Remember the Playdate console from 2019? If you don’t, here’s a refresher – the Playdate made the rounds on the internet at a time when gaming was becoming quite the craze. Google had just announced Stadia, Apple had recently unveiled their subscription-based games service, and among all that news, the Playdate emerged as this bastion of retro handheld gaming. It came with a quirky, bold design courtesy of Teenage Engineering, and sported a unique hand-cranked control that promised to add a new dimension to your gaming experience. With a retro black and white screen and the promise of immersing you in nostalgia, the Playdate garnered quite a bit of a fan following, but that doesn’t seem to be all on the horizon. The console’s maker, Panic, has just announced a new docking station for the console. Quite similar to Nintendo’s dock, this one lets you attach the gaming device to the dock for charging… but that’s not all. The Stereo Dock, as it’s named, also serves as a Bluetooth speaker, as well as a stand for the Playdate’s stylus, a new input device for the gaming console!

Designer: Panic

With a design that mirrors the Playdate console’s aesthetic perfectly, the Stereo Dock is a quirky retro-punk box that sits on your desk with speaker grilles on either side, a stylus popping out the top, and a very old-school kickstand at the bottom that lets you prop the dock up at an angle. Along with the Playdate console, it almost looks like a tiny retro television with buttons on the bottom and an antenna on the top!

The Playdate console snaps right onto the front of the dock and begins charging wirelessly. The dock doesn’t just serve as a speaker for the console, but also as a general stereo speaker that you can connect to your phone or any other device for audio playback. The Playdate DOES have a touchscreen interface, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if the stylus in the Stereo Dock would work along with the console. If it relies on regular capacitive touch input then the stylus would just as easily work with your smartphone or touchscreen tablet too, which would surely be interesting.

There’s no official launch date for the Stereo Dock, although Panic has had its share of minor delays. Project Lead Greg Maletic said “We apologize to everyone with a Playdate who has been waiting patiently for the Stereo Dock; it’s been a trickier project than we anticipated and we had a few false starts. We thought we’d save some time on that project by having our factory do the software for the Stereo Dock, but we’ve learned that you don’t always necessarily want that in some cases. The Stereo Dock is very much alive, we have the physical prototypes to prove it! We expect to have a formal update on when you can buy one later this year.”

It isn’t easy being a fledgling gaming company dealing with product success – folks who remember Cyberpunk 2077 know how small companies can sometimes get crushed by the burden of expectations, although Panic certainly delivered on its promise by launching the Playdate in 2022 after a few road bumps that also included needing to change battery suppliers due to a serious battery issue. Hopefully, the Stereo Dock will be out sometime later this year, although it’s currently missing an official price tag.

The post The Playdate Handheld Gaming Console gets a Nintendo Switch-style dock… but better first appeared on Yanko Design.

Thanks to devices like the Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, and Lenovo Legion GO, handheld PCs are becoming more common and more acceptable in the public’s eyes. That horizontal orientation, while more gaming-oriented, isn’t the only possible design, nor is it even the best option. There are other styles, particularly the laptop-like clamshell design, that offer a user experience that is slightly different but also a bit more flexible in its features. Of course, just because it looks like a mini laptop doesn’t mean it has to behave like one, and this particular handheld console concept stretches that design a bit further to transform a gaming device into a lifestyle product.

Designer: Viet Doan Duc

ORBIS, the name for this design concept, wouldn’t be the market’s first clamshell gaming handheld. Chinese brand GPD has been making such devices for years, and recently rival AYANEO even put out two designs for such a portable gaming machine, including one that tries to recreate the experience of the Nintendo DS. What ORBIS does differently, however, is how it gives as much attention on features that let users personalize the device’s appearance as on the specs that drive the use of the gaming computer.

One simple yet significant example is how the removable ABS cover on the lid lets you customize the appearance of the device while also opening the doors to branded accessories. While you can also just slap on stickers like you would on a laptop, this system is more flexible, allowing users to swap out covers depending on their mood or style, just like how you could easily switch cases on smartphones. There is also RGB lighting encircling the analog sticks, delivering not only a gamer aesthetic but also increased visibility in the dark.

The ORBIS handheld takes a bit of inspiration from the Nintendo DS with its second screen right below the gamepad controls, but it also goes beyond what Nintendo’s popular handheld could accomplish. Because it is a gaming PC more than a closed console system, that touch screen can be used for different purposes, including a virtual keyboard. The typing experience will be awkward and difficult, yes, but it’s significantly better than what’s offered on the likes of the Steam Deck and ROG Ally.

Admittedly, some parts of the ORBIS concept are a bit too idealistic, like the use of an ARM-based CPU (versus Intel or AMD) together with a high-end NVIDIA RTX graphics processor. Having two 5,200mAh batteries inside such a small and compact device is also unrealistic, without even considering things like thermal management and charging speeds. Of course, as a concept, it’s not wrong to sometimes shoot for the sky, and thankfully, some of the ideas here can actually be easily implemented, especially the parts that can significantly improve the user experience by simply allowing owners to customize their device to their hearts’ content.

The post Handheld gaming console concept offers lifestyle features that go beyond gaming first appeared on Yanko Design.