AppleInsider Staff
Nvidia surprised on Monday by unveiling a new device dubbed "Project Shield," a hybrid game console with a dedicated controller and screen that runs Android and can wirelessly stream PC games.
The Project Shield hardware is powered by the company's newly revealed Tegra 4 mobile processor, which is a quad-core chip based on ARM's Cortex A15 reference design. Apple's iPhone and iPad also feature low-power ARM chips.
On its own, Project Shield plays Android games from the Google Play store on its dedicated 5-inch screen. The device can also stream games from a Windows PC powered by Nvidia GeForce GTX GPUs, including titles on Valve's popular Steam platform.
"Project Shield was created by Nvidia engineers who love to game and imagined a new way to play," said Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer at Nvidia. "We were inspired by a vision that the rise of mobile and cloud technologies will free us from our boxes, letting us game anywhere, on any screen. We imagined a device that would do for games what the iPod and Kindle have done for music and books, letting us play in a cool new way. We hope other gamers love Shield as much as we do."
Android titles optimized for Project Shield will also be available on Nvidia's TegraZone game store. Streaming Windows PC games requires an Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 or higher.
The device's 5-inch touchscreen has a 1,280 by 720 display packing in 294 pixels per inch. Nvidia referred to the screen as a "retinal" display, clearly taking influence from Apple's own Retina display branding for pixel-packed screens.
Pricing and availability of Project Shield was not announced by Nvidia on Monday, but the company did say at the Consumer Electronics Show that the hardware is expected to ship in the second quarter of 2013.
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
35 Comments
Note that the OS is the most recent version Jellybean as would be expected.
I don't get the "streaming Windows PC games" part. I presume they mean stream PC games to this device? But why? If you've got a PC with a GeForce GTX 650, you've already got everything you need to play PC games on a PC. Either way, it sounds even less intriguing than competing handheld consoles like he Sony PlayStation Vita and the Nintendo 3DS. And the portable console market is struggling to find footing against rival smartphones and tablets. I predict an uphill battle for this device, if it is going to market.
Apple's lawyers start your engines...
Probably more a challenge for PS Vita and 3DS than Apple.
Re: "Pricing and availability of Project Shield was not announced by Nvidia on Monday..." This is the problem with CES (and yearly legacy trade shows in general.) CES happens every January, whether or not your products are ready. No, it's not a consumer-focused show. More of an industry insider show. But it doesn't help that CES is scheduled 1 month after the end of the big holiday season and 10 months before the start of the next big holiday season.