Nvidia's handheld Shield launches in June at $349
Nvidia's Android-powered handheld codenamed Project Shield will launch this June at the price of $349, now named simply Shield. Yes, that's $100 more than a PlayStation Vita. The big selling point is that it can stream proper PC games from your computer as well as running regular old Android games, but how much is that worth to you?
Nvidia's Android-powered handheld codenamed Project Shield will launch this June at the price of $349, now named simply Shield. Yes, that's $100 more than a PlayStation Vita. The big selling point is that it can stream proper PC games from your computer as well as running regular old Android games, but how much is that worth to you?
Shield is a mini console that combines a Xbox 360-style controller with a 5-inch, 720p, multi-touch, flip-up screen. It's powered by Nvidia's Tegra 4 mobile CPU/GPU combo with 2GB of RAM and the Jelly Bean version of Google's Android OS--plenty of muscle to run any Android app.
If you have a solid gaming PC too, you can stream games from it to Shield. It's the same sort of idea as OnLive and Gaiki, but only over local WiFi so the latency should be reasonable. The minimum spec to use that is an Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz CPU with 4GB of RAM and a GeForce 650 GTX. Streaming will only be in beta when Shield launches, so things may be wonky at first.
Pre-orders officially open on Monday, May 20, but anyone who signs up on the official site for notifications can from today. If they're happy to spend $349 blindly.
Nvidia has also invested in the Android microconsole Ouya.
Here's Nvidia in February, demonstrating streaming Borderlands 2 from Steam to Shield:
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replyAlice O'Connor posted a new article, Nvidia's handheld Shield launches in June at $349.
Nvidia's Android-powered handheld codenamed Project Shield will launch this June at the price of $349, now named simply Shield. Yes, that's $100 more than a PlayStation Vita. The big selling point is that it can stream proper PC games from your computer as well as running regular old Android games, but how much is that worth to you?-
I think this may be a good stake in the ground for Nvidia. It's only Tegra 4 device announced so far, and doing their own custom Android device like this shows the industry just how serious they are about mobile and mobile gaming. Basically, if your silicone has the chops to be a dedicated gaming device like this then you're good enough to be any mobile device (processing-wise at least).
The challenge will be getting mobile game developers to code specifically for the Tegra 4. Since this is the only device out there, that'll be a tough sell at first. Nvidia had pretty good luck with their Tega Zone and getting some developers to do THD versions. But, especially having the N7 be such a success helped move that along. We haven't heard of a similar start product to feature Tegra 4 yet to help drive developers to adopt.-
It just hit me that if the speakers on this thing don't suck, and since it's not a thin tablet design they're room for real drivers, the specs and micro sd suggest this thing could be a killer movie player. Although at 579 grams it's only slightly lighter than a 10" tablet with half the screen. So, maybe not.
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Since they can't subsidize with loyalty fees or game sales (unless Nvidia got into the game development/publishing business that is), they have to turn a profit on the hardware itself. That's a key difference between this and a normal console. Though, they should be able to drop the price pretty fast as the Tegra 4 chip becomes more common.
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Instant flop.
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To me this is an awesome proof of concept device but not something you put into production. This is something you show to tablet and phone manufacturers to entice them to use Tegra 4. If I could buy a tablet or phone that would let me play games remotely on my PC then I'd jump all over it. But I'm not going to pay $350 for a stand alone device.
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i think it's for toilet use, and playing android games.
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