Playdate, the console with a crank, gets July preorder for $179, game details ~ USA Latest Games

Playdate has an optional "stereo dock" attachment, which charges your hardware and props it up for storage or display. And it comes with a pen, too. [credit: Panic ]

On Tuesday, Playdate, the portable, one-bit gaming system with an analog crank as a primary control option, took one more step toward being a bonafide thing you can buy.

The diminutive portable system's creators at Panic (publishers of games like Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game) hosted their first-ever Playdate Update video today (embedded below) and confirmed that the hardware will launch to paying customers "later this year," with preorders beginning "in July," starting at $179.

That price will include the system's complete "first season" of Playdate-exclusive games, and Panic had originally pledged to include 12 games in all with the purchase price. Today's presentation included a welcome surprise: double the included games. Now, Playdate owners can expect to get two games a week as free downloads over a span of 12 weeks (which, if my calculator is correct, means 24 games in all).

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