7 ms·
It would be cool if the crank was also used to charge the device's battery.
by slantyyz 7y ago
It would be cool if the crank was also used to charge the device's battery.
- stOneskull 7y agothat's what i thought it was for, and then maybe it could be used to charge something else with crank-power through usb
- chaostheory 7y agoYeah same here. I'm not sure I really buy it as control mechanism for playing though.
- ddingus 7y agoThere was a great fishing mini game in one of the N64 Zelda titles. This crank would have ruled.
- hombre_fatal 7y agoI had one of those dedicated fishing games back in the day with a crappy LCD display and a crank. Played it to death. https://i.imgur.com/tdESids.jpg https://i.imgur.com/tdESids.jpg
- pvg 7y agoThe Dreamcast had a game and controller to go with it. https://i.imgur.com/6AGrtRy.jpg https://i.imgur.com/6AGrtRy.jpg
- ddingus 7y agoAhh, the Dreamcast. I love those consoles. Recently picked up one basically new. It's archived for the grandkids, along with some 8 bit machines and a six switch Atari VCS (2600). In a few years, we are going to revisit the golden era again, and it's going to be as fun as it was last time.
- ddingus 7y agoI've seen those things. Had no idea they were that engaging.
- snazz 7y agoIt looks uncomfortable to spin the crank while using the other controls, which means you’d want it to be used exclusively if at all.
- monk_e_boy 7y agoIt looks so dumb. I wonder who they are marketing this at? Not your typical Fortnite / CS / Wow gamer. I love indie games and experimental story telling, but $150 for 12 games, and one of them uses a crank... not buying it. Sorry. $50 on steam gets me a whole lot of weird, and I got a ton left to invest in a case of craft beer to enjoy along with it.
- joezydeco 7y agoThen you do you. But you don’t have to be a buzzkill about it.
- kkarakk 7y agoit's not even accurate - nintendo labo has shown there is a market for high spec high quality non standard games(as long as there is an assurance of quality behind it) biggest hurdle for playdate is word of mouth - nintendo has that trust, i don't trust the company behind this. Same reason that android console failed - hell nvidia couldn't get enough support behind it
- eridius 7y agoI trust Panic. They have an extremely long history of producing really high-quality Mac software, and they published Firewatch (which was excellent).
- kkarakk 7y agoPanic is, ironically, a "moral panic" type of company. When e-culture shifts, they shift their policy accordingly. I would not trust them for stability.
- bredren 7y agoThe Digital Crown on Apple Watch is a thing though. I’m ready to give it the benefit of doubt.
- cududa 7y agoMost apps don’t use it and Watch OS 2 introduced the ability to scroll with your finger instead of the crown, since no one was using it
- unicornfinder 7y agoI'm surprised you say that - I have an Apple Watch and I genuinely love the ability to scroll with the crown - I don't block the display with my finger and I get tactile feedback.
- xondono 7y agoI’m more concerned with how long this thing is going to last.
- chaostheory 7y agoI view it more as a collectible art piece that you can interact with.
- kokojie 7y agoYeah, if the crank charged the device, it would have been an instant buy for me.
- jonshariat 7y agoDitto. Missed opportunity to charge while you interact. Imagine if the buttons also squeezed out charge as you hit them. Would be a fun concept.
- gameswithgo 7y agoit wouldn't be a meaningful amount of charge. same with solar panels on electric cars.
- muthdra 7y agoNot a meaningful amount of charge from gameplay, I agree. But it could have a "charging mode" where the screen goes off and you just turn the crank for 5-10 minutes to get a substantial charge because it already has the hardware thingie built-in.
- revax 7y agoYou overestimate how much energy you get from cranking
- cududa 7y agoTell that to the Boeing 737 Max geniuses that included a handcrank to restart the engines.
- yedpodtrzitko 7y agoThe crank looks a bit delicate for this purpose and I can imagine its lifetime would dramatically decrease for no real benefit.
- Reedx 7y agoThat was my first thought as well. But would it actually be practical? Anyone have an educated guess as to how much cranking it'd take to get 30 minutes of play time?
- marcinzm 7y agoApparently the issue is torque for such things, the OLPC was originally going to have a crank but the force was too much for the laptop body to take long term.
- samplatt 7y agoOLPC would have needed a lot more power than this device, plus due to its small size the whole thing could be machined aluminium. Especially if there's games that utilise the mechanic. could just have a much lower torque (and therefore lower-current-generation) since it's going to be used a lot. Missed opportunity.
- acomjean 7y agoThey need to put a handle on it. Then it could be like those handheld fishing games. https://www.amazon.com/Radica-Games-Bass-Fishing-Handheld/dp/B000TG7QJ8/ https://www.amazon.com/Radica-Games-Bass-Fishing-Handheld/dp...
- sethish 7y agoIt was removed because it wasn't going to generate enough power without cranking it constantly. And the ergonomics weren't great for kids. They did end up making an add-on crank at one point, but I don't think it ever was widely distributed
- war1025 7y agoIs OLPC still around? I feel like I haven't heard much of anything about it for quite a few years. Maybe at this point it's supplanted by smartphones?
- wayanon 7y agoI thought at first that was the only reason to have the crank.
- bufferoverflow 7y agoWould not work very well, you can only produce a few watts of power with a crank. And I bet it consumes tens of watts of power.