Wow, that is shortsighted. The Playdate development community has cultivated a sense of art and exploration in gamedev from AAA to indie devs that I haven't seen in a long time! (Or at least since the PICO--8.)

Eh.... I kind of agree with parent actually. This could easily have been a VM for phones and PCs the intended audience almost certainly already have. Instead it produces a niche product that I suspect will 40% be bought to look good on people's shelves, 20% with vague intention to develop for it that never gets realized so it ends up in a drawer like so many Raspberry Pis and Arduinos, and 90% will be in a landfill in 30 years.

I might have bought it in that case, but even though I know some of the developers listed for this thing are incredibly good, I just don't need more trinkets in my life personally, not even taking into account the environmental cost (which is admittedly relatively tiny).

No it's hand cranked plastic garbage.

I dunno, I'm holding one in my hands right now and it is a pretty solid li'l device with a cute plastic exterior and a unique input scheme.

You do realize that the crank isn't for charging it, right? It comes with a color-matched USB-C cable.