Playdate handheld console gets new details, games announcement and pre-order window
You might recall the quirky Playdate, the handheld gaming console with a manual crank on the side, that was announced back in 2019. Well, it's still happening and in a video update streamed today, we got new details about this upcoming indie console from video game publisher Panic.
As part of its "Season 1", the Playdate will receive 24 free games, including a new title from Return Of The Obra Dinn's creator. The season lasts for a period of 12 weeks where every week, two new games automatically download onto the device. The title screen, names and developers of 21 of Season 1's games have been revealed and Panic says that there will be "a few extra surprise games along the way". Additional details about the gameplays have been intentionally kept under wraps. Below you can find information about the revealed titles (courtesy of The Verge):
- Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure by uvula (Keita Takahashi, Ryan Mohler), Matthew Grimm, and Shaun Inman
- Battleship Godios by TPM.Co Soft Works.
- Casual Birder by Diego Garcia with music by Max Coburn
- DemonQuest 85 by Alex Ashby, Lawrence Bishop, Duncan Fyfe, Belinda Leung, and Jared Emerson-Johnson
- Echoic Memory by Samantha Kalman, Everest Pipkin, Carol Mertz, and Rachelle Viola
- Executive Golf DX by davemakes
- Flipper Lifter by Serenity Forge
- Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke by Nels Anderson and Christina “castpixel” Neofotistou
- Hyper Meteor by Vertex Pop (Mobeen Fikree, Robby Duguay, and h heron)
- Lost Your Marbles by Sweet Baby Inc. & Friends
- Omaze by Gregory Kogos
- Pick Pack Pup by Nic Magnier and Arthur Hamer (he/him) with music by Logan Gabriel
- Questy Chess by Dadako
- Ratcheteer by Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm, and Charlie Davis
- Sasquatchers by Chuck Jordan with music and sound by Jared Emerson-Johnson
- Snak by Zach Gage with art by Neven Mrgan
- Spellcorked! by Jada Gibbs, Nick Splendorr, Ryan Splendorr, and Tony Ghostbrite with music by A Shell in the Pit (Em Halberstadt)
- Zipper by Bennett Foddy
- Saturday Edition by Chris Makris with music by A Shell in the Pit (Gord McGladdery, Alfonso Salinas)
- Whitewater Wipeout by Chuhai Labs (Giles Goddard, Mark Lentz, Peter Traylor, Hero Liao, Remy Thor, Charlie March, Kensaku Nakata, Zach Aikman, Mihoko Terao, and Kinsey Burke)
The Playdate will cost $179 and pre-orders will open sometime in July. Once you own one, you will also be able to create your own games with the free SDK and the browser-based Pulp game maker. As for side-loading games, the company says that it is easy to do so directly onto the handheld.
Playdate Official Website