Is the handheld console market dying? Well, the PS Vita might have struggled, but that hasn't stopped small publisher Panic from branching out into this space. The company has gone from creating mobile games to publishing console releases, such as Firewatch, and it's now jumping into the icy cold waters of hardware. Playdate is its freshly announced handheld games system, and it looks great.
The tiny yellow box is a combination of old and new, and it's refreshingly simple. The screen is a low-tech black and white display, and the main inputs consist of just a d-pad and two face buttons. However, one of the gadget's main hooks is its unique crank, located on the right-hand side. Players can turn the lever like the reel on a fishing rod, and it should make for some interesting gameplay.
Playdate is also interesting due to how it handles software. A new game will release every week for three months, downloaded via WiFi, meaning that by the end of its first season, you'll have 12 games of varying shapes and sizes to play. Exactly what those games are is deliberately a mystery, as the company wants to surprise you when you fire up the pocket-sized device.
One game it has announced, though, is Crankin's Time Travel Adventure, from Katamari Damacy creator, Keita Takahashi. You can see how it works in this GIF:
Several notable developers have their names attached to provide games for Playdate. For indie aficionados, it sounds wonderful. Where the PS Vita failed to consistently deliver AAA gaming experiences, it looks like this new-fangled bit of kit will focus on extremely simple, small games you can play on the go. Playdate is due to launch in early 2020 for $149, and the first season of 12 games will be free. What do you think of Playdate? Is this a cool little handheld you'd use, or is it a waste of time? Play nice together in the comments below.
[source play.date, via twitter.com]
Comments 57
I freaking love the look of this thing.
It looks like if Pixar made the Game Boy.
To be fair, if Takahashi's on board, so am I.
Omg this is a PlayStation website sort it out chaps
(Looks.. fun though?)
April fool's was last month.
$150? Yeah... I'll wait when it's on sale for $30 in a year after launch.
That screen is so small!
It really is a nice piece of design, but as a serious gaming handheld... nah!
Wonder if the makers will take this more seriously than Sony did the vita?
It would be hard to fall shorter
Well at least it's yellow...
I want a unique crank on my dualshock just for fishing in Red Dead.
@LieutenantFatman There’ll be a plus version further down the line no doubt with a bigger screen. Shame about the Vita, I had some good times with it.
$150!
This thing will be at the Flea markets soon enough with all the Ouyas
Ummm lol looks kinda stupid imo lol. But who knows.
It looks cool, but it's too expensive for a novelty.
Such a shame the Vita blows the 3DS away with 2 analog sticks and a great screen and layout. The best handheld console to date.
$150 and the memory sticks will cost $60.
Ahhh. What a legacy!
Looks terrible lol
@get2sammyb I wouldn't pay more than $89 for something like this. It'll be fun for a few months and then end up in a junk drawer or something.
@Luna-Harmony the Switch is a lot better than the Vita
@Wesker The switch is 6 years newer tech for goodness sake. It's also been designed as a hybrid console, not a dedicated handheld and is nintendos primary device. @Lunar-Harmony fairly compared vita to the 3ds. To be quite frank if the vita was out performing the switch, nintendo would have serious problems indeed.
What a joke. This thing is DOA at that price point.
Knock off $80 and it'd be interesting as a novelty.
I hope nintendo make gameboy advance sp classic but with eshop compability so we can buy all the old gba sp games online. I still have my old one but I want new ones with good lcd screen, wifi and eshop.
@Luna-Harmony It was just the library that let the Vita down. Don't get me wrong, Persona 4 is brilliant and Killzone was fun but it lacked the first-party support that the 3DS had, especially in the remasters side of things.
>No backlight
>$150
lmfao
this will amount to NOTHING. not worth the web space to even mention it.
Hard pass.
Oh I have to write more? Seriously hard pass. It's a novelty toy that in twenty years retro gamers will be paying through the nose for... Maybe I should get one then 😂😂😂
Not enough buttons.
The playDate handheld looks someone modified a GameBoy Color and gave it a really bad screen and added a hand crank for no apparent reason.
That's a lot of money for a lot of 'meh'.
This is what happens when hipsters get to design things.
This will sink without a trace.
The Vita died too early when Sony pulled 1st party support. Given the success of the Switch, I still wonder if we might see a partner device to the PS5. It could even be a dedicated Xperia phone but given a console''s lifespan and the rate at which smartphone tech evolves, it might not be feasible. (Xperia Play anyone?)
@sanderson72
Their high end Xperias and iPhones are the only handsets with Remote Play support at the moment.
With 5G that could be pushed further - even though 4G is more than sufficient.
Making it more of a selling point will really have to involve network carriers quite heavily. For example, I use EE 4G, which is very good; stable, incredibly fast and pretty cheap. But the NAT type of the EE network doesn't support fixed IPs - making Remote Play impossible over 4G.
not sure why anyone would buy this instead of a PS vita - surely that can't be more than $150 these days?. and it's also got a library of 1500+ games both big and small. i know a lot people think sony didn't support the vita well enough.. but it produced vita only versions of many of its well known franchises - wipeout, uncharted, resistance, killzone, motorstorm, everybody's golf, littlebigplanet.. as well as developing new titles - unit 13, gravity rush, little deviants, soul sacrifice, tearway (i know some of these later got ported to PS4)... as well as vita versions of PS3 remasters collections like jak & dexter, ratchet and clank, god of war, sly cooper.. and some first party games had dual releases on PS3/vita - playstation all-stars, sly cooper: thieves in time, etc. plus a lot of the popular SCE PSN titles got vita versions too - dead nation, flow, flower, fat princess, hustle kings, resogun.. sony was even the publisher for borderlands 2, and resident evil: revelations 2, probably neither of which would have made it to vita without sony's input. yet, vita hardware sales went down year upon year.
£120 for a tiny black-and-white screen?
With or without the crank, it's a wind-up.
This looks terrible. I'm not even sure who it's marketed at? Show those graphics to a kid nowadays and they would laugh at you. And no sane adult would spend £150 on it.
I feel bad that the creators are going to lose all their invested time and money. Surely even they know there is no market for something like this? Hell, if the Vita 'failed', I don't think this will suceed!
@tomassi
It's for hipsters. Y'know, the types who were using beard oil and bamboo framed bicycles 8 years ago
$150 for a black & white display and d-pad with two buttons and a crank. Oh, boy!
Don’t get me wrong; I’d love to try it. And, It’s a fun conversation piece. Ultimately, though, it’d be an expensive paper weight after the initial novelty factor wears off, likely after 20-30 minutes of gameplay. But, hey, it’s a mobile paper weight, so I could move it from one pile of papers to another.
@KALofKRYPTON Yeah, there will be a bearded bore down the pub with one trying to say "it's so like the best gaming device evs".
No it's not, it looks rubbish!
From ArsTechnicha:
"This is the hipster microbrew of the console world, mixing in weird gaming flavors and unique controller ingredients that the Sony/Budweisers and Nintendo/Millers of the world can't."
Because they want you to think that Sony and Nintendo(!!!) don't innovate...
Just me, then.
This gaming portable device has no place on this website. It also has a horrible name. Unless your a child saying your going to have a playdate just sounds down right strange.
@Quintumply it was a valiant effort, but you should stand down with immediate effect.
@kyleforrester87 Make me
@Quintumply I can be pretty annoying.
@kyleforrester87 Tell me something I don't know
@Quintumply people come to pushsquare for PlayStation news 😂
@kyleforrester87 Consider this an extra
@Quintumply Ah come on you walked into that one. Have a good weekend buddy.
@kyleforrester87 Haha, you too man.
This looks like absolute crap! Mobile games are already out there so why would anyone want this thing? It looks as if it just takes handheld gaming backwards but manages to overshoot even farther back last Game Boy/Game Gear.
This will most definitely not end up anywhere near a Walmart or flea market.
This is a niche system by design. A very limited stock will be available.
I understand exactly what they're doing here & I'm totally down for it. I signed up & very much hope I'm able to get one.
I will happily pay $150 for the twelve week secret gaming mystery tour they want to take me on.
Can't wait to see what those developers do with this most unique gaming system.
This looks awful almost something like Fisher-price would churn out, not for me thanks.
@Luna-Harmony thanks for making me laugh. Nice joke
Wow- are the majority of people commenting here gamers who love the whole gaming experience or just call of duty and fifa lovers 🤔
This machine is beautiful and will deliver gaming experiences you can’t get anywhere else. It’s been made by people who have a passion for games- not just multi-million pound tent pole releases but innovative titles. Go do a bit of research into it. Every other gaming site can’t wait for it to be released and neither can I. Branch out from PlayStation you haters. You might find something you like. There is also no way this will end up being 30 dollars in flea markets. If anything it will considerably appreciate in value.
@nessisonett Yes your very right.
3DS has a great selection of games but the twin sticks are so awful. A circle stick and a micro nub.
@Wesker Ok yes it looks like it has some amazing games the price of nintendo games never seem to come down in price though.
I would say the Vita was a pure handheld where's the Switch is more huge and a home console. Gamegear, Neogeo Pocket. Vita the twin sticks on the vita are the best handheld controls yet. It's such a shame more games didn't come out.
@Luna-Harmony Yes, I agree the Switch and its games are overpriced. I put my Switch in a case then put it in my backpack, which is exactly what I did with my Vita. Not much of difference in portability for me. The playing experience is significantly better on the Switch thanks to ergonomics, better button layout, 4 shoulder buttons, rumble, and of course the screen size and its power to run more up-to-date games. The Switch succeeds in giving you a home console experience on the go. That was exactly the marketing of the Vita, but it did not quite achieve that IMO.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...