It's been some time since we heard from Panic about their Playdate handheld, but that changed today as it was revealed that pre-orders will open next month for $179. The first units of the system will be shipped later this year, too, so the wait before actually getting the device won't be too long.
Today's Playdate update also shared some basic information on 21 of the 24 games that will be available for free as part of Season One.
- Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure
- Developed by: uvula (Keita Takahashi, Ryan Mohler), Matthew Grimm, and Shaun Inman
- Battleship Godios
- Developed by: TPM . CO SOFT WORKS.
- Boogie Loops
- Developed by: May-Li Khoe and Andy Matuschak.
- Casual Birder
- Developed by: Diego Garcia (he/him). Music and Sound by: Max Coburn (he/him).
- DemonQuest 85
- Developed by: Alex Ashby (he/him), Lawrence Bishop (he/him), Duncan Fyfe (he/him), Belinda Leung (she/her), and Jared Emerson-Johnson (he/him).
- Echoic Memory
- Developed by: Samantha Kalman (she/her), Everest Pipkin (they/them), Carol Mertz (she/her), and Rachelle Viola (she/her).
- Executive Golf DX
- Developed by: davemakes (they/them).
- Flipper Lifter
- Developed by: Serenity Forge.
- Forrest Byrnes: Up in Smoke
- Developed by: Nels Anderson (he/him) and Christina “castpixel” Neofotistou (she/her).
- Hyper Meteor
- Developed by: Vertex Pop (Mobeen Fikree [he/him], Robby Duguay [he/him], and h heron[they/them]).
- Lost Your Marbles
- Developed by: Sweet Baby Inc. & Friends.
- Omaze
- Developed by: Gregory Kogos.
- Pick Pack Pup
- Developed by: Nic Magnier (he/him), Arthur Hamer (he/him). Music by: Logan Gabriel (he/him).
- Questy Chess
- Developed by: Dadako.
- Ratcheteer
- Developed by: Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm, and Charlie Davis.
- Sasquatchers
- Developed by: Chuck Jordan. Music and Sound by: Jared Emerson-Johnson.
- Snak
- Developed by: Zach Gage (he/him). Art by: Neven Mrgan (he/him).
- Spellcorked!
- Developed by: Jada Gibbs, Nick Splendorr, Ryan Splendorr, and Tony Ghostbrite. Music by: A Shell in the Pit (Em Halberstadt).
- Zipper
- Developed by: Bennett Foddy (he/him).
- Saturday Edition
- Developed by: Chris Makris. Music by: A Shell in the Pit (Gord McGladdery, Alfonso Salinas).
- Whitewater Wipeout
- Developed by: Chuhai Labs (Giles Goddard [he/him], Mark Lentz [he/him], Peter Traylor [he/him], Hero Liao [he/him], Remy Thor [he/him], Charlie March [he/him], Kensaku Nakata [he/him], Zach Aikman [he/him], Mihoko Terao [she/her], and Kinsey Burke [she/her]).
Additionally, the following developers have announced their new projects for the handheld:
- Lucas Pope (Return of the Obra Dinn, Papers Please) is working on a new game for Playdate, Mars After Midnight.
- Narrative development company Sweet Baby will guide and mentor two teams of up-and-coming developers from marginalized communities, led by experienced veterans from the games industry, on the development of two original games for Playdate: Recommendation Dog, led by Xalavier Nelson Jr. (he/him), and Reel Steal.
Last but certainly not least, Panic unveiled the first Playdate accessory, the Stereo Dock. It's a Bluetooth speaker that also stores and charges your system when not in use. Additionally, it can hold pens and comes with one, because why not? Info on pricing and availability of the Stereo Dock haven't been shared yet.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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