I recently had the good fortune to interview the two developers of CrankBoy - an emulator for the Playdate console which allows users to play original Game Boy games on there (and yes, you can use that crank to play them!)
I’ve always found the Playdate to be a super interesting console, it doesn’t compete on any level with the typical handhelds…it doesn’t even have a backlight. But it makes up for that in how utterly fresh and unique it is. Creativity is the focus for it, and the games devs themselves all seem to have true passion for their creations.
After seeing some social media posts about CrankBoy get shared about, I reached out to the devs, asking if they’d let me interview them to write up a feature article on their project, and they were so kind to say yes. If you’ve got any interest in emulation, dev work, or the crazy cute yellow handheld, then you might enjoy this one I wrote.
Here is the link to the article, please let me know what you think!
The playdate looks cool but it’s wayy too expensive for what it is.
I’ve gotten easily $200 worth of value out of it, and if mine broke I’d buy another one. Sometimes niche things deserve the extra price. It’s more of a problem of the world draining everyone’s disposable income for niche things like these.
$229? Fuck me, you’re not kidding. That’s over half way to owning a Steam deck.
More than that if you account for the refurbished/used market
Also in the eu with shipping and taxes a single playdate with no accessories amounts to…
Total $334.97
WTF MORE THAN 3/4 of a BRAND NEW STEAM DECK ?!
AND THEY HAVE A SUBSCRIPTION SYSTEM FOR THEIR GAMES ?!!
My guess is that most people in the market for a Steam Deck aren’t choosing between getting either this or a Deck. Like, different markets.