It's never an easy thing to go outside of your comfort zone, but Panic, best known for Smartphone apps and the game Firewatch, have done just that with their adorable handheld called the Playdate.
Panic Inc was founded in the late 1990s by Cabel Sasser and Steven Frank with the expressed purpose of designing applications for both the MacOS and iOS respectfully. While the company had many successes in this particular area, it showed the world that it could do so much more when it released its first ever game entitled Firewatch in February 2016. Due to the success of Firewatch, Panic decided that they wanted to set the bar even higher and went about creating their first ever handheld console.
Given that the company has seen a lot of support from the gaming community, this move isn't all that surprising on the surface. What is surprising though is the fact that the company moved toward creating their own console so quickly without first developing more games and seeing if they would garner the same attention that Firewatch did. After all, they will have to outsource much of the development and manufacturing of the console, and they will also have to compete with a wide range of companies within the same space. That being said, this move may push more app developers to do the same.
Through Kotaku, we learn that the console uses a black and white screen with no backlight and that the hand crank at its side isn't just for show, rather, it can be used in some games that will be released later for the system. As far as games, the company states that users will be given 12 games over a period of 12 weeks via built in wifi and that these games have been developed with the help of individuals like Keita Takahashi and Bennett Foddy. The Playdate will come with a 400x240 LCD and will cost consumers around $149.00 upon initial release, with each game coming to the user as a complete surprise.
While the Playdate is certainly unique and interesting, it's hard to know if users will be ready to pay such a steep price tag for something that might not get anymore than 12 games in total. The good news for consumers though is that the games should be good, considering that people like Takahashi of Katamari Damacy fame have staked their reputations on its success.
With a lack of creativity in terms of consoles, it's nice to see a company take a risk to create something truly groundbreaking. While this is certainly something to be applauded, it is really concerning that the company decided to use such an old display for their consoles, especially considering that high resolution displays of that size are extremely cheap these days.