[jai_]

The biggest takeaway that I get from these comments is that HN users seem to either dislike fun hardware or just don't understand what the use case is.

The Playdate is a novel, low-powered, handheld console intended for experiemental indie game design and has been marketed as such.

Comparisons to a Nintendo Switch or a Steam Deck seem very pointless since these consoles are very much not targeting the same end users. It would be like complaining that you shouldn't buy a Raspberry Pi since a Mac Mini is better for your average user.

I agree that the price is a bit steep, but that is to be expected when you are not producing at a volume.

[cableshaft]

Also what people keep failing to see in the price tag is it includes 24 games. And the games look pretty decent actually. Nothing on the same level as Mario or Kirby or Tetris in there, of course, but many that I'd like to try and would probably purchase separately anyway knowing me.

For example, over the past two months of owning a Quest 2 I've bought about 40 games for it, to get a good feel for what the current state of VR gaming is like, and spent many hundreds of dollars to do so.

None of the other consoles this gets compared to are offering even a single game with purchase of the hardware, let alone 24. There are other consoles that do, but those are mostly retro mini-consoles that include a bunch of old games that have been resold over and over again.

[jrootabega]

I think that's an editorialized takeaway. I'd say that some HN users recognize that trying to make something look nice or look fun might not make up for big potential usability problems and questionable pricing. (i.e. a price that will make many people question whether they should buy it. Not necessarily a "bad" price or an "unreasonable" price.) And many others are very emotionally invested in this, and will gladly attack those HN users instead of respectful disagreement.

[Eric_WVGG]

or, why are you excited about the release of this new Wong Kar Wai movie, when there’s a new Avengers flick and the ticket is only a dollar more