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Playdate pre-orders begin in July

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Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#71

Post by mkr-hn »

duxup wrote: post #64
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.

I think it depends on how much the set of people who browse without JavaScript and the set of people who might connect you with relevant and important people/opportunities intersects. I've heard of people running whole web ad campaigns just to reach one person.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#72

Post by shadowgovt »

I wish them the best. Games is a cutthroat industry, and game consoles are absolutely unforgiving... The number of failure-points that can bring down the entire project (hardware disruption, lack of developer interest in building for an unproven closed system, lack of consumer interest in buying an unproven closed system) is high. Massive chicken-egg problems in closing the loop on a long-term successful console bet.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#73

Post by jsnell »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #65
an_opabinia wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes. The Ars Technica interview from a couple of years ago is great: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/from-uncharted-to-obr...

The most relevant quote to this discussion is probably:

> "My wife played [an early Papers, Please prototype] and said, 'You can finish this, but afterwards, you gotta get a job,'" Pope says with a laugh. "Which is funny, because now, whatever I show her, she's like..." Pope gestures as if he's throwing his hands in the air and giving up. "'Fuckin'... whatever, dude, I'm sure it'll work out.'"

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#74

Post by shadowgovt »

criddell wrote: post #39
rockbruno wrote: post #12

It looks amazing, but... why? I can't see myself spending more than 10 bucks on something like this. There are plenty of "vintage styled" games on Steam, getting a Raspberry Pi and putting it into a nice cover would be probably cheaper.

Nobody is buying this thing because it's cheap. First, it's coming from Panic. They have enough fans that they can probably sell out the first run just on their reputation. Secondly, the industrial design looks great or at least novel. For $180 you get a neat looking toy and are supporting the development of new stuff. $180 feels like a sustainable price. It is a lot of money, but for many people on HN $180 is an eas…

Oh, I thought I recognized that logo! The publishers for House House's "Untitled Goose Game."

It's a neat concept for a system, but a bit unfortunate that one can't play Untitled Goose Game on it.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#75

Post by shadowgovt »

aaroninsf wrote: post #8
mlindner wrote: post #4

Humor me, why would this be interesting in any way shape or form? I can see this only being interested to people with fetishes for old LCD-based semi-disposable toys.

Subtract the word "only" and you've got it. I suspect the market is there to enable modest success, for the same reason cassette labels flourished.

It's a big bet. Even in the modern era of low-cost pipelines from concept to fabrication, novel console devices are incredibly expensive and risky to bootstrap into life.

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#76

Post by mttjj »

aresant wrote: post #59

Man that is just a beautiful website Both from the UX, to typography, to aesthetic (on desktop at least) Anybody know who built this?

/s ?

This is a product of [Panic](https://panic.com). They know how to build a website. And write tools to [build a website](https://nova.app/).

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#79

Post by Wheaties466 »

Who is this built for?

Serious question. Yeah it looks cool but in a joke sense. It doesn't really look like it is going to do anything well. The accessories look even more like a joke. Obviously im not the target customer, but im trying to figure out who is?

Re: Playdate pre-orders begin in July

#80

Post by yaomtc »

simias wrote: post #62
yaomtc wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Thanks. I also forgot Creative had a Nomad, I was thinking of Sega.
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