Playdate, app and recreation designer Panic’s first shot at {hardware}, lastly has a agency value and ship date, in addition to a bunch of shock options cooked up since its announcement in 2019. The tiny handheld gaming console will value $179, ship later this 12 months and include a 24-game “season” doled out over 12 weeks. But now it additionally has a cute speaker dock and low-code recreation creation platform.

We first heard about Playdate greater than two years in the past, had been charmed by its clear look, funky crank management, and black and white show, and have been ready for information ever since. Panic’s impeccable design credentials mixed with Teenage Engineering’s inventive {hardware} chops? It’s sure to be a pleasure to make use of, however there wasn’t rather more than that to go on.

Now the corporate has revealed all the important details we had been hoping for, and lots of extra, in addition.

Image Credits: Panic

Originally we had been anticipating 12 video games to be delivered over 12 weeks, however within the intervening interval it appears they’ve collected extra titles than deliberate, and that preliminary “season” of video games has expanded to 24. No one is aware of precisely what to anticipate from these video games besides that they’re unique to the Playdate and lots of use the crank mechanic in what seem like enjoyable and attention-grabbing methods: turning a turntable, opening slightly door, doing methods as a surfer, and so forth.

The crew hasn’t determined how future video games will likely be distributed, although they appear to have some concepts. Another season? One-off releases? Certainly the presence of a brand new recreation by one-man indie hit parade Lucas Pope would promote like hotcakes.

Image Credits: Panic

But the debut of a brand new lo-fi recreation improvement platform referred to as Pulp suggests a future the place self-publishing might also be an choice. This pretty little web-based device lets anybody put collectively a recreation utilizing presets for issues like controls and actions, and will show to be a type of tiny Twine in time.

A dock accent was introduced as effectively, one thing to maintain your Playdate entrance and middle in your desk. The speaker-equipped dock, additionally a lemony yellow, acts as a magnetic charging cradle for the console, activating a type of stationary mode with a clock and music participant (Poolsuite.fm, apparently, with unique enjoyable tunes). It even has two holes by which to place your pens (and Panic made a particular yellow pen only for the aim as effectively).

Image Credits: Panic

The $179 value might trigger some to balk — in spite of everything, it’s significantly greater than a Nintendo 3DS and with the dock in all probability approaches the worth of a Switch. But this isn’t meant to be a competitor with mainstream gaming — as a substitute, it’s a type of anti-establishment system that embraces weirdness and supplies one thing equally unfamiliar and undeniably enjoyable.

The crew says that there will likely be per week’s warning earlier than orders will be positioned, and that they don’t plan to close orders down if stock runs out, however merely enable folks to preorder and cancel at will till they obtain their unit. Shipping will start in late 2021, and if the 20,000 items within the preliminary run don’t cowl it, they’ll make extra and ship as they arrive in.

We hope to get one ourselves to check and evaluation, however since a part of the appeal of the entire thing is the timed launch and social facet of discovery and sharing, it’s greater than doubtless we’ll be experiencing it together with everybody else.

(This article initially said Playdate ships subsequent month, however it would truly ship later — preorders start subsequent month.)