Posted in: Game Hardware, Games, Indie Games, PAX West, Video Games | Tagged: Crankin’s Time Travel Adventure, Katamari Damacy, Keita Takahashi, Panic Inc., PAX West, PAX West 2019, PlayDate

Cranking It Out: We Tried PlayDate At PAX West 2019

Published Sat, 14 Sep 2019 13:40:14 -0500

by Gavin Sheehan

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An appointment at PAX West 2019 that kind of came out of the blue was when we got a chance to play with the new PlayDate handheld console from Panic Inc. Ever since the tiny crank-based system was introduced a few months ago, we've been curious what exactly we'd get as far as games. We got a chance to chat with one of the reps for the company and play one of them during the convention. The game we got to play was Crankin's Time Travel Adventure, created by Keita Takahashi, the mind behind Katamari Damacy.

Cranking It Out: We Tried PlayDate At PAX West 2019 — Credit: PlayDate

The game features a clown who moves when you turn the crank forward and backward. Every day, he upsets his girlfriend by missing their dates and being late. In this game, you control the flow of time to get yourself on time without running into all the distractions that made you late. You can reverse yourself while a bird continues to fly by without hitting you in the face, or avoid obstacles that would have tripped you up by making a decision to walk by them slower or recovering so that you can try again. It's a pretty ingenious way to use the hardware to your advantage. And it makes us wonder what other designers who have signed up to make games using this tech will do with it.

I'm not gonna lie, the retro gamer in me loved PlayDate. I enjoyed the simplicity of it enough to where I really want one. The big issue I see right now is the cost as well as the usage. $150 for the unit plus a seasonal subscription service that gives you a new game every week or so will be a hard sell for many. Sure, retro gamers will justify it, but will average consumers dive in? Also, the unit doesn't really have a way to be broadcast elsewhere, either by wifi or direct connection. At least, none that we saw. Beyond charging and a 3.5mm jack for headphones, there's no other ports for this. So while PlayDate is a great little system to play that can go anywhere, I do have to wonder, who is this for beyond hardcore gamers? We'll find out when the console is released sometime in early 2020.

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