The PlayDate Represents Our Novelty Handheld Gaming Future
Handheld systems used to be key platforms to play video games on, even though they were seen as secondary alternatives in case a console wasn’t around for a while. Systems like the Game Boy (which just celebrated its 30th anniversary), Sega Game Gear, and the Atari Lynx fit the definition of those alternatives. But with systems like the Game Boy Advance, DS, and PSP, handheld software lineups started to rival those from consoles, which continued to be the case with 3DS and Vita.
This makes it incredible to see how they’re mostly dead now. The market for them started falling quickly with 3DS not performing on par with previous platforms, and Vita performing poorly outside the niche crowd. In terms of the audience they attracted, they couldn’t compete with mobile phones, which people always have with them. With the 3DS inching closer to death with each passing day, Nintendo is now relying on Switch, a hybrid system, while Sony doesn’t seem to planning on another handheld.
This means handheld gaming platforms will likely be novelty systems from here on, and not more traditional systems supported with robust software lineups for several years. A key example among them was recently revealed: The PlayDate.
Just looking at the PlayDate should be enough evidence that it will be a novelty, which would be the case even if handhelds were still prominent. The system is a small yellow box with a tiny 2.7-inch LCD screen (about the size of a screen on a digital camera) made by Sharp, which will display games in black and white. The screen resolution will be 400×240, on par with 3DS without the 3D, meaning games it will display will be incredibly clear. The reflective screen will make seeing it easy in the sunlight, the kind of light anyone playing it will need considering it won’t have a backlight, in another throwback to the old Game Boy platforms. The system is coming from Panic, the company that published Campo Santo’s Firewatch and will publish Untitled Goose Game, and is designed by Stockhom, Sweden company Teenage Engineering.
The system will have a good-looking and nice-sized directional pad, with B and A buttons thankfully styled after Nintendo’s systems. With non-Japanese systems, there’s always the concern that they’ll flip the A and B buttons, like Microsoft did with their controllers. It’s tough not to notice the crank on the right side of it upon seeing it, indeed the hardware’s main gimmick. It’s easy to mistake it as a crank charger to keep the system going whenever the battery life dwindles (it recharges through a USB-C cable), but it will actually be used in games.
Speaking of software: A season of games are in development for the system, a dozen titles that will be delivered on a weekly basis. Quality talent has been enlisted to develop the first batch, including Bennett Foddy of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (and several other titles), Shaun Inman of Retro Game Crunch, and Zach Gage of mobile title Spelltower. Panic wants to keep the games secret until they’re ready to release for the system, a risky-but-respectable move.
Well, outside of one game. The most recognizable name here is Keita Takahashi of Katamari Damacy, who’s working on a title known as Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure, one with the kind of premise you’d expect from him. It will star Crankin, a guy who will travel through time to get to his date, Crankette, while dodging obstacles along the way, with the crank being used to control the flow of time in both directions. Gimmicky? Sure, but it could work well if its usage isn’t too frequent.
The depth offered by the software should be on par with mobile games, though without the pesky microtransactions. Several ideas could work well with this system, including a Drill Dozer clone where the crank is used for opening doors and locks, though it wouldn’t have too many of them to prevent the experience from wearing out its welcome too quickly. Hopefully one of the developers involved gets on something like that.
The price of the system might be a little higher than expected at $149, but it’s worth noting that this offer will include the season of 12 games. They’ll be distributed on a weekly basis after it arrives, with a flashing light on the system informing owners of when a new game will be available to download. The system won’t be competing with any others (unless they’re also novelty handhelds), so it’s clear Panic is looking to only make a modest profit on this.
There’s still info about the PlayDate that’s yet to be revealed, including details regarding the CPU, RAM, and the internal storage space; but those should be answered over the next several months. The system will release in early 2020, with Panic hoping to make preorders available by the end of the year. This could only be the start of the serious novelty and specialty handheld future.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
