A Playdate Update stream is airing on March 7

Cranking out the news

Panic is hosting a new Playd🦩ate Update next week, to share news about its crank-based handheld. The showcase will be held on March 7, airing at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET.

The Playdate. if you’re not familiar, is Panic’s specialty handheld. It’s roughly similar to the Game Boy, but with a literal twist: its crank. On the right-hand side of the handheld, there’s a crank that can be manipulated, and that Playdate developers have used to create some pretty wild games.

This new Update will specifically share news about the Catalog, Panic’s curated on-device and on-web store for Playdate. The company will also be sharing some news about new games.

A new twist

When the Playdate launched last year, it was an interesting concept. The hardware twist wasn’t the only one Panic had for the Playdate; the game rollout for the Playdate was also fairly unique. It rolled out new games to Playdate owners as part of its “season,” with a new game hitting the device each week after purchase.

It’s cool, but obviously users will look for more games once they’re finished with the initial roll-out. A good community has sprung up around creating games, hosted on sites like , where they can be purchased and then side-loaded. Panic has also kept the Playdate a fairly open platform, with tools like Pulp making i🔯t easy for aspiring developers to tool around with making their 💯own creations.

All that said, I’m now curious to see what Panic has in store for the future of Playdate. I like the handheld, even though I haven’t picked it back up in a while. It’s the sort of specialized electronic device that feels rarer and rarer these days, and the community backing behind it gives its catalog a certain charm. We’ll see what Panic’s got in store on March 7.