Playdate pre-orders begin in July • Hacker News Board

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#61

Post by simias » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 5:50 PM UTC

earthboundkid wrote: post #34

miguelmurca wrote: post #14

Playdate seems to me like a masterclass in marketing. The device is nothing extraordinary (imo), but it's presented and marketed in a way that makes it interesting.

> The device is nothing extraordinary (imo) This is it: the peak Hacker News comment. A gizmo with a handcrank and a black and white screen is nothing out of the ordinary in 2021. I bet you could even make it yourself in a weekend if you just use a Raspberry Pi and an e-ink screen!

I don't understand your comment. I feel like you're mocking the parent but at the same time you make it sound very reasonable. You can indeed make a gizmo with a handcrank with a black and white screen in a weekend.

I think here what will make or break it will be if it manages to reach a critical amount of early adopter to justify making games for the platform, otherwise it's going to end up like the Ouya, hipster version.

Personally I think it's cute and I'm vaguely interested by it, but at the current price point it seems like a tough sale. For literally $20 more you get a Nintendo Switch Lite (admittedly without games).

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#62

Post by simias » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 5:50 PM UTC

yaomtc wrote: post #57

coldpie wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame.

I'm confused. Playdate has WiFi and Bluetooth, and the Nomad didn't have any storage.

It's a reference to https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#63

Post by mortenjorck » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 5:52 PM UTC

The (exquisite, I must add) landing page is broken on iOS - the webGL model of the hardware eats all the scroll gestures, so I couldn’t scroll down the page until one of the header links took me to the bottom, where I could scroll back up.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#64

Post by duxup » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 5:53 PM UTC

fshee wrote: post #23

I appreciate the ~decent textContent. Telling exactly what purpose(s) JavaScript serves helps make an informed decision on whether to open a graphical web browser or continue with w3m. (In this case, it was obvious I could read on about Playdate just fine.) I've grown sick of create-react-app default textContent. > Hello! Javascript is required for purchasing, signing up for the newsletter, viewing videos, and other…

I think the population of folks who care is too small to do that.

And honestly a good chunk of that population will still just complain anyhow / might not be persuaded. They already kinda made their call.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#65

Post by xyzzy_plugh » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 5:53 PM UTC

an_opabinia wrote: post #52

nsilvestri wrote: post #16

Lucas Pope's section of the update video [0] has me incredibly excited. He's one of my favorite game developers, and seeing him work more with 1-bit 3D games after Obra Dinn has piqued my interest. Also, a blog on dithering I came across after playing Obra Dinn was one of the more interesting tech blogs I've read [1]. Also see Lucas Pope's post on how he did dithering in-game [2]. [0] https://youtu.be/DeWGukDrc1U?t=4…

On the one hand, it's amazing, it's ~$220 for games. On the other hand, is this games? It's so tough out there. Lucas Pope obviously works really hard. Just imagine you're an otherwise successful indie game developer, you put out two amazing games, and it still isn't viable to make a third, in 2021. That doesn't happen with movies. You make two budget positive or critically acclaimed movies, you get to make a third.…

I don't really understand what you're saying. I'm pretty sure Lucas Pope does whatever he wants at this point. After Papers, Please, Obra Dinn was clearly a creative pursuit that took years, he obsessed over the dithering for eons... This isn't someone out there struggling to make a buck.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#66

Post by emsy » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 5:56 PM UTC

earthboundkid wrote: post #34

miguelmurca wrote: post #14

Playdate seems to me like a masterclass in marketing. The device is nothing extraordinary (imo), but it's presented and marketed in a way that makes it interesting.

> The device is nothing extraordinary (imo) This is it: the peak Hacker News comment. A gizmo with a handcrank and a black and white screen is nothing out of the ordinary in 2021. I bet you could even make it yourself in a weekend if you just use a Raspberry Pi and an e-ink screen!

On the other hand there’s this tendency to put down any kind of criticism as dumb, implying the person “just doesn’t get it”. No, I get it, I’m just not impressed. It’s a low-tech handheld with a gimmick. My gut feeling is that the novelty factor will wear of pretty quickly. This is completely unrelated to the fact that I’m impressed with the apparent production quality and marketing.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#67

Post by mmastrac » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 5:57 PM UTC

nkellenicki wrote: post #46

MivLives wrote: post #6

180 dollars (plus shipping) is more than it'd cost for a modified gameboy plus a flashcart, and is near the price of an Analogue. The Analogue can play any gameboy (and advance) game every made, and is also a musical instrument. If this was around 80$ I would be all over it.

You're not wrong, but neither of those devices come with any games (unless you buy a flashcart, which is piracy). The Playdate cost includes 20 games by (relatively) well known indie game developers.

Piracy is competition.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#68

Post by mmastrac » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:00 PM UTC

arthurcolle wrote: post #36

antidaily wrote: post #17

Still mad the crank doesn't charge it.

That would be interesting. Can someone who took a Physics class calculate how much energy you could get by cranking (and maybe how many cranks you'd need) to charge this bad boy up?

Lazy googling suggests 30-50Wish [1]. The gameboy uses about 1W, so maybe a 1:30 ratio of time cranking to playing? Lazy math, feel free to correct.

[1] https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2007/12/wind-up-your-la.html

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#69

Post by mkr-hn » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:01 PM UTC

Now we wait for the softsynth OP-1 emulator on this to complete the circle.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#70

Post by an_opabinia » Tue, Jun 08, 2021, 6:01 PM UTC

fumar wrote: post #50

I am always impressed with the design of Teenage Engineering’s products but they have an air “pure consumerism”. I think this is that taken to its extreme. A toy that has a crank, retro screen, design-driven accessories, and the games are there but not promoted. Compare that to the gameboy which put its games front and center with the selling point of being handheld. Admittedly, I would get the Playdate to put on my…

> Teenage Engineering’s products but they have an air “pure consumerism”.

I got bad news for you buddy, video games don't have a functional purpose any greater than beautiful design. You're sort of barking up the wrong tree if you wanna take a dump on something. But I think this was said in good faith, and you should just consider that Teenage Engineering's Pocket Operators have a totally different, literally unpolished aesthetic and also sell very well.