Playdate (console)


Playdate is an upcoming handheld video game console developed by Panic. It was first introduced on May 22, 2019 on the cover of Edge magazine. It was designed in collaboration with Teenage Engineering, a Swedish consumer electronics company.
The device features a black-and-white 1-bit screen, 4 way directional pad, two game buttons, and a mechanical crank on the side.

Technical specifications

The device will be an open system and allow sideloading of games that are not part of a season, without the need for jailbreaking. Games are created using an SDK that includes a simulator and debugger and which is compatible with both the C and Lua programming languages. Currently it is only available with the dev kit for macs, however in a response playdate stated that they are open to creating software for windows, and that compiling is already available, and the simulator is a work in progress.
The screen technology used is Sharp's Memory LCD, which possesses some properties of e-paper displays. Each pixel can remember its state without needing to be refreshed, resulting in faster refreshing and lower power usage, whilst also being “viewable in any light, from edge-of-vision darkness to brightest sunlight” and having a wide 170° viewing angle.

Games

Games for the handheld will be released in 12-game "seasons", with a new game being sent over WI-FI each week. Each game's contents will be kept secret until the week it's released, and will be automatically downloaded. The first season of games are included in the price of the console. Video games are produced by Panic as well as notable indie game developers such as Keita Takahashi, Zach Gage, Bennett Foddy, Shaun Inman, and Chuck Jordan. Future game titles include Crankin's Time Travel Adventure, b360, Zipper, Executive Golf DX, Snak, and Sasquatchers.

Ideals

In a developer survey, Panic stated that they were interested in including games by underrepresented developers, as well as stating that in season one, there was at least one game by a woman, as well as "queer/trans/enby" people.

Criticism

In May 2019, Panic came under criticism after details of an email they had sent to an indie video game event suggested the event, also named Playdate, consider tweaking or changing its name to avoid confusion. The following day one of Panic's founders retracted the request, stating "My intention was always to find a way for our Playdates to co-exist but we remain fine with you using the name Playdate." On January 29, 2020, the team behind the event announced that Panic was joining the event as a sponsor, and would assist the event in petitioning for nonprofit status.