22 replies to this topic

[bp9801]

NVIDIA held a press conference a bit ago to kick off CES. Two of the major things it announced were Tegra 4 and Project Shield.

 

 

 

 

Tegra 4 takes NVIDIA's mobile processor to a whole new level, with a quad-core Cortex-A15 processor plus a power-saving core, 72 GPU cores, and a built-in 4G LTE modem. That quad-core Cortex-A15 is the first one of its kind, while the power-saving core ensures the battery won't be drained when the device is in standy. The Tegra 4 is the fastest mobile processor available with web pages loading in an instant, but there is more to it than just pure speed. It allows for "one shot" HDR photography that can be applied while lining up the shot thanks to its computational photography architecture.

 

The real star of NVIDIA's show, however, was its new Android-powered gaming handheld: Project Shield. Project Shield has a Tegra 4 chip at its heart, with everything fitted into the controller. A 5" touchscreen at 1280x720 is attached to Shield, while the controller part has four face buttons, two bumper buttons, two triggers, a directional pad, and two analog sticks. There's also a mini HDMI port, full-size USB, microSD, and a headphone jack on the rear. At the center is an NVIDIA button surrounded by Start, Back, Volume, and Home buttons. The top corners contain a custom, bass-reflex, port tuned audio system to really get you into the action.

 

Project Shield functions just like any other Android device thanks to the touchsreen, so you can browse the web, chat with your friends, download apps from Google Play, watch movies, and more. Press the NVIDIA button, though,  and you're in gaming mode, with access to Android games, TegraZone games, and even PC games.

 

Project Shield can access your GeForce GTX-powered computer to play any installed games, even ones through Steam. The 802.11n 2x2 MIMO means near-instantenous streaming of all your games directly to Project Shield. Its HDMI port means you can hook it up to your TV and play games on the big screen. There were some slight technical difficulties during NVIDIA's press conference, but eventually Project Shield was playing games on a 4K TV.

 

http://shield.nvidia.com/

 

http://www.nvidia.co...-processor.html

 

 

[Knight_72]

Very nice, but they should rather be announcing a mainstream GK110 graphics card

[aaron6581230]

The Project Thor blunder was a bit amusing. :tongue:

 

Looks a bit chunky for a portable device. I hope the hinge design can rotate more than 90 degrees

[El_Capitan]

Now that is nice!

[IVIYTH0S]

Very neat concept, I'm interested to see if it takes hold or not.

[rivalary]

I like it.  I wonder if it will receive any Android updates after being released though :S

 

I'd still buy it though, as long as it isn't stupid expensive.

[bp9801]

Added NVIDIA's real-time demo video to the original post.

 

I like the idea of Project Shield, just curious how it'll fit into the pantheon of gaming systems already available. Not to mention the Android devices designed for gaming, like the Ouya. Like Aaron said, the tilt of the screen will be interesting to look out for, as I personally hope it can tilt a minimum of 130° with more being better.

[dr_bowtie]

If it works as they say and can access our Steam games and sync them thats going to be very nice...

 

That would be a big bonus not only to the Shield but to Steam. Steam sales will increase if this thing works....And as much as I love my PC I really like this idea...

[Black64]

Looks more like a concept, not something that would be useful in real life. Also i bet it starts at $1499.  But if the screen is 1920x1200 it would be worth a look.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Mostly agree with bowtie. If it really works well with Steam and other PC games, I'd give it a shot.

[AddictedGamer93]

Ehm, Galaxy S4 + Dualshock 3 with the phone mount anyone?

[Nephilumos]

Ehm, Galaxy S4 + Dualshock 3 with the phone mount anyone?

 

Minus the live streaming of your PC games over your home network (Assuming you've got a recent nVidia card).  That's really the only thing that piques my interest in this at all, and that's only marginally.