Oakland Company launches $49 Game Console that Teaches you to Code

OAKLAND, Calif., May 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Remaining true to PocketC.H.I.P.'s hackable nature, you'll be able to do way more than just play the hundreds of community-made PICO-8 games. With one click of a button, you can jump to the built-in game-changing tools to modify characters, levels, sound effects, music, and even the source code - no prior skill required.  Reload the game and it's playable immediately with your changes.

Want to run faster, jump higher, and live longer? Changing one line of the source code can fundamentally change the game. Because PICO-8 is built with Lua, an industry standard programming language, every time you change the source code, you are learning real-world programming skills. Combined with step by step tutorials from the active and vibrant PICO-8, anyone with a PocketC.H.I.P. can make their own game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3qkdB5bzLY

"We always knew people would use PocketC.H.I.P. to play games, but we wanted to give them something more. The moment we found PICO-8 we knew it was the perfect fit," said Dave Rauchwerk, CEO of Next Thing Co. "Taking things apart was how we all fell in love with engineering.  PICO-8 is unique because you can do more than just play games, you can take them apart and see how they work.  We hope PocketC.H.I.P. and PICO-8 helps today's future engineers fall in love with craft the same way we did."

Next Thing Co. has partnered with Lexaloffle Games to offer PICO-8 ($15 value) for free on all PocketC.H.I.P.s.

"I'm excited to see what the PocketC.H.I.P. crowd will do with PICO-8," said Joseph White, owner of Lexaloffle Games. "It's a perfect fit for PICO-8's central goal of providing an accessible, cute platform for hacking and making things just for the joy of it."

PocketC.H.I.P. is available for pre-order for just $49 only at getchip.com.  Pre-orders are estimated to ship in June.

About Next Thing Co.
Based in Oakland, CA and Shenzhen, China, Next Thing Company is a collection of artists, architects, scientists and filmmakers making $9 computers and the software that powers them. Among their products are C.H.I.P., the world's first $9 computer and PocketC.H.I.P., a $49 C.H.I.P.-powered handheld console. Contact Richard Reininger, [email protected].

About Lexaloffle Games
Lexaloffle is the home of computer games and fantasy consoles made by Joseph White, whose principal mission is to seek out and explore mathematically cute sets of rules that somehow give rise to thematically cute game worlds. Lexaloffle is located at Pico Pico Cafe in Kichijouji, Tokyo. Pico operates as a public cafe in the weekends and also hosts a monthly show-and-tell event for designers called Picotachi. If you find yourself in Tokyo looking for somewhere to write code or push pixels, or you just want to say hi, please drop by! Contact Joseph White at [email protected].

Learn more at getchip.com.

Photos:
http://www.prlog.org/12554455

Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE Next Thing Co.