If you like quirky gadgets and playful designs and have heard of Untitled Goose Game, then you'll love Panic's Playdate.
Playdate Review
The Playdate is a pocket game console from indie software house Panic, with hardware design help from Teenage Engineering, the company behind the iconic OP-1 and OP-Z synthesizers. One look at the Playdate’s specs will tell you that it’s not a competitor to the Nintendo Switch, or any other handheld console for that matter. It has a black-and-white screen, with no backlight; its games have names like Casual Birder, Executive Golf DX, and Echoic Memory. Oh, and it has a crank on the side.
The whole thing is an unashamed homage to the original Game Boy and the low-fi games of its era, only with a decidedly modern aesthetic and sense of playfulness. But who is this $179 device for?
“The Playdate is like a Willy Wonka-meets-Wes Anderson Game Boy, and it also takes an unorthodox approach to its game library. It’s not trying to compete with Microsoft or Sony’s new consoles,” Eden Cheng, founder of WeInvoice, told Lifewire via email.
