Lilbits: Playdate’s growing game catalog, Zotac’s ZBOX PRO eGPU, and Framework’s firmware woes

The Playdate is an unusual and ambitious handheld game console. The $199 console has a 1-bit display and a set of simple controls that includes a hand crank. Instead of enabling support for existing games, the folks behind the Playdate partnered with indie game developers to create a bunch of new games for the console, and the first titles were released as parts of “seasons.”

But last year Playdate also launched a game store called the Catalog, where developers can sell individual games. At launch there were only 16 games in the Catalog, but over the past year that number has grown to 181 games with an average price of $5.36, and customers have made over 150 thousand purchases. The numbers are pretty small by Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft standards, but they seem to be good enough to show that the Playdate’s ecosystem continues to grow two years after the console began shipping.

Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.

Playdate Catalog Report 2024 [@playdate]

A year after launching a game store for the Playdate, Panic says it’s reached 181 titles and devs have earned half a million dollars from about 150K game purchases.

Framework’s software and firmware have been a mess, but it’s working on them [Ars Technica]

Framework has largely delivered on its hardware promises, with a series of modular, repairable, and upgradeable laptops. But the company has struggled with firmware updates. Framework hopes to change that moving forward.

Zotac launches ZBOX PRO External Graphics Box series [Zotac]

Zotac’s new PRO External Graphics Box systems look like mini PCs, but theyse 185 x 185 x 65mm boxes are Thunderbolt 3-compatible external graphics docks with up to a 115-watt NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada GPU.

Nothing’s new earbuds prove that it can (mostly) hang with the heavyweights [The Verge]

$149 Nothing Ear true wireless earbuds launch with updated sound profile, longer battery life, along with cheaper $99 Nothing Ear (a). Both have active noise cancellation and IP54 rated, but the $149 buds have wireless charging & some extra features.

Keep up on the latest headlines by following @liliputing_liliputing.com on Mastodon (or @[email protected]). You can also follow Liliputing on X and Facebook. We’re also on Bluesky now, but just barely.