Looking to capture a portion of the market seeking retro games, Playdate, a 1 bit handheld game console from Panic and Teenage Engineering, is nearing its debut.
Playdate looks like an old timey television but plays a variety of new games. It is a black and white screen that is not backlit but super reflective and can connect to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and feature stereo sound.
The game console is small enough (76 mm x 74 mm x 9 mm) to fit inside a pocket. It has a D-pad like a Gameboy but also a hand crank that allows for additional game control.
Currently, Panic and Teenage Engineering plan to offer about 20 games initially but more are coming that will be free to download.
Playdate is powered by a 180 MHz Cortex M7 SDK that supports Lua, 16 MB RAM, 32 KB of L1 cache, 4 GB of flash and includes support for 802.11bgn 2,4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Additionally, the console includes a 400 x 240 1 bit display, has USB-C to A cable compatibility and a three-axis accelerometer to power the D-Pad.
Pre-orders for the Playdate will begin in July priced at $179.
