5 ms·

I honestly still don't understand the hype around this thing. To me it's up there with Tiger electronic games, but for a lot more.

mbreese 5y ago
The story is less about the device, and more about the chip shortage. Having to wait two years for a CPU is just crazy, and it’s interesting to watch the hoops that these companies have to go through in order to ship products. I don’t know anything about the device itself, but do you find it interesting to watch how do chip shortage is affecting different manufacturers.
dbreunig 5y ago
Panic has a history of delivering thoughtful, well-made software. Their initial foray into games (Firewatch, Untitled Goose Game, Nour) were all excellent and novel. Combine that with Teenage Engineering's similar novel and excellent track record with hardware design and you've got a very interesting product to those that like Panic's software and/or like good hardware design. If nothing else this product will be novel and well considered. If that's not your cup of tea, cool. But there's a lot here for several communities.
- tpush 5y ago
  > Their initial foray into games (Firewatch, Untitled Goose Game, Nour) were all excellent and novel. Note that Panic hasn't developed any of those games; they published them.
  - JohnBooty 5y ago
    Right. True. Continuing that trend, nearly all of PlayDate's announced games are also externally developed and (obviously) published by Panic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playdate_(console)#Games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playdate_(console)#Games
- amelius 5y ago
  They could release just the software then, which would run fine on Android and iOS machines (which by the way offer way more value for people who appreciate good hardware and good software) Who needs more e-waste?
  - thatguy0900 5y ago
    The playmate has a unique interface with its wind up arm thing. I would assume all the already made launch games will use it
    - frosted-flakes 5y ago
      Not all the games for the Playdate use the crank, but a lot do.
    - amelius 5y ago
      They could have sold the crank as an extension for iPhones or Android phones.
  - frosted-flakes 5y ago
    The hardware is the whole point of the endeavour.
  - rfd4sgmk8u 5y ago
    I agree. In a chip shortage, we should be reassessing exactly what devices need the chips, and priorities. I am very unexcited by this product, it seems practically useless. Tiger Electronics Handhelds indeed. The steam deck (a real linux handheld computer) on the other hand, gimme gimme gimme
    - jakelazaroff 5y ago
      Okay, but people want different things. If you were to ask me, I would much rather ”reassess” the Steam Deck — a device in which I have no interest, made by a company with a poor hardware track record — than the Playdate — a unique device with interesting exclusives made by two companies I like a lot.
- boffinAudio 5y ago
  See also: ClockworkPi, DevTerm, GameShell / OpenPyra, etc. Seems to be an emerging successful model: take the revenues from a game/software product and use it to bootstrap a hardware company.
smoldesu 5y ago
There's apparently a pretty big market for plastic doodads that do the same thing your computer can, but with a crank. It's like they ripped a page straight out of Apple's playbook and made an iPod for gaming.
robotburrito 5y ago
I can see why it's cool and the me from 15 years ago might have bought one. But the current me just tires of more useless crap constantly being built that will just end up in someone's junk drawer 3 months from arrival and in the landfill years later.
nodejs_rulez_1 5y ago
I think it's like that statistics about most of purchased Steam games not being played or something like that. You buy an idea that you could have enjoyed this device.
BoorishBears 5y ago
People get super upset when you say this, but like much of Panic's other hardware (like their Mini-ITX case) you're also paying for the mythos. Like I said from the get-go that most of these will be used as desk ornaments (albeit pretty and functional ones) Not long after Panic announced a dock with a pen holder. They know their market, people with a lot of disposable income and a want to a showpiece that's not as flashy as gold pen or something
- thedingwing 5y ago
  You're confusing Panic (the software/video game company behind this device's concept and software) with Teenage Engineering (a Swedish hardware company that designed the device) Teenage Engineering has a variety of products unrelated to this game console, including the ITX case.
  - BoorishBears 5y ago
    Sorry you're right, but my comment stands word for word with the name replaced Teenage Engineering is behind the physical device, which is what represents most of what I'm describing here

mbreese 5y ago

The story is less about the device, and more about the chip shortage. Having to wait two years for a CPU is just crazy, and it’s interesting to watch the hoops that these companies have to go through in order to ship products. I don’t know anything about the device itself, but do you find it interesting to watch how do chip shortage is affecting different manufacturers.

dbreunig 5y ago

Panic has a history of delivering thoughtful, well-made software. Their initial foray into games (Firewatch, Untitled Goose Game, Nour) were all excellent and novel. Combine that with Teenage Engineering's similar novel and excellent track record with hardware design and you've got a very interesting product to those that like Panic's software and/or like good hardware design. If nothing else this product will be novel and well considered. If that's not your cup of tea, cool. But there's a lot here for several communities.

tpush 5y ago
> Their initial foray into games (Firewatch, Untitled Goose Game, Nour) were all excellent and novel. Note that Panic hasn't developed any of those games; they published them.
- JohnBooty 5y ago
  Right. True. Continuing that trend, nearly all of PlayDate's announced games are also externally developed and (obviously) published by Panic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playdate_(console)#Games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playdate_(console)#Games
amelius 5y ago
They could release just the software then, which would run fine on Android and iOS machines (which by the way offer way more value for people who appreciate good hardware and good software) Who needs more e-waste?
- thatguy0900 5y ago
  The playmate has a unique interface with its wind up arm thing. I would assume all the already made launch games will use it
  - frosted-flakes 5y ago
    Not all the games for the Playdate use the crank, but a lot do.
  - amelius 5y ago
    They could have sold the crank as an extension for iPhones or Android phones.
- frosted-flakes 5y ago
  The hardware is the whole point of the endeavour.
- rfd4sgmk8u 5y ago
  I agree. In a chip shortage, we should be reassessing exactly what devices need the chips, and priorities. I am very unexcited by this product, it seems practically useless. Tiger Electronics Handhelds indeed. The steam deck (a real linux handheld computer) on the other hand, gimme gimme gimme
  - jakelazaroff 5y ago
    Okay, but people want different things. If you were to ask me, I would much rather ”reassess” the Steam Deck — a device in which I have no interest, made by a company with a poor hardware track record — than the Playdate — a unique device with interesting exclusives made by two companies I like a lot.
boffinAudio 5y ago
See also: ClockworkPi, DevTerm, GameShell / OpenPyra, etc. Seems to be an emerging successful model: take the revenues from a game/software product and use it to bootstrap a hardware company.

smoldesu 5y ago

There's apparently a pretty big market for plastic doodads that do the same thing your computer can, but with a crank. It's like they ripped a page straight out of Apple's playbook and made an iPod for gaming.

robotburrito 5y ago

I can see why it's cool and the me from 15 years ago might have bought one. But the current me just tires of more useless crap constantly being built that will just end up in someone's junk drawer 3 months from arrival and in the landfill years later.

nodejs_rulez_1 5y ago

I think it's like that statistics about most of purchased Steam games not being played or something like that. You buy an idea that you could have enjoyed this device.

BoorishBears 5y ago

People get super upset when you say this, but like much of Panic's other hardware (like their Mini-ITX case) you're also paying for the mythos. Like I said from the get-go that most of these will be used as desk ornaments (albeit pretty and functional ones) Not long after Panic announced a dock with a pen holder. They know their market, people with a lot of disposable income and a want to a showpiece that's not as flashy as gold pen or something

thedingwing 5y ago
You're confusing Panic (the software/video game company behind this device's concept and software) with Teenage Engineering (a Swedish hardware company that designed the device) Teenage Engineering has a variety of products unrelated to this game console, including the ITX case.
- BoorishBears 5y ago
  Sorry you're right, but my comment stands word for word with the name replaced Teenage Engineering is behind the physical device, which is what represents most of what I'm describing here