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Panic Play date: Dating The Handheld Gaming Future
ABP News Bureau
Last Updated: 21 Apr 2022 06:06 AM (IST)
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Play date is a device that makes you feel nostalgic and takes you back to your childhood days, even though nothing like this existed in the past in the first place.
Panic Play date: Dating The Handheld Gaming Future
Panic’s Play date comes with a price tag of USD 179
By Rana and Nimish Dubey
The world of handheld gaming has become pretty conventional. Portable gaming now is becoming more and more smartphone centric, and consoles are taking a backseat. Big displays, bigger processors, high-end graphics with thousands of mAh of battery back up have taken over the gaming world, while the simplicity of a Game Boy that is only a Game Boy has been somewhat lost. The one console which is holding ground amongst a sea of gaming smartphones is perhaps the Nintendo Switch, and even that is a fairly big console to be carried around in one’s pocket.
Big is better? Well, Play date is cuter
While the world is moving towards a “bigger is better” philosophy, there is a gaming newbie which is trying to challenge the idea. This new console in town is called Play date and, it is exactly as cute as its name sounds. It is a tiny (and by 'tiny' we mean 'fit in the palm of your hand' tiny), very yellow and very adorable gaming console. Created by Panic Inc. in collaboration with Teenage Engineering, Play date is a gaming console which was first introduced back in 2019. And like many ideas that float over like soap bubbles over the densely populated Tech city, we assumed that it would soon pop into nothingness without really ever making it to reality.
What's on the outside but, also what’s on the inside. After all play date is a gaming console and while it’s adorable, petite looks may be what attracts one at first, it is what is on the inside, i.e, the games that will eventually decide its fate.
When it comes to normal console games, we can simply go to a store (physical or virtual), pick the game we want from the library and get it. But that will not be the case when it comes to play date. Games on the console are going to be a surprise. This means you will not know what games, you are going to get on the console until you get them. They will be released in seasons, with a new game arriving over Wi-Fi every week. In the first season, the handheld will get a total of 24 games, with two releases per week. All of this will be included in the price of the console, and these games will be automatically downloaded on Play date. This also means, the games that get released on Play date will be exclusive to its users only and will not be available on any other platform.
Panic has already released a list of games that will be released on the handheld in the first season and has partnered with indie game developers like Zach, Chuck Jordan and Shaun.
But the bigger question is whether this tiny handheld console will make it big in a gaming world that is set on following the “big is better” philosophy?
Cranky design, exclusive games
Well, there are a few things that work in the favor of this whimsical device. First and the most obvious one being its design. The design of the Panic Play date alone is enough to make gamers not only curious but, also interested in getting their hands on the device. Its miniature size and the bright yellow color with a crank popping out of the side makes it as unique a device as one can be. Most gaming devices look quite routine and those that have a touch of uniqueness to them only bring
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