Nvidia Announces "Project SHIELD" Portable Gaming Device

[lancar]

Wow..

This thing sounds so... uninteresting.
I thought the dedicated handheld fad had both come and was on its way out, what with phones taking over their roles left and right.

 

[Griffolion]

I don't think this will take off unless NV have huge developer support. It's one of those things that I'm really going to have to see to believe regarding its success.

The most interesting part of the whole thing is the Tegra 4 chipset. That thing is an utter beast based off the specs, and the re-programmable baseband modem is a stroke of pure genius, and a great helping hand for device makers wanting to make "world phones" (IE phones that can work on any telco/baseband across the world).

 

[Smooth Operator]

Also would be cool if they could make a deal with Steam. If I could take my Steam library with me on the run, I'll almost certainly get one.

Well it wouldn't do much good because the OS is Android Jelly Bean, so at best this will support local streaming and Android games, at worst not even those.
Really the best they can do at this point is team up with the OUYA guys and push for some proper Android games.

to play PC games away from home

Sadly no, this will only work within a very limited range of your special hardware PC.

 

[shado_temple]

to play PC games away from home

Sadly no, this will only work within a very limited range of your special hardware PC.

Well, that makes it slightly less fun. A cool idea, to be sure, but I was hoping for more of their GRID idea worked into just having the "server" be your gaming PC on a decent connection.

 

[Petromir]

to play PC games away from home

Sadly no, this will only work within a very limited range of your special hardware PC.

Well, that makes it slightly less fun. A cool idea, to be sure, but I was hoping for more of their GRID idea worked into just having the "server" be your gaming PC on a decent connection.

Thats where they'd like to take it in the future, buth they are starting small.

THis looks more interesting than the OUYA in many ways, Higher spec, streams to the TV (at a higher resolution).

It will likely cost more, but that looks to be bringing quite a lot of extra function for that.

 

[Doom972]

The biggest problem I have with the current concept, is that while it would be able run some PC games, it seems like it won't support Steam or even retail copies of games, which means I'll have to buy these games again to play them.

Also, I like it better when the left stick and D-Pad are swapped, like in the X-box controller.

I don't expect it to be very good, but I do wonder how it will end up.

Except that it will support Steam. During the CES presentation they debuted this in, the little guy ran Steam's Big Picture mode, both on the attached screen and on a connected 4K TV.

OT: I would love to pick this up, if it weren't for the fact that the streaming won't be supported by my non-Kepler NVIDIA card. I just can't justify putting up enough cash to both pick it up for however much they'll charge for it, along with an upgrade to my GTX 580, to play PC games away from home.

Thanks, I missed that part. Now I'm kind of excited for it.

 

[Carrots_macduff]

The problem, for me at least, is I've yet to find an android game that I've wanted to play for more than five minutes at a time.

thats probably because basically every android game is designed from the ground up assuming that the player doesnt have a controller. im hopeful that all the wireless bluetooth controllers and things like this will encourage android and perhaps even ios developers to can the idea that a game for a touchscreen device needs to be made for touchscreen controls.

 

[Carrots_macduff]

Also would be cool if they could make a deal with Steam. If I could take my Steam library with me on the run, I'll almost certainly get one.

Well it wouldn't do much good because the OS is Android Jelly Bean, so at best this will support local streaming and Android games, at worst not even those.

i dont see why it wouldnt support android games, it says standalone games will be served via google play, and im sure that nvidia will endeavor to make at least some of google plays library compatible, they would be silly not to. this would be great for emulators for example.

 

[AlwaysPractical]

I'm really interested to see how this pans out. Also interesting is that it allows you to stream games wirelessly from your pc if you have an nvidia card, letting your comp do the actual processing. So, like the Wii U kinda I guess? The ability for someone else to use your comp while you enjoy crysis 3 at a decent fps in 720p? I can appreciate that.

What will make or break this thing for me is the battery life. Also, the article is a bit wrong, the GPU will be 72-core, the CPU will be quad core Tegra 4.

 

[Souplex]

So, in the 8th Generation, Alone, we have the WiiU and 3DS from Nintendo, the Eventual PS4 and the PSVita from Sony, the eventual Xbox 720 from Microsoft, 2 Android Consoles, the Steam Box, and now a Nvidia console? It feels like my fears are coming true: We're entering a new "Everyone can enter the Console race!" era. We all know how well that worked out [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_game_consoles_(second_generation)] the last time... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983]

To be fair, that also happened in the early 90s. We had the SNES and Genesis, but we also had whatever Atari shat out, the TurboGrafX, the CDI, and a few others.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

To be fair, that also happened in the early 90s. We had the SNES and Genesis, but we also had whatever Atari shat out, the TurboGrafX, the CDI, and a few others.

True, but unlike the 90's, there were only 2/3 companies who could actually compete and most of these other consoles weren't really expected to be big sellers.

Unlike the 90's, every console I just listed is a real contender: The Ouya, that Controller Android Console, the Steam Box, and this are serious. With everyone's love of Valve, and the fact that the Ouya and CAC have proven themselves via Kickstarter, this is not in comparison to the 90's as it is a comparison to the 80's. Yes, Atari was on top in the 80's, but it still faced formidable foes from every company with a video game console (So much so that Atari launched a 2nd console to compete with these consoles as well as they're own). The 8th Generation Flood of Consoles could really be damaging to the Video Game Industry...

 

[plainlake]

I think it could be cool, got to know what it can Actually do first for me to get really hyped though.

 

[likalaruku]

Option A: Curl up in bed & lose a few minutes of sleep playing a few before-bedtime casual games.

Option B: Get this & curl up in bed & lose hours of sleep with a few before-bedtime hardcore games.

 

[MetalMagpie]

Ouch! Sorry OUYA. Looks like someone else is bring an android console to market. And this one can both plug into your TV and is portable.