Panic has confirmed that their Playdate console will be available for preorder in July.
The handheld device that comes complete with a hand crank (which is used as an input device, as opposed to being a power source) will set consumers back $179. A protective case will also be available for $29 at launch.
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During a live update, Panic also unveiled the retro-looking Playdate Stereo Dock, which is yet to be priced or dated. The Stereo Dock will act as a charger for the Playdate and also work as a Bluetooth speaker. If you’re that way inclined, it also features a pen-holder and comes complete with a pen. No, we don’t know, either.
More important than a pen holder though, is the games lineup. Playdate owners buy the console and get 24 titles included in the price, doled out at a rate of two per week for 12 weeks. The first 24 form “Season One,” which suggests that more seasons will be released further down the line. 21 out of the Season One titles have been confirmed:
- Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure
- Battleship Godios
- Boogie Loops
- Casual Birder
- DemonQuest 85
- Echoic Memory
- Executive Golf DX
- Flipper Lifter
- Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke
- Hyper Meteor
- Lost Your Marbles
- Omaze
- Pick Pack Pup
- Questy Chess
- Ratcheteer
- Sasquatchers
- Saturday Edition
- Snak
- Spellcorked!
- Whitewater Wipeout
- Zipper
Three more “surprise” titles will be confirmed in due course.
Panic also confirmed that sideloading games onto the Playdate will be remarkably easy and that a free SDK and web-based game development kit – called Playdate Pulp – will be released to help budding developers get into the swing of things.
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Playdate is expected to ship later this year and preorders will be available seemingly exclusively through Panic’s official site.
