LAB NOTES
SAM LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
Playdate
Netflix meets handheld retro gaming?
NETFLIX AND RETRO GAMING? It’s an intriguing-sounding combination—and it’s not too far from the truth. Meet the Playdate, a fun and modern take on the retro handheld games console. It’s pretty clear that this latest addition to the handheld gaming scene has taken its design cues from the Nintendo Gameboy, but it also looks like a squashed and more pocketable version of the Analog Pocket.
However, the Playdate offers something different from those two consoles in that you won’t be able to natively play your favorite retro game titles on it. The games available on this console will be new and limited to the Playdate. As minimal as the design looks, this little handheld has some fairly modern features—though before you get too excited, that crank handle is not for charging the device, it’s a cool input control.
So how does this tie in with Netflix? You can’t stream the latest season of Stranger Things on the Playdate and, with its 400x240 1-bit screen, you wouldn’t want to. However, the games on this device work on a seasonal basis—much like Netflix, you won’t always know what is coming out. With the Playdate, you get free access to season one, which includes 24 different games, released at the rate of two per week for 12 weeks. These are transferred onto the Playdate via Wi-Fi.