Nvidia reveals "Project Shield" handheld, PC games on the go

[Lady Lilith]

http://www.wired.co..../project-shield

Nvidia challenges Sony and Nintendo with its own 'Project Shield' console

By Nate Lanxon

07 January 13

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At CES in Las Vegas, Nvidia has thrown the gauntlet down in front of Sony and Nintendo by unveiling its own games console -- "Project Shield".

The handheld system, which bears a striking resemblance to an Xbox 360 controller with a five-inch touchscreen glued to its face, features the chip-maker's just-announced Tegra 4 mobile processor inside. It runs on the Android operating system, making it compatible with the vast catalogue of games and apps available on Google's platform, and it can connect with compatible Windows PCs so gamers can play Skyrim and Assassin's Creed on the couch.

It was a complete surprise when Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang unveiled it here in Las Vegas, but in so many ways it's an exciting new system for gamers and Android users alike. It takes some key attractions of Android -- low-cost games, an open ecosystem for developers, an established marketplace -- and blends it with Nvidia's most powerful mobile processor inside a chassis that's designed for gaming, rather than on-screen D-pads and buttons.

That combination opens the doors to developers who want to make high-end games for the Android platform, but feel creatively restricted by the touchscreen controls offered by smartphones.

Project Shield (it's codename; a real name hasn't been decided upon yet) has the potential to sidestep Sony's dilemma with the PS Vita -- reasonably priced high-end hardware, but with costly games -- and marry it to the established Android community of developers and publishers. That's a win-win scenario for customers.

Or it could be a big dull dud. But a big dull dud that inspires competing manufacturers to make their own Nvidia-powered gaming hardware with similar form factors, which the skeptic in me believes is the more realistic outcome. Project Shield, in its current form, strikes me of a brilliant proof-of-concept product, but something that exists to show hardware makers what such a product could function like. Microsoft did it with the Surface tablet because it felt it needed a flagship product to show the world what Windows 8 could do; Google does it with its flagship Nexus smartphones for similar reasons.

What the real deal-breaker will be is price, which is currently unknown. Release dates are similarly vague -- sometime in the summer is likely. But Project Shield is certainly causing a stir at CES and it's a stir I'm looking forward to getting in on when I have the chance to play with one on the show floor later this week. Watch this space

This could be interesting...always wanted to play PC games on the go. I just hope that I can connect if to my PC...or maybe download the games to the handheld? Can you tell I'm not really a PC gamer?

Edit-After reading through some of an update, it appears compatible PCs will have to have GeForce video cards...I guess. Whatever GeForce equipped means. Pretty sure it's video cards, but needing a certain video card to stream games sounds weird.

Edited January 8, 2013 by gamerm1337

[Kirbz]

this could be interresting. I MIGHT get this, depending on how it turns out.

[Artemisthemp]

A good article about Project Shield http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/01/06/ces-2013-nvidia-announces-project-shield-handheld-gaming-console-running-pure-android/

Been able to play Steam game from my bed would be very intresting