[Wheaties466]

Who is this built for?

Serious question. Yeah it looks cool but in a joke sense. It doesn't really look like it is going to do anything well. The accessories look even more like a joke. Obviously im not the target customer, but im trying to figure out who is?

[agloeregrets]

The idea is that it is a non-smartphone device intended to occupy someone and delight someone in small doses. It also intended to drive a community of creativity with it being an open dev platform.

It's just meant to be something fun you can pull out and play for a little while. Just like Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operators were designed to be. I think we might have passed the point of realizing how wonderful it is to make something fun and whimsical with minimal profit ambitions.

Another bit is that the people who built it are legendary software developers who created Audion in the early 2000s (who then turned down an acquisition from Apple to become iTunes so Apple had to buy their worse competitor), Transmit (FTP), Coda, Nova, Prompt, and who published Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game. The idea is that it's a gimmick done hardcore and right.

Seems like a huge amount of interest. Personally I love the idea of whimsical creative ideas come to life.

[egypturnash]

It's art. It's for people who appreciate video games as art.

Or maybe it's just a goofy little toy for grownups who remember growing up with a Gameboy by their side, and want a whimsical grown-up version that they can keep in their pocket. With a fidget spinner on the side that also acts as an input for some games.

[hobofan]

Or if you are really really cynic: It's like one of those knock-off consoles that your tech-oblivious grandparents would get you, that comes preloaded with a bunch of no-name games of questionable quality, only with a bright coat of color and a cool marketing page!

[philistine]

Execution is everything. While Panic's initial idea is no different than a no-name console, with the reputation and pedigree of the people involved, I wouldn't be surprised Panic has a commercial and artistic success on its hands.

[vmception]

You've got to be kidding me

It will be a success for them selling overpriced hardware during the presale

and thats it

even the kids obsessed with the 90s because they were too young to remember it or too young to be born yet wont even use their chance to actually buy a “retro” product that is reminiscent of the 80s and 90s

DOA DNR

[elefanten]

I think this correct. This may be a profitable venture but it won’t move the needle in the games market. It will be a blip, an afterthought.

TO makes fantastic and artsy hardware. But it’s a couple dozen artsy indie games. The competition is free, AAA quality, available on all platforms and what everyone’s friends are playing.

By industry measures, it will not be a “commercial success”.

[ngngngng]

I have two personal use cases

1) Myself, I grew up on a game boy color and I have a nostalgia for playing games where the developers were so bound by compute resources on the device they were developing for. It allowed smaller teams to be very competitive in game design but also enabled a different sort of creativity than what is commonly seen today in game design where resources are virtually unlimited. I've also been wanting to toy with game development for a while now. This seems like a neat and quirky way to jump in.

2) My kid, I think we've gotten far too good at making video games addictive for kids. I want my child to have video games the way I did, with simple graphics, stories and gameplay that come to an end, unlike games like fortnite that you can keep playing for eternity. Added benefit if he gets to experience trying to play games without a backlight using the streetlights to see as you drive down the road.

[Wheaties466]

ok I can see that.

Its just if I came across this website and didn't know any better. I'd 100% think this is some elaborate April fools prank.

look at the game titles. Forest Byrnes Up in smoke Casual Birder Executive Golf

It just seems like they're trying to hard not to be "cool" and trying not to take themselves seriously.

[deergomoo]

> It just seems like they're trying to hard not to be "cool" and trying not to take themselves seriously.

This is worded like a criticism but it’s exactly why I can’t wait to get one of these.

[agloeregrets]

Forest Byrnes is from Panic's prior published game, Firewatch.

[immy]

They’re in Portland. You just described Portland.

[pradn]

People who like retro-style indie games, people looking for something new aside from PC/console games, people who want to make games for a handheld, people looking for novelty. People trying to find joy. It's easy to figure out who this is for.

[amelius]

> Who is this built for?

I don't know, but it seems buying a standard console would get you more games and less e-waste.

[elliekelly]

I’m a bit shocked at the price! It’s the same price I recently paid for a switch lite. I don’t understand how it can be so expensive.

[deergomoo]

Economies of scale. Nintendo has decades of hardware expertise, industry weight, and manufactures several orders of magnitude more units.

I think the price is pretty fair for a neat, boutique thing.

[roydivision]

Also Nintendo make more money from the games than the consoles.

[Ekaros]

Check what Aliexpress has to offer for 1/10th of the price... Even with games, it seems very expensive...

[kyledrake]

If you want to spend 30 bucks to play 8 billion different choices of quarter eaters on a glorified MAME piracy emulator that will probably also burn your house down from a battery fire, go for it. Don't forget the renters insurance.

If looking at raw CPU speed is what makes a console fun for you, and creativity doesn't matter at all, this is clearly not your platform. Some of us have different metrics for what makes game platforms fun that aren't just it costs less than a 24 pack of pepsi, 8000 choices of softcore pornography mahjong games, and how many polygons you can throw on a screen while cooking an egg on the graphics card.

The Alibaba consoles are just straight up creativity death - their business model is to bottom feed what tiny value remains out of old games they didn't make. Their long term accomplishment, should society be awful enough to let them solely succeed, will be the death of any ability to make new games or innovate in any way, leaving the entire non-Nintendo industry to just bottom feed compete with each other on slightly cheaper consoles in an eventual race to the bottom, while Nintendo releases the 600th version of Mario Kart, because it's easier and safer for them to copy than to innovate.

Playdate has a real chance to inject some creativity, competition, and openness to the platform world, and there's nothing especially novel about that to anyone that has read the history of computing and knows what games like Spacewar did. These kinds of "novelties" have a way of changing everything in ways nobody can really understand at the time.

[jrockway]

> I don’t understand how it can be so expensive.

CNC milled novelty crank.

[zepto]

If the games are good, then it’s for anyone who enjoys good computer games.

If they are not, then it’s not for anyone.

[sharken]

Was thinking that games similar to Obra Dinn would be awesome on this device, but also realize that games of that caliber are a rare thing indeed.

In the long run I'd think that the lack of colors is a deal breaker, so I think you're right this is very much a niche type of product.

[agloeregrets]

Uh... You'll be happy then. Lucas Pope is at work on a game for this called Mars After Midnight.

[taejo]

I don't think Mars After Midnight is going to be "like" Obra Dinn. Pope's said himself he wants to work on something much smaller in scope, and given the whimsy of what he has so far I don't see it growing into something like Obra Dinn.

As somebody who wants no sequel more than Obra Dinn 2, I don't think this is it. I always look forward to seeing Pope's work, though, and I hope he's working on something that he enjoys.

[zemo]

it's for people that want to play games on a little yellow brick with a black-and-white screen and a hand crank.

[lreeves]

It's for people not really interested in games to buy and then proclaim breathlessly on social media that it's just so amazing and lifechanging, before it goes permanently to a shelf visible in all their Zoom calls to never be played with again.

[zemo]

the idea that people who play games other than the games you play are "not really interested in games" is bizarre gatekeeping.

[lreeves]

It's definitely a cynical take but I don't mean it as gatekeeping; I think people get hyped up in gaming devices pre-launch like the Ouya that are better done anywhere else and when they actually try it are underwhelmed and don't use it.

[Tiktaalik]

enthusiasts of video games that are looking for a unique experience.