I really like my Playdate, and I say this as someone who was very critical of it before it came out ("No color or backlight? Only A and B buttons? Why would anyone pay $200 for that?) and received it as a gift from my very intuitive husband. I am still very critical of the fact that there is no backlight, but the damn thing is so cute and charming. I like playing games on it.
I’m very disappointed that the dock just got shelved and won’t be released. Now I have to make my own or buy an Etsy one. :(
I like the concept of the playdate. I even like the little gimmicky crank. I don’t like the non-backlit screen. And the price is a deal breaking barrier to entry for me.
Make this thing $60, and put a decent color screen on it, and I’m sold.
Black and white (or whatever colour) with backlight is fine. If I can buy an Anbernic or whatever the buggery for <$50, this can be not much more.
If I recall correctly, the playdate was $250 a year ago. Not sure if it’s the same price today. But that was enough to stop my purchade a year ago.
$199 now. Still seems a bit overpriced.
“A bit”, my lord.
“Since the beginning, the number one question from Playdate owners has been: ‘When will there be another Season?’” says Greg Maletic, Playdate project lead.
I’m pretty sure it was ‘why is it so damn expensive’.
That’s the question from non customers.
Ufff, why would you buy one of these instead of a r36s or similar
Because they are different devices serving different purposes. The r36s is a portable emulator that’ll run games from different consoles; the playdate is a portable console that runs games made specifically for the playdate.
Because it has a library of interesting and innovative exclusives, making use of an unusual control input. Whether that makes it worth it or not is personal preference, but you can’t disagree that it offers something unique.
