The Space Invaders: My Play Watch is a simple smartwatch with one big trick.
It lets you play retro games on your wrist, and it's crowdfunding right now.
As team-ups go, this wasn't one we saw coming – retro gaming giant Taito, the originator of Space Invaders decades ago, has teamed up with a small design studio to create a unique smartwatch.
The Space Invaders: My Play Watch is crowdfunding through Kickstarter now, starting from just $60/£45 for a watch, but it's not quite as simple as that price point might suggest. While you could think this is just a low-cost smartwatch with some Space Invaders branding, you'd be wrong.
The watch, in fact, actually hosts a specially designed version of Space Invaders that you can play right there on your wrist, using either the watch's touch screen or the little dial on one of its sides (one of a few Apple Watch-like touches). This makes it perhaps one of the smallest retro game consoles we've ever encountered.
With a few different colours of watch available to pick from, and each coming with a pair of themed straps, it's certainly not a very stealthy option. That said, it's also a celebration of one of the most famous games ever, so who cares?
Aside from its gaming chops, the watch is interestingly disconnected – it does have a 1.68-inch screen and looks for all the world like an Apple Watch, but it won't connect to your phone and therefore isn't one for notifications or being able to reply to messages or anything like that.
Rather, it'll collect some health data that you can review only on the watch itself, making for a really minimalistic approach compared to most other wearables at the moment, which tend to pack in as many features as possible. Of course, this could also be about keeping costs down to ensure that the price being asked isn't too off-putting.
That early bird price doesn't last much longer, though, and will hop up to $75/£57 once the first 48 hours of crowdfunding are over. It's already surged past its funding goal, though, meaning there's clearly enough of an audience to see it hit full production.
