The show must go on

The 2021 incarnation of the greatest show on gaming Earth – the place where technical envelopes are traditionally pushed, where we expect the bleeding edge of interactive entertainment to be annually redefined – began with 1bit graphics on a 400x240 display. Yet the notion of Playdate opening the festivities at what we will charitably call E3 2021 was not as inappropriate as it first appeared. This was never going to be your dad’s E3, of course; COVID-19 saw to that. But so did the avalanche of publishers, media organisations and event companies that saw an opportunity to muscle in on a disrupted timetable, and hog a little of the biggest spotlight in games. The result was the busiest public schedule E3 has ever seen – and, at times, one of the dullest.

Indeed, Playdate’s 15-minute broadcast was one of the week’s highlights, snappily paced and bringing only good news to those eagerly awaiting Panic’s charming – and charmingly silly – handheld. The first ‘season’ of games has doubled in size, from 12 titles to 24; among those now developing games for the system are and creator Lucas Pope. The breezy, browser-based development platform was shown off for the first time, and there is a dock with a pen holder, because of course there is. There are those who find Playdate, and the