff 5y ago
      They published Firewatch, too! In addition to being being highly respected (someone else in this thread used the word "legendary") Mac software developers.
neom 5y ago
I'm a huge teenage engineering fanboy but whatever you do, don't break their stuff, once it's broken, it's broken. Curious if the same is true for playdate, if it's like the rest of the TE gear, If you mess up the crank, expect to buy a whole new unit.
miguelmurca 5y ago
Playdate seems to me like a masterclass in marketing. The device is nothing extraordinary (imo), but it's presented and marketed in a way that makes it interesting.
- fossuser 5y ago
  All Panic stuff is like that - they have great style.
- felipemesquita 5y ago
  I think the hardware is notably whimsical (crank, very nice 1-bit display combined with ‘fast’ processor). I agree that there’s a lot hanging on marketing/hype, but part of it is just how people like Panic overall.
- earthboundkid 5y ago
  > The device is nothing extraordinary (imo) This is it: the peak Hacker News comment. A gizmo with a handcrank and a black and white screen is nothing out of the ordinary in 2021. I bet you could even make it yourself in a weekend if you just use a Raspberry Pi and an e-ink screen!
  - coldpie 5y ago
    No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.
    - yaomtc 5y ago
      I'm confused. Playdate has WiFi and Bluetooth, and the Nomad didn't have any storage.
      - simias 5y ago
        It's a reference to https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...
jonny_eh 5y ago
If you want to comment about how it's too expensive or doesn't play 30 year old gameboy games, don't bother? This is a new device that delivers new experiences and will likely sell out of its first shipment very quickly.
- ncr100 5y ago
  I want to comment that this will be the first toy I've owned in a LONG TIME that has a crank. And, that I expect I will have fun with it. Fun is where it's at with a Game Console. I like the artistry but that's just a gateway ... to the fun!
nsilvestri 5y ago
Lucas Pope's section of the update video [0] has me incredibly excited. He's one of my favorite game developers, and seeing him work more with 1-bit 3D games after Obra Dinn has piqued my interest. Also, a blog on dithering I came across after playing Obra Dinn was one of the more interesting tech blogs I've read [1]. Also see Lucas Pope's post on how he did dithering in-game [2]. [0] https://youtu.be/DeWGukDrc1U?t=455 https://youtu.be/DeWGukDrc1U?t=455 [1] https://surma.dev/things/ditherpunk/ https://surma.dev/things/ditherpunk/ [2] https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40832.msg1363742#msg1363742 https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40832.msg136374...
- an_opabinia 5y ago
  On the one hand, it's amazing, it's ~$220 for games. On the other hand, is this games? It's so tough out there. Lucas Pope obviously works really hard. Just imagine you're an otherwise successful indie game developer, you put out two amazing games, and it still isn't viable to make a third, in 2021. That doesn't happen with movies. You make two budget positive or critically acclaimed movies, you get to make a third. You don't have to go and make something else.
  - emsy 5y ago
    > and it still isn't viable to make a third, in 2021. I didn’t go through all the parent’s sources, can you tell me where this was stated?
  - xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
    I don't really understand what you're saying. I'm pretty sure Lucas Pope does whatever he wants at this point. After Papers, Please, Obra Dinn was clearly a creative pursuit that took years, he obsessed over the dithering for eons... This isn't someone out there struggling to make a buck.
    - jsnell 5y ago
      Yes. The Ars Technica interview from a couple of years ago is great: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/from-uncharted-to-obra-dinn-lucas-pope-dishes-on-his-illustrious-game-dev-career/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/from-uncharted-to-obr... The most relevant quote to this discussion is probably: > "My wife played [an early Papers, Please prototype] and said, 'You can finish this, but afterwards, you gotta get a job,'" Pope says with a laugh. "Which is funny, because now, whatever I show her, she's like..." Pope gestures as if he's throwing his hands in the air and giving up. "'Fuckin'... whatever, dude, I'm sure it'll work out.'"
kart23 5y ago
This things been a long time coming. I think the first announced timeline was shipping in early 2020 at $150, and taking orders in 2019. I guess covid messed some of their timeline up, but I'm still excited about it. I'll definitely be getting one, I think a big aspect of what makes it different is the programmability aspect. They're trying to make developing games for it super accessible, and I think it'll be a lot of fun for programmers who don't have the time to make full-on traditional games, or don't want to make decisions about the framework, language, etc. The constraints are what makes it fun. If the SDK is good, it'll be huge.
christkv 5y ago
I hope they are more successful than the Ouya, best of wishes, extremely hard market to get into.
- agloeregrets 5y ago
  I think they are starting on the right foot. Ouya seemed to sell the idea that it might compare with hardcore consoles where it was nothing close. This seems to sell an idea where the hardware and games are one and sell itself as something silly and whimsical.
alexbouchard 5y ago
The design and esthetics of this thing are on point. However, I agree with other comments that the games don't really speak to me, and I've found myself more interested in the pictures of the actual devices than any of the games. Regardless I hope this succeeds. Electronics need more original industrial design!
- prpl 5y ago
  I feel the opposite -this speaks to me more than any other device I’ve seen, but I was obsessed with calculator games in high school, spending many hours on ticalc.org and IRC.
  - nickflood 5y ago
    Me too, this speaks to me so much. The games all look wholesome, in line with the device itself. Judging by what I've seen, the processing power inside will be quite good and would not require optimisations unlike "retro" hardware, which would mean lots of third-party games made with relative ease. This would be a good device to spend some time with away from social media and work.
fshee 5y ago
I appreciate the ~decent <noscript/> textContent. Telling exactly what purpose(s) JavaScript serves helps make an informed decision on whether to open a graphical web browser or continue with w3m. (In this case, it was obvious I could read on about Playdate just fine.) I've grown sick of create-react-app default <noscript/> textContent. > Hello! Javascript is required for purchasing, signing up for the newsletter, viewing videos, and other content on this page. Please enable Javascript. > Your browser doesn't seem to support video.
- duxup 5y ago
  I think the population of folks who care is too small to do that. And honestly a good chunk of that population will still just complain anyhow / might not be persuaded. They already kinda made their call.
  - mkr-hn 5y ago
    I think it depends on how much the set of people who browse without JavaScript and the set of people who might connect you with relevant and important people/opportunities intersects. I've heard of people running whole web ad campaigns just to reach one person.
    - nexuist 5y ago
      Frankly the only time I ever see someone using a browser without JS is here on HN. Every person I know IRL or on other social media uses a regular browser like Chrome, Firefox, or sometimes Edge. I don't think even 1% of the global population knows it's possible to browse web pages without a GUI.
- shocks 5y ago
  It’s really nice when they do this but the no JavaScript ship has sailed. I’d rather devs focus on accessibility for screen readers etc.
  - BHSPitMonkey 5y ago
t0mbstone 5y ago
Looks blocky and uncomfortable to hold. Has a black and white screen with no backlight. Can't play Nintendo ROMS. Is a subscription service... The marketing is flashy, but I have zero interest in this product.
cableshaft 5y ago
Oh nice, Lua support! Should make porting one of my games (that I already mostly ported to Pico-8) to this little guy. Maybe I'll finally finish the Pico-8 port while I'm at it. This is the original Flash version from back in the day. I'm also working on a 3D sequel with Twitch support in my limited spare time: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/183428 https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/183428 I don't know why, but I have a good feeling that this device will be fairly successful. Maybe it's just good marketing on their part. I don't really have a good idea of how to make good use of the crank, except maybe add something that allows you to go back and forward in time (at least undo support). Maybe I'll even alter the mechanics to take advantage of it, like that 5D chess game.
- andrewclunn 5y ago
  Crank game mechanic ideas: safe cracking, catapult aiming, fire burner air balloon adjustment, etc...
  - mortenjorck 5y ago
    Not sure why this got downvoted. These are great ideas! Any interaction that requires some degree (ahem) of radial precision is exactly the kind of mechanic that would shine with this novel controller.
  - cableshaft 5y ago
    I meant specifically for my tile-laying turn-based board game, but those are good general ideas, thanks!
12ian34 5y ago
Despite having little interest in buying one myself, a suite of specially-developed surprise games seems like an interesting idea kinda like the Humble Indie Bundles... plus the upcoming web-based SDK to make your own! Also cool to see the fantastic poolside.fm in a screenshot although the pen-holder dock feels a little kitsch. It's promising, however, that the design partners are Teenage Engineering - known for their Pocket Operators and the truly amazing OP-1 all in one synth[0] for which I strongly vouch. [0]: https://teenage.engineering/products/op-1 https://teenage.engineering/products/op-1
bbarn 5y ago
Oh, cool. Something else I can put in the no longer supported pile with my PocketCHIP.
- cableshaft 5y ago
  I got one of those. Unfortunately the controls felt bad and the novelty of my Pico-8 game on there wore out quickly because of the junk feel of the buttons. This I can see being in to for longer.
mig39 5y ago
I'm really interested in the Pulp web-based development environment. I'm planning on picking up some of these to try with some junior-high and high school students in the fall -- if Covid is over by then :-)
post_break 5y ago
Just makes me think of when Gruber said "The story is about Playdate, the most amazing and exciting product announcement, for me, since the original iPhone." I can't help but roll my eyes at this thing. https://daringfireball.net/2019/05/playdate https://daringfireball.net/2019/05/playdate
- least 5y ago
  I am very much a fan of Apple products and enjoy a lot of the commentary from these apple pundits but it does feel a lot like this in-club that once you are a part of it anything you do will be praised by that group. I feel strongly that that is the case here. From anyone outside of the bubble I feel like ultimately it’s a quirky toy for rich techies that will probably be used a couple times before the novelty wears off and you go back to playing games on almost anything else.
tengbretson 5y ago
The styling of this thing is beautiful. That said, is it too much to ask that they come up with their own original name for a device that is patently a solo experience instead of hijacking a term for humans interacting with each other in physical space?
- Ekaros 5y ago
  I wonder how well the name will go over with wider audience. My first thought was is that some kind of dating service? Why is it on HN...
fumar 5y ago
I am always impressed with the design of Teenage Engineering’s products but they have an air “pure consumerism”. I think this is that taken to its extreme. A toy that has a crank, retro screen, design-driven accessories, and the games are there but not promoted. Compare that to the gameboy which put its games front and center with the selling point of being handheld. Admittedly, I would get the Playdate to put on my desk and admire as plastic art, but no more room.
- caslon 5y ago
  At some point, the medium does become important. Every computer no matter how small can do everything now, and limiting games to a specific platform is for the most part arbitrary at this point. So if you add limitations, or extra buttons! you end up with the rare occurrence of something new! A crank is actually a really cool addition just in terms of experimenting with gameplay.
  - 2ndseq 5y ago
    This is something well understood in the electronic music space. The limitations of the equipment can define entire genres of music. The programmer in me is very excited about doing some dev work on a limited platform.
    - chris_st 5y ago
      Indeed. I really love the Kind of Bloop[0] album, an 8-bit tribute to Kind of Blue[1] by Miles Davis (often cited as the best-selling jazz record of all time). Example song here[2]. [0] https://kindofbloop.com https://kindofbloop.com [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSCObIXDCJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSCObIXDCJc
- an_opabinia 5y ago
  > Teenage Engineering’s products but they have an air “pure consumerism”. I got bad news for you buddy, video games don't have a functional purpose any greater than beautiful design. You're sort of barking up the wrong tree if you wanna take a dump on something. But I think this was said in good faith, and you should just consider that Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operators have a totally different, literally unpolished aesthetic and also sell very well.
arduinomancer 5y ago
I don't get why everyone here is comparing this to gameboy emulators. There's a million ways to emulate gameboy at this point. There are emulators that run on pretty much every single platform. You can get a $40 handheld on Amazon that can do it. To me the selling point of this system is that you can play _new_ games that are in a cool retro 1-bit art style. That itself is a unique thing
- yoz-y 5y ago
  Also it’s a handheld for which it will be (if all works as advertised) very easy to develop. One thing that irks me is that the Dev environment is clearly at least public beta ready. I’d like to see and try it before preordering though.
  - ianai 5y ago
    Agree - like they should want people developing to it before it's released. This effectively gives them a rather odd lock-out period from the larger community.
    - nickflood 5y ago
      They addressed the SDK availability here - https://twitter.com/playdate/status/1400849495198289920?s=19 https://twitter.com/playdate/status/1400849495198289920?s=19 Basically, they don't have resources yet to open it up and support it enough for people to have good experience with it.
      - cableshaft 5y ago
        I don't think that's a good enough reason. They could make it a 'use at your own risk' type situation and/or let people band together in a group and talk out and try to work through any issues they have without their involvement. You need to let people start getting ready for this any way you can, especially as this is a potentially niche product that's not going to have any major developers working on it. Best I can do right now is work on game logic elsewhere and try to be ready to do a port when they finally go public with it, hopefully before its official release.
aresant 5y ago
Man that is just a beautiful website Both from the UX, to typography, to aesthetic (on desktop at least) Anybody know who built this?
- mttjj 5y ago
  /s ? This is a product of [Panic](https://panic.com https://panic.com). They know how to build a website. And write tools to [build a website](https://nova.app/ https://nova.app/).
- darnfish 5y ago
  Almost 100% Panic. See their other sites: https://nova.app https://nova.app, https://panic.com/transmit/ https://panic.com/transmit/
mortenjorck 5y ago
The (exquisite, I must add) landing page is broken on iOS - the webGL model of the hardware eats all the scroll gestures, so I couldn’t scroll down the page until one of the header links took me to the bottom, where I could scroll back up.
mkr-hn 5y ago
Now we wait for the softsynth OP-1 emulator on this to complete the circle.
shadowgovt 5y ago
I wish them the best. Games is a cutthroat industry, and game consoles are absolutely unforgiving... The number of failure-points that can bring down the entire project (hardware disruption, lack of developer interest in building for an unproven closed system, lack of consumer interest in buying an unproven closed system) is high. Massive chicken-egg problems in closing the loop on a long-term successful console bet.
junon 5y ago
I'm more interested in using it for non-gaming-related things since it seems like a neat little hardware package to begin with.
Wheaties466 5y ago
Who is this built for? Serious question. Yeah it looks cool but in a joke sense. It doesn't really look like it is going to do anything well. The accessories look even more like a joke. Obviously im not the target customer, but im trying to figure out who is?
- ngngngng 5y ago
  I have two personal use cases 1) Myself, I grew up on a game boy color and I have a nostalgia for playing games where the developers were so bound by compute resources on the device they were developing for. It allowed smaller teams to be very competitive in game design but also enabled a different sort of creativity than what is commonly seen today in game design where resources are virtually unlimited. I've also been wanting to toy with game development for a while now. This seems like a neat and quirky way to jump in. 2) My kid, I think we've gotten far too good at making video games addictive for kids. I want my child to have video games the way I did, with simple graphics, stories and gameplay that come to an end, unlike games like fortnite that you can keep playing for eternity. Added benefit if he gets to experience trying to play games without a backlight using the streetlights to see as you drive down the road.
  - Wheaties466 5y ago
    ok I can see that. Its just if I came across this website and didn't know any better. I'd 100% think this is some elaborate April fools prank. look at the game titles. Forest Byrnes Up in smoke Casual Birder Executive Golf It just seems like they're trying to hard not to be "cool" and trying not to take themselves seriously.
    - agloeregrets 5y ago
      Forest Byrnes is from Panic's prior published game, Firewatch.
    - deergomoo 5y ago
      > It just seems like they're trying to hard not to be "cool" and trying not to take themselves seriously. This is worded like a criticism but it’s exactly why I can’t wait to get one of these.
moftz 5y ago
The crank reminds me of one of a handheld electronic fishing game I used to have as a kid. I didn't see a fishing game listed but that would be pretty fun.
- ryanmcbride 5y ago
  They're releasing a free SDK for it, you know what you have to do.
- rgovostes 5y ago
  There is a game called "Robot Fishing" briefly featured in the video.
ryanmcbride 5y ago
I hope I'm actually able to get one. New game hardware has been such an absolute nightmare to get the past few years.
- WillPostForFood 5y ago
  I hope I'm able to afford one. At $179, I don't think supply will be a problem.
  - yoz-y 5y ago
    WDYM? The price is steep, but more overpriced hardware sells like hot cakes too.
    - y2bd 5y ago
      For example, Analogue Pocket, the 200 USD Game Boy hardware emulator that sold out in minutes: https://www.analogue.co/pocket https://www.analogue.co/pocket
      - WillPostForFood 5y ago
        Out of the box, Pocket is compatible with the 2,780+ Game Boy, Game Boy Color & Game Boy Advance game cartridge library. Pocket works with cartridge adapters for other handheld systems, too. Like Game Gear. Neo Geo Pocket Color. Atari Lynx & more. Completely engineered in two FPGAs.* More clear cut value proposition though, you know what you are getting. With Playdate you are taking a bigger risk on the games, and getting much less power.
        yoz-y 5y ago
        The value of playdate is that it’s not yet another emulator/mini-console. I find it more comparable to pico8
        ryanmcbride 5y ago
        scalpers generally don't care about how clear cut the value proposition is. For example they bought up all the game & watch super mario handhelds right away, which has literally only 2 games on it and not enough onboard storage for much more than that. Scalpers still bought them all up. Luckily Nintendo kept shipping them out so you can get them pretty much anywhere still, unlike their amiibos.
PostThisTooFast 5y ago
Whatever THAT is.
blairbeckwith 5y ago
From a more in-depth article from Ars: > This "stereo dock" doesn't have a price yet, but it will ship with a preinstalled online radio option, dubbed Poolsuite FM, that Panic says will include "expertly curated Soundcloud playlists that will transport you to a magical, sun-kissed musical zone between the past and the present." This sounds ... suspiciously like Poolside.fm
- scblzn 5y ago
  They were forced to rename https://twitter.com/Poolsuite/status/1398007075435843592 https://twitter.com/Poolsuite/status/1398007075435843592
- gregsadetsky 5y ago
  I was also surprised to learn that the Poolside FM app is now called Poolsuite FM https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/poolside-fm/id1514817810 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/poolside-fm/id1514817810 Way to get out of a trademark infringement maybe..? http://poolside.fm/ http://poolside.fm/ also redirects to https://poolsuite.net/ https://poolsuite.net/
  - blairbeckwith 5y ago
    Ahh, interesting! Missed this news. Makes sense.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- tesseract 5y ago
  It is. Poolside renamed itself to Poolsuite sometime in the past few weeks. They said something about a trademark infringement claim. (Whether that's real or just part of their cultivated image/backstory, I don't know.)
nathanvanfleet 5y ago
The dock really makes me feel like Teenage Engineering has really gone a little deep into Panic on this. Playdate already has an overpriced accessory before anyone even has a Playdate? It's also not sounding like a very interesting one.
flakiness 5y ago
The screenshot of the editor [1] has a small window showing the programming language. Wondering which it is. Ruby? [1] https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Pulp-1-1440x997.png
- humblepie 5y ago
  It looks lilke Ruby but it's actually PulpScript, and it looks like they made it for this.
- tjakab 5y ago
  Most likely Lua. The developer page says the SDK supports Lua and C.
- bydo 5y ago
  It's Lua. They support Lua and C. https://play.date/dev/ https://play.date/dev/
- bullfightonmars 5y ago
  From what I have read Tthey are using lua and have an sdk library similar to love2d.org
- gscho 5y ago
  Looks like a Ruby DSL to me
- deleted 5y ago
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- deleted 5y ago
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mkw2k 5y ago
I've been looking forward to this thing
dmitrygr 5y ago
they says "SDK" and then say "web based". So will I be able to run native code on this thing or no?
- zemo 5y ago
  their original dev signup applications described the SDK as supporting C and Lua. Pulp appears to be targetting the non-programmer gamedev scene, like Bitsy and GB Studio do currently. It looks a lot like Bitsy. They seem pretty separate. > The SDK will be available on macOS, Windows, and Linux. There are two ways to write games: using Lua, for ease of development; or using C, for games that need extra performance. You can also use both languages in the same project. Typical SDK abilities are included: graphics, sound, inputs, text, collisions, etc. We continue to add features every day! ^ that's from https://play.date/dev/ https://play.date/dev/
jerome-jh 5y ago
As for the battery life, I would have expected this to run for days, literally, but they say only 8h active. It can only power its real-time clock for 14 days. What did they do wrong? Does it scans for networks every 5 minutes? Besides that, could be a good 5-15 minutes killer while avoiding the smartphone vortex
grawprog 5y ago
I've gone through the page a bunch of times now, read through the hn comments here and the arstechnica article linked in the top comment. But I'm still having a hard time appreciating this as art or even something non-gimicky and even slightly scammy. For $179 + shipping you're buying a small underpowered device with a black and white screen, a handcrank analog controller and 24 games. For an extra $29 you can buy a snazzy case and coming soon a stereo mount that's going to be impractical to use while playing so I'm guessing will be for playing music. The system's closed and going to be reliant on either their SDK or soon to be coming editor. From the sounds of it, there will be ongoing subscription payments for new games. They're releasing the system without the SDK or editor. On their developer page they have a bunch of vague 'coming soon' promises with no actual timelines or anything. They have no actual plans for any kind of centralized distribution for games. Overall, it seems like there's a lot of work or even planning that should have been done before starting pre-orders. At this point you're purchasing less than half the advertised features with no real plans as to when they'll be forthcoming. Just because a well known name is behind a project doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a good product or a great idea. Plenty of great people have made lackluster things. Especially in the video game world. A lot of this seems to be more hype because of the people behind the project than the project itself.
- frakkingcylons 5y ago
  > For $179 + shipping you're buying a small underpowered device with a black and white screen They never positioned it as a competitor to a modern portable like the Nintendo Switch so who cares? Do any of those games on the home page look like they need a modern chip? > They have no actual plans for any kind of centralized distribution for games. What are you basing that off of? Because they didn't detail the specifics of how the games are going to be distributed? > Just because a well known name is behind a project doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a good product or a great idea. Indeed, which is why you can wait to buy it until it's out and has been reviewed by others.
  - grawprog 5y ago
    >What are you basing that off of? Because they didn't detail the specifics of how the games are going to be distributed? https://play.date/dev/ https://play.date/dev/ >As for a more official way to distribute them, we’re still exploring different ideas for the best experience of getting games out to Playdate owners. For a product advertised as a hobby device for devs and gamers, not having a distribution system planned for user made games is not going to help this product thrive. Things like this tend to be made or broken by the community that builds around them. Look at something like the pico-8. Not exactly the same product, but the markets for them I imagine certainly overlap. The Pico-8 makes distribution of community created content a priority, something that's definitely been instrumental in its success. Without a community of devs that can support the Playdate and a system they can use to easily distribute content, it's not going to last long. It seems backwards to try and build a community of devs around a product after it's released. I seem to recall at least one console that died sometime in the 90's for exactly this reason.
dang 5y ago
Previous related threads: Playdate October 2020 Update - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24945598 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24945598 - Oct 2020 (2 comments) Playdate – December 2019 Update - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22016483 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22016483 - Jan 2020 (20 comments) Playdate – A New Handheld Gaming System - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19986106 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19986106 - May 2019 (402 comments)
drivingmenuts 5y ago
Does this thing have long-term legs or will it wind up sitting on shelves in six months? And what about developers - if the current plan is to give away the games, what financial incentive is there to develop for it, except as a resume piece?
Ekaros 5y ago
I wonder how well this will fare after initial novelty wears off. And will it sell nearly enough units for there to be games for it in future... I do remember products like OUYA and how well they did...
- laptop-man 5y ago
  OUYA was a good idea until no new games.. lol if I could get the play store on jt I'd be using mine to play games
- jccalhoun 5y ago
  I think comparisons to the ouya are pretty on the nose. Before the ouya came out gaming hipsters were all hyped about it. then it came out and it was a flop. I don't think this will be a "flop" because they are pricing it so high and this isn't panic's main business but I do think it will be quickly forgotten about.
thih9 5y ago
They seem very efficient at marketing; the product seems very recognisable, polarising and there have been many previous discussions [1] here already. That being said, there's something that I don't like in this kind of marketing. To me it looks very unsubstantial and repetitive. I guess one factor here is the price; for $179 it seems a luxury item and perhaps it's easier to believe that its flaws and unknowns are quirks or features; and that they're not worth mentioning. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27440015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27440015
zemo 5y ago
it looks fun
ChrisArchitect 5y ago
Link should be https://help.play.date/orders/when-can-i-preorder/ https://help.play.date/orders/when-can-i-preorder/ to differentiate from the main site since there's no blog post about this 'news'
Ayesh 5y ago
Taking a moment to appreciate the landing page. I had no idea about this device before, but at the end of the landing page, I know what it is, who it is made for, the idea behind it, the cost, accessories, when they start shipping, etc. They even did it with nice aesthetics and a quirky look. Nicely done!

353 points by cepp 5y ago

antidaily 5y ago

Still mad the crank doesn't charge it.

arthurcolle 5y ago
That would be interesting. Can someone who took a Physics class calculate how much energy you could get by cranking (and maybe how many cranks you'd need) to charge this bad boy up?
- mmastrac 5y ago
  Lazy googling suggests 30-50Wish [1]. The gameboy uses about 1W, so maybe a 1:30 ratio of time cranking to playing? Lazy math, feel free to correct. [1] https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2007/12/wind-up-your-la.html https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2007/12/wind-up-your-la.html
  - arthurcolle 5y ago
    1 minute of cranking for 30 minutes of play time seems honestly pretty great. Wish I could do that with an iPhone! I have been in Miami this last week and went to the Mayweather v Paul fight and leaving there was absolute hell. Phone was at 2%, thousands and thousands of people were all trying to get Ubers at once. It was a disaster. Took two hours to find someone who was headed to Hollywood and then I charged my phone along the way and got another Uber back down to my Airbnb. #salty Could be a cool idea to have a "dual mode bike" that could let you pedal to charge your phone. Anything like this exist lol?
    - Ekaros 5y ago
      Dynamo lamps have been around for decades if not longer, but they make biking less fun. Output isn't too great either at 6V/3W that seems to be typical. Though it can be bought for cheap 5€ to 36€...
asciident 5y ago
Speaking of charging, does anyone know if usb-c charging is properly implemented? I've bought a number of new devices with usb-c and am disappointed they require the old usb-a to usb-c cable to charge. Has anyone tested with a Macbook charger, or a "smart" usb-c to usb-c cable?

jswny 5y ago

I think the design and concept are really cool but it seems like actually owning it would get old too fast and be more of a novelty. I could see myself buying this if it could emulate NES or GameBoy games though.

salamandersauce 5y ago
Yeah. They do have an SDK coming out soon looks like so I would be shocked if someone DIDN'T put a GB emulator on the thing. There is also lots and lots of cheap emulator devices these days with more buttons and color screens like the Retroid Pocket 2 and Anbernic RG350 that also cost a fraction of the price. Price is a bit much for me personally.
jmcgough 5y ago
The included games seem really creative and interesting, but you're right that it'll be a fun novelty for most people, then get less interesting after a few hours or so. I think the people who will get a lot out of it are people who get involved in the homebrew community - I spent hundreds of hours on ZZT as a kid, despite the limited ascii graphics. It's not trivial to make your own gameboy game then load it onto an actual gameboy. It seems like they've put a lot of effort into the SDK, game maker, and ease of sideloading new games.
jonny_eh 5y ago
You want the Analog Pocket: https://www.analogue.co/pocket https://www.analogue.co/pocket, but its preorders instantly sold out, and its first shipment has been delayed until end of year. Or one of the cheaper Chinese devices like the Retroid Pocket or RG531p
- fermentation 5y ago
  Wow the Analogue marketing is really working on me haha. These devices look really great!
- vlunkr 5y ago
  As far as I know, everything they make sells out instantly, you'd think they could start doing bigger production runs. I realize scarcity can drive up demand, but everything in their store being out of stock is little much.

hoppyhoppy2 5y ago

Ars Technica has a good article about it, if you want an overview: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/06/playdate-the-console-with-a-crank-gets-july-preorder-for-179-game-details/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/06/playdate-the-console-... as well as an article from a couple years ago about the device: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/why-the-quirky-playdate-portable-could-succeed-where-ouya-failed/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/why-the-quirky-playda...

mlindner 5y ago

Humor me, why would this be interesting in any way shape or form? I can see this only being interested to people with fetishes for old LCD-based semi-disposable toys.

aaroninsf 5y ago
Subtract the word "only" and you've got it. I suspect the market is there to enable modest success, for the same reason cassette labels flourished.
- shadowgovt 5y ago
  It's a big bet. Even in the modern era of low-cost pipelines from concept to fabrication, novel console devices are incredibly expensive and risky to bootstrap into life.

MivLives 5y ago

180 dollars (plus shipping) is more than it'd cost for a modified gameboy plus a flashcart, and is near the price of an Analogue. The Analogue can play any gameboy (and advance) game every made, and is also a musical instrument. If this was around 80$ I would be all over it.

nkellenicki 5y ago
You're not wrong, but neither of those devices come with any games (unless you buy a flashcart, which is piracy). The Playdate cost includes 20 games by (relatively) well known indie game developers.
- mmastrac 5y ago
  Piracy is competition.
  - cableshaft 5y ago
    Not really. I've got like 5 or 6 ways I can play Game Boy games now, I don't need another device for it. There's no other way I can play these games, so it's a new experience for me.
dexterdog 5y ago
It is about $80. The subscription that will make it useful is the other $100 which is what you'll be paying annually to keep using it.
Operyl 5y ago
I’d kill to finally get me an Analogue product, they’re always out of stock whenever I try. :(

artembugara 5y ago

So, there'll be a subscription to new games, right? What's the price for that?

bythreads 5y ago

Knowing teenageenginering, that thing is built like a brick, full aluminium and will outlast you

canadianwriter 5y ago
My pocket operators disagree - Love them to death, but I just know I'll break them some time soon (and I know I can get a case, but the device itself is NOT build that strongly).
- neom 5y ago
  My op-z (buttons fell off or stopped working), ob-4 (buttons fell off or stopped working), pocket operators (battery doors snapped, buttons stopped responding, lcds leaked) all join you in the disagreement. As far as I can tell the only thing they've made that is robust is the op-1 (yet..., I still love TE).

rockbruno 5y ago

It looks amazing, but... why? I can't see myself spending more than 10 bucks on something like this. There are plenty of "vintage styled" games on Steam, getting a Raspberry Pi and putting it into a nice cover would be probably cheaper.

AGorilla 5y ago
You could do it in a weekend, right?
criddell 5y ago
Nobody is buying this thing because it's cheap. First, it's coming from Panic. They have enough fans that they can probably sell out the first run just on their reputation. Secondly, the industrial design looks great or at least novel. For $180 you get a neat looking toy and are supporting the development of new stuff. $180 feels like a sustainable price. It is a lot of money, but for many people on HN $180 is an easy impulse buy.
- shadowgovt 5y ago
  Oh, I thought I recognized that logo! The publishers for House House's "Untitled Goose Game." It's a neat concept for a system, but a bit unfortunate that one can't play Untitled Goose Game on it.
  - jakelazaroff 5y ago
    They published Firewatch, too! In addition to being being highly respected (someone else in this thread used the word "legendary") Mac software developers.

neom 5y ago

I'm a huge teenage engineering fanboy but whatever you do, don't break their stuff, once it's broken, it's broken. Curious if the same is true for playdate, if it's like the rest of the TE gear, If you mess up the crank, expect to buy a whole new unit.

miguelmurca 5y ago

Playdate seems to me like a masterclass in marketing. The device is nothing extraordinary (imo), but it's presented and marketed in a way that makes it interesting.

fossuser 5y ago
All Panic stuff is like that - they have great style.
felipemesquita 5y ago
I think the hardware is notably whimsical (crank, very nice 1-bit display combined with ‘fast’ processor). I agree that there’s a lot hanging on marketing/hype, but part of it is just how people like Panic overall.
earthboundkid 5y ago
> The device is nothing extraordinary (imo) This is it: the peak Hacker News comment. A gizmo with a handcrank and a black and white screen is nothing out of the ordinary in 2021. I bet you could even make it yourself in a weekend if you just use a Raspberry Pi and an e-ink screen!
- coldpie 5y ago
  No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.
  - yaomtc 5y ago
    I'm confused. Playdate has WiFi and Bluetooth, and the Nomad didn't have any storage.
    - simias 5y ago
      It's a reference to https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-ipod https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...

jonny_eh 5y ago

If you want to comment about how it's too expensive or doesn't play 30 year old gameboy games, don't bother? This is a new device that delivers new experiences and will likely sell out of its first shipment very quickly.

ncr100 5y ago
I want to comment that this will be the first toy I've owned in a LONG TIME that has a crank. And, that I expect I will have fun with it. Fun is where it's at with a Game Console. I like the artistry but that's just a gateway ... to the fun!

nsilvestri 5y ago

Lucas Pope's section of the update video [0] has me incredibly excited. He's one of my favorite game developers, and seeing him work more with 1-bit 3D games after Obra Dinn has piqued my interest. Also, a blog on dithering I came across after playing Obra Dinn was one of the more interesting tech blogs I've read [1]. Also see Lucas Pope's post on how he did dithering in-game [2]. [0] https://youtu.be/DeWGukDrc1U?t=455 https://youtu.be/DeWGukDrc1U?t=455 [1] https://surma.dev/things/ditherpunk/ https://surma.dev/things/ditherpunk/ [2] https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40832.msg1363742#msg1363742 https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40832.msg136374...

an_opabinia 5y ago
On the one hand, it's amazing, it's ~$220 for games. On the other hand, is this games? It's so tough out there. Lucas Pope obviously works really hard. Just imagine you're an otherwise successful indie game developer, you put out two amazing games, and it still isn't viable to make a third, in 2021. That doesn't happen with movies. You make two budget positive or critically acclaimed movies, you get to make a third. You don't have to go and make something else.
- emsy 5y ago
  > and it still isn't viable to make a third, in 2021. I didn’t go through all the parent’s sources, can you tell me where this was stated?
- xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
  I don't really understand what you're saying. I'm pretty sure Lucas Pope does whatever he wants at this point. After Papers, Please, Obra Dinn was clearly a creative pursuit that took years, he obsessed over the dithering for eons... This isn't someone out there struggling to make a buck.
  - jsnell 5y ago
    Yes. The Ars Technica interview from a couple of years ago is great: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/from-uncharted-to-obra-dinn-lucas-pope-dishes-on-his-illustrious-game-dev-career/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/from-uncharted-to-obr... The most relevant quote to this discussion is probably: > "My wife played [an early Papers, Please prototype] and said, 'You can finish this, but afterwards, you gotta get a job,'" Pope says with a laugh. "Which is funny, because now, whatever I show her, she's like..." Pope gestures as if he's throwing his hands in the air and giving up. "'Fuckin'... whatever, dude, I'm sure it'll work out.'"

kart23 5y ago

This things been a long time coming. I think the first announced timeline was shipping in early 2020 at $150, and taking orders in 2019. I guess covid messed some of their timeline up, but I'm still excited about it. I'll definitely be getting one, I think a big aspect of what makes it different is the programmability aspect. They're trying to make developing games for it super accessible, and I think it'll be a lot of fun for programmers who don't have the time to make full-on traditional games, or don't want to make decisions about the framework, language, etc. The constraints are what makes it fun. If the SDK is good, it'll be huge.

christkv 5y ago

I hope they are more successful than the Ouya, best of wishes, extremely hard market to get into.

agloeregrets 5y ago
I think they are starting on the right foot. Ouya seemed to sell the idea that it might compare with hardcore consoles where it was nothing close. This seems to sell an idea where the hardware and games are one and sell itself as something silly and whimsical.

alexbouchard 5y ago

The design and esthetics of this thing are on point. However, I agree with other comments that the games don't really speak to me, and I've found myself more interested in the pictures of the actual devices than any of the games. Regardless I hope this succeeds. Electronics need more original industrial design!

prpl 5y ago
I feel the opposite -this speaks to me more than any other device I’ve seen, but I was obsessed with calculator games in high school, spending many hours on ticalc.org and IRC.
- nickflood 5y ago
  Me too, this speaks to me so much. The games all look wholesome, in line with the device itself. Judging by what I've seen, the processing power inside will be quite good and would not require optimisations unlike "retro" hardware, which would mean lots of third-party games made with relative ease. This would be a good device to spend some time with away from social media and work.

fshee 5y ago

I appreciate the ~decent <noscript/> textContent. Telling exactly what purpose(s) JavaScript serves helps make an informed decision on whether to open a graphical web browser or continue with w3m. (In this case, it was obvious I could read on about Playdate just fine.) I've grown sick of create-react-app default <noscript/> textContent. > Hello! Javascript is required for purchasing, signing up for the newsletter, viewing videos, and other content on this page. Please enable Javascript. > Your browser doesn't seem to support video.

duxup 5y ago
I think the population of folks who care is too small to do that. And honestly a good chunk of that population will still just complain anyhow / might not be persuaded. They already kinda made their call.
- mkr-hn 5y ago
  I think it depends on how much the set of people who browse without JavaScript and the set of people who might connect you with relevant and important people/opportunities intersects. I've heard of people running whole web ad campaigns just to reach one person.
  - nexuist 5y ago
    Frankly the only time I ever see someone using a browser without JS is here on HN. Every person I know IRL or on other social media uses a regular browser like Chrome, Firefox, or sometimes Edge. I don't think even 1% of the global population knows it's possible to browse web pages without a GUI.
shocks 5y ago
It’s really nice when they do this but the no JavaScript ship has sailed. I’d rather devs focus on accessibility for screen readers etc.
- BHSPitMonkey 5y ago

t0mbstone 5y ago

Looks blocky and uncomfortable to hold. Has a black and white screen with no backlight. Can't play Nintendo ROMS. Is a subscription service... The marketing is flashy, but I have zero interest in this product.

cableshaft 5y ago

Oh nice, Lua support! Should make porting one of my games (that I already mostly ported to Pico-8) to this little guy. Maybe I'll finally finish the Pico-8 port while I'm at it. This is the original Flash version from back in the day. I'm also working on a 3D sequel with Twitch support in my limited spare time: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/183428 https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/183428 I don't know why, but I have a good feeling that this device will be fairly successful. Maybe it's just good marketing on their part. I don't really have a good idea of how to make good use of the crank, except maybe add something that allows you to go back and forward in time (at least undo support). Maybe I'll even alter the mechanics to take advantage of it, like that 5D chess game.

andrewclunn 5y ago
Crank game mechanic ideas: safe cracking, catapult aiming, fire burner air balloon adjustment, etc...
- mortenjorck 5y ago
  Not sure why this got downvoted. These are great ideas! Any interaction that requires some degree (ahem) of radial precision is exactly the kind of mechanic that would shine with this novel controller.
- cableshaft 5y ago
  I meant specifically for my tile-laying turn-based board game, but those are good general ideas, thanks!

12ian34 5y ago

Despite having little interest in buying one myself, a suite of specially-developed surprise games seems like an interesting idea kinda like the Humble Indie Bundles... plus the upcoming web-based SDK to make your own! Also cool to see the fantastic poolside.fm in a screenshot although the pen-holder dock feels a little kitsch. It's promising, however, that the design partners are Teenage Engineering - known for their Pocket Operators and the truly amazing OP-1 all in one synth[0] for which I strongly vouch. [0]: https://teenage.engineering/products/op-1 https://teenage.engineering/products/op-1

bbarn 5y ago

Oh, cool. Something else I can put in the no longer supported pile with my PocketCHIP.

cableshaft 5y ago
I got one of those. Unfortunately the controls felt bad and the novelty of my Pico-8 game on there wore out quickly because of the junk feel of the buttons. This I can see being in to for longer.

mig39 5y ago

I'm really interested in the Pulp web-based development environment. I'm planning on picking up some of these to try with some junior-high and high school students in the fall -- if Covid is over by then :-)

post_break 5y ago

Just makes me think of when Gruber said "The story is about Playdate, the most amazing and exciting product announcement, for me, since the original iPhone." I can't help but roll my eyes at this thing. https://daringfireball.net/2019/05/playdate https://daringfireball.net/2019/05/playdate

least 5y ago
I am very much a fan of Apple products and enjoy a lot of the commentary from these apple pundits but it does feel a lot like this in-club that once you are a part of it anything you do will be praised by that group. I feel strongly that that is the case here. From anyone outside of the bubble I feel like ultimately it’s a quirky toy for rich techies that will probably be used a couple times before the novelty wears off and you go back to playing games on almost anything else.

tengbretson 5y ago

The styling of this thing is beautiful. That said, is it too much to ask that they come up with their own original name for a device that is patently a solo experience instead of hijacking a term for humans interacting with each other in physical space?

Ekaros 5y ago
I wonder how well the name will go over with wider audience. My first thought was is that some kind of dating service? Why is it on HN...

fumar 5y ago

I am always impressed with the design of Teenage Engineering’s products but they have an air “pure consumerism”. I think this is that taken to its extreme. A toy that has a crank, retro screen, design-driven accessories, and the games are there but not promoted. Compare that to the gameboy which put its games front and center with the selling point of being handheld. Admittedly, I would get the Playdate to put on my desk and admire as plastic art, but no more room.

caslon 5y ago
At some point, the medium does become important. Every computer no matter how small can do everything now, and limiting games to a specific platform is for the most part arbitrary at this point. So if you add limitations, or extra buttons! you end up with the rare occurrence of something new! A crank is actually a really cool addition just in terms of experimenting with gameplay.
- 2ndseq 5y ago
  This is something well understood in the electronic music space. The limitations of the equipment can define entire genres of music. The programmer in me is very excited about doing some dev work on a limited platform.
  - chris_st 5y ago
    Indeed. I really love the Kind of Bloop[0] album, an 8-bit tribute to Kind of Blue[1] by Miles Davis (often cited as the best-selling jazz record of all time). Example song here[2]. [0] https://kindofbloop.com https://kindofbloop.com [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSCObIXDCJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSCObIXDCJc
an_opabinia 5y ago
> Teenage Engineering’s products but they have an air “pure consumerism”. I got bad news for you buddy, video games don't have a functional purpose any greater than beautiful design. You're sort of barking up the wrong tree if you wanna take a dump on something. But I think this was said in good faith, and you should just consider that Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operators have a totally different, literally unpolished aesthetic and also sell very well.

arduinomancer 5y ago

I don't get why everyone here is comparing this to gameboy emulators. There's a million ways to emulate gameboy at this point. There are emulators that run on pretty much every single platform. You can get a $40 handheld on Amazon that can do it. To me the selling point of this system is that you can play _new_ games that are in a cool retro 1-bit art style. That itself is a unique thing

yoz-y 5y ago
Also it’s a handheld for which it will be (if all works as advertised) very easy to develop. One thing that irks me is that the Dev environment is clearly at least public beta ready. I’d like to see and try it before preordering though.
- ianai 5y ago
  Agree - like they should want people developing to it before it's released. This effectively gives them a rather odd lock-out period from the larger community.
  - nickflood 5y ago
    They addressed the SDK availability here - https://twitter.com/playdate/status/1400849495198289920?s=19 https://twitter.com/playdate/status/1400849495198289920?s=19 Basically, they don't have resources yet to open it up and support it enough for people to have good experience with it.
    - cableshaft 5y ago
      I don't think that's a good enough reason. They could make it a 'use at your own risk' type situation and/or let people band together in a group and talk out and try to work through any issues they have without their involvement. You need to let people start getting ready for this any way you can, especially as this is a potentially niche product that's not going to have any major developers working on it. Best I can do right now is work on game logic elsewhere and try to be ready to do a port when they finally go public with it, hopefully before its official release.

aresant 5y ago

Man that is just a beautiful website Both from the UX, to typography, to aesthetic (on desktop at least) Anybody know who built this?

mttjj 5y ago
/s ? This is a product of [Panic](https://panic.com https://panic.com). They know how to build a website. And write tools to [build a website](https://nova.app/ https://nova.app/).
darnfish 5y ago
Almost 100% Panic. See their other sites: https://nova.app https://nova.app, https://panic.com/transmit/ https://panic.com/transmit/

mortenjorck 5y ago

The (exquisite, I must add) landing page is broken on iOS - the webGL model of the hardware eats all the scroll gestures, so I couldn’t scroll down the page until one of the header links took me to the bottom, where I could scroll back up.

mkr-hn 5y ago

Now we wait for the softsynth OP-1 emulator on this to complete the circle.

shadowgovt 5y ago

I wish them the best. Games is a cutthroat industry, and game consoles are absolutely unforgiving... The number of failure-points that can bring down the entire project (hardware disruption, lack of developer interest in building for an unproven closed system, lack of consumer interest in buying an unproven closed system) is high. Massive chicken-egg problems in closing the loop on a long-term successful console bet.

junon 5y ago

I'm more interested in using it for non-gaming-related things since it seems like a neat little hardware package to begin with.

Wheaties466 5y ago

Who is this built for? Serious question. Yeah it looks cool but in a joke sense. It doesn't really look like it is going to do anything well. The accessories look even more like a joke. Obviously im not the target customer, but im trying to figure out who is?

ngngngng 5y ago
I have two personal use cases 1) Myself, I grew up on a game boy color and I have a nostalgia for playing games where the developers were so bound by compute resources on the device they were developing for. It allowed smaller teams to be very competitive in game design but also enabled a different sort of creativity than what is commonly seen today in game design where resources are virtually unlimited. I've also been wanting to toy with game development for a while now. This seems like a neat and quirky way to jump in. 2) My kid, I think we've gotten far too good at making video games addictive for kids. I want my child to have video games the way I did, with simple graphics, stories and gameplay that come to an end, unlike games like fortnite that you can keep playing for eternity. Added benefit if he gets to experience trying to play games without a backlight using the streetlights to see as you drive down the road.
- Wheaties466 5y ago
  ok I can see that. Its just if I came across this website and didn't know any better. I'd 100% think this is some elaborate April fools prank. look at the game titles. Forest Byrnes Up in smoke Casual Birder Executive Golf It just seems like they're trying to hard not to be "cool" and trying not to take themselves seriously.
  - agloeregrets 5y ago
    Forest Byrnes is from Panic's prior published game, Firewatch.
  - deergomoo 5y ago
    > It just seems like they're trying to hard not to be "cool" and trying not to take themselves seriously. This is worded like a criticism but it’s exactly why I can’t wait to get one of these.

moftz 5y ago

The crank reminds me of one of a handheld electronic fishing game I used to have as a kid. I didn't see a fishing game listed but that would be pretty fun.

ryanmcbride 5y ago
They're releasing a free SDK for it, you know what you have to do.
rgovostes 5y ago
There is a game called "Robot Fishing" briefly featured in the video.

ryanmcbride 5y ago

I hope I'm actually able to get one. New game hardware has been such an absolute nightmare to get the past few years.

WillPostForFood 5y ago
I hope I'm able to afford one. At $179, I don't think supply will be a problem.
- yoz-y 5y ago
  WDYM? The price is steep, but more overpriced hardware sells like hot cakes too.
  - y2bd 5y ago
    For example, Analogue Pocket, the 200 USD Game Boy hardware emulator that sold out in minutes: https://www.analogue.co/pocket https://www.analogue.co/pocket
    - WillPostForFood 5y ago
      Out of the box, Pocket is compatible with the 2,780+ Game Boy, Game Boy Color & Game Boy Advance game cartridge library. Pocket works with cartridge adapters for other handheld systems, too. Like Game Gear. Neo Geo Pocket Color. Atari Lynx & more. Completely engineered in two FPGAs.* More clear cut value proposition though, you know what you are getting. With Playdate you are taking a bigger risk on the games, and getting much less power.
      - yoz-y 5y ago
        The value of playdate is that it’s not yet another emulator/mini-console. I find it more comparable to pico8
      - ryanmcbride 5y ago
        scalpers generally don't care about how clear cut the value proposition is. For example they bought up all the game & watch super mario handhelds right away, which has literally only 2 games on it and not enough onboard storage for much more than that. Scalpers still bought them all up. Luckily Nintendo kept shipping them out so you can get them pretty much anywhere still, unlike their amiibos.

PostThisTooFast 5y ago

Whatever THAT is.

blairbeckwith 5y ago

From a more in-depth article from Ars: > This "stereo dock" doesn't have a price yet, but it will ship with a preinstalled online radio option, dubbed Poolsuite FM, that Panic says will include "expertly curated Soundcloud playlists that will transport you to a magical, sun-kissed musical zone between the past and the present." This sounds ... suspiciously like Poolside.fm

scblzn 5y ago
They were forced to rename https://twitter.com/Poolsuite/status/1398007075435843592 https://twitter.com/Poolsuite/status/1398007075435843592
gregsadetsky 5y ago
I was also surprised to learn that the Poolside FM app is now called Poolsuite FM https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/poolside-fm/id1514817810 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/poolside-fm/id1514817810 Way to get out of a trademark infringement maybe..? http://poolside.fm/ http://poolside.fm/ also redirects to https://poolsuite.net/ https://poolsuite.net/
- blairbeckwith 5y ago
  Ahh, interesting! Missed this news. Makes sense.
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tesseract 5y ago
It is. Poolside renamed itself to Poolsuite sometime in the past few weeks. They said something about a trademark infringement claim. (Whether that's real or just part of their cultivated image/backstory, I don't know.)

nathanvanfleet 5y ago

The dock really makes me feel like Teenage Engineering has really gone a little deep into Panic on this. Playdate already has an overpriced accessory before anyone even has a Playdate? It's also not sounding like a very interesting one.

flakiness 5y ago

The screenshot of the editor [1] has a small window showing the programming language. Wondering which it is. Ruby? [1] https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Pulp-1-1440x997.png

humblepie 5y ago
It looks lilke Ruby but it's actually PulpScript, and it looks like they made it for this.
tjakab 5y ago
Most likely Lua. The developer page says the SDK supports Lua and C.
bydo 5y ago
It's Lua. They support Lua and C. https://play.date/dev/ https://play.date/dev/
bullfightonmars 5y ago
From what I have read Tthey are using lua and have an sdk library similar to love2d.org
gscho 5y ago
Looks like a Ruby DSL to me
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mkw2k 5y ago

I've been looking forward to this thing

dmitrygr 5y ago

they says "SDK" and then say "web based". So will I be able to run native code on this thing or no?

zemo 5y ago
their original dev signup applications described the SDK as supporting C and Lua. Pulp appears to be targetting the non-programmer gamedev scene, like Bitsy and GB Studio do currently. It looks a lot like Bitsy. They seem pretty separate. > The SDK will be available on macOS, Windows, and Linux. There are two ways to write games: using Lua, for ease of development; or using C, for games that need extra performance. You can also use both languages in the same project. Typical SDK abilities are included: graphics, sound, inputs, text, collisions, etc. We continue to add features every day! ^ that's from https://play.date/dev/ https://play.date/dev/

jerome-jh 5y ago

As for the battery life, I would have expected this to run for days, literally, but they say only 8h active. It can only power its real-time clock for 14 days. What did they do wrong? Does it scans for networks every 5 minutes? Besides that, could be a good 5-15 minutes killer while avoiding the smartphone vortex

grawprog 5y ago

I've gone through the page a bunch of times now, read through the hn comments here and the arstechnica article linked in the top comment. But I'm still having a hard time appreciating this as art or even something non-gimicky and even slightly scammy. For $179 + shipping you're buying a small underpowered device with a black and white screen, a handcrank analog controller and 24 games. For an extra $29 you can buy a snazzy case and coming soon a stereo mount that's going to be impractical to use while playing so I'm guessing will be for playing music. The system's closed and going to be reliant on either their SDK or soon to be coming editor. From the sounds of it, there will be ongoing subscription payments for new games. They're releasing the system without the SDK or editor. On their developer page they have a bunch of vague 'coming soon' promises with no actual timelines or anything. They have no actual plans for any kind of centralized distribution for games. Overall, it seems like there's a lot of work or even planning that should have been done before starting pre-orders. At this point you're purchasing less than half the advertised features with no real plans as to when they'll be forthcoming. Just because a well known name is behind a project doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a good product or a great idea. Plenty of great people have made lackluster things. Especially in the video game world. A lot of this seems to be more hype because of the people behind the project than the project itself.

frakkingcylons 5y ago
> For $179 + shipping you're buying a small underpowered device with a black and white screen They never positioned it as a competitor to a modern portable like the Nintendo Switch so who cares? Do any of those games on the home page look like they need a modern chip? > They have no actual plans for any kind of centralized distribution for games. What are you basing that off of? Because they didn't detail the specifics of how the games are going to be distributed? > Just because a well known name is behind a project doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a good product or a great idea. Indeed, which is why you can wait to buy it until it's out and has been reviewed by others.
- grawprog 5y ago
  >What are you basing that off of? Because they didn't detail the specifics of how the games are going to be distributed? https://play.date/dev/ https://play.date/dev/ >As for a more official way to distribute them, we’re still exploring different ideas for the best experience of getting games out to Playdate owners. For a product advertised as a hobby device for devs and gamers, not having a distribution system planned for user made games is not going to help this product thrive. Things like this tend to be made or broken by the community that builds around them. Look at something like the pico-8. Not exactly the same product, but the markets for them I imagine certainly overlap. The Pico-8 makes distribution of community created content a priority, something that's definitely been instrumental in its success. Without a community of devs that can support the Playdate and a system they can use to easily distribute content, it's not going to last long. It seems backwards to try and build a community of devs around a product after it's released. I seem to recall at least one console that died sometime in the 90's for exactly this reason.

dang 5y ago

Previous related threads: Playdate October 2020 Update - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24945598 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24945598 - Oct 2020 (2 comments) Playdate – December 2019 Update - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22016483 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22016483 - Jan 2020 (20 comments) Playdate – A New Handheld Gaming System - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19986106 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19986106 - May 2019 (402 comments)

drivingmenuts 5y ago

Does this thing have long-term legs or will it wind up sitting on shelves in six months? And what about developers - if the current plan is to give away the games, what financial incentive is there to develop for it, except as a resume piece?

Ekaros 5y ago

I wonder how well this will fare after initial novelty wears off. And will it sell nearly enough units for there to be games for it in future... I do remember products like OUYA and how well they did...

laptop-man 5y ago
OUYA was a good idea until no new games.. lol if I could get the play store on jt I'd be using mine to play games
jccalhoun 5y ago
I think comparisons to the ouya are pretty on the nose. Before the ouya came out gaming hipsters were all hyped about it. then it came out and it was a flop. I don't think this will be a "flop" because they are pricing it so high and this isn't panic's main business but I do think it will be quickly forgotten about.

thih9 5y ago

They seem very efficient at marketing; the product seems very recognisable, polarising and there have been many previous discussions [1] here already. That being said, there's something that I don't like in this kind of marketing. To me it looks very unsubstantial and repetitive. I guess one factor here is the price; for $179 it seems a luxury item and perhaps it's easier to believe that its flaws and unknowns are quirks or features; and that they're not worth mentioning. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27440015 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27440015

zemo 5y ago

it looks fun

ChrisArchitect 5y ago

Link should be https://help.play.date/orders/when-can-i-preorder/ https://help.play.date/orders/when-can-i-preorder/ to differentiate from the main site since there's no blog post about this 'news'

Ayesh 5y ago

Taking a moment to appreciate the landing page. I had no idea about this device before, but at the end of the landing page, I know what it is, who it is made for, the idea behind it, the cost, accessories, when they start shipping, etc. They even did it with nice aesthetics and a quirky look. Nicely done!