Nvidia Project Shield PC/Android handheld

[Kodeen]

(is GTX560 Ti above or below GTX650 ?).

I'm under the impression that it has to be in the 600 series, so not even a 590 would be eligible even though it would clearly be better than a 650. I guess there's something in the 600 series architecture that allows this to happen.

[Smashbox]

I wonder if it can just stream your PC's screen generally onto your TV. That might actually be a useful device if not too expensive (which it will be).

[Moraven]

So let me get this straight.

When I am at home, in direct vicinity to my (operational and turned on) $1500 PC, I can opt out of playing a game on the PC, with mouse and keyboard, and with headphones on and on my 22" LED monitor, and use a... game pad with a 7" screen attached to it. Instead.

Fuck me with a pickaxe, this might just be the most useless thing since the Apple product line.

The Wii U along with tablets have show people who like to game on the couch or in bed. For those that have no interest in a 3DS or Vita/PSP. And its probably directed more to the people who do not have $2000 invested into their PC and accessories.


I have tried WoW using a remote PC app and keyboard app (to mimic keypresses) that worked ok. Never got to full out playing with it on my phone, but it was enough to do treat or treating. :P

Now with a tablet, I should try this with Civ V. And Xcom. Have to find the keyboard app again, not in my google play anymore.

[gundato]

Yeah. While I think this approach is very flawed, I think they are on the right track.

What needs to be made is a hybrid of this and the magic flash stick android console from the other thread where we were taught that PC gaming is dead and mobile games are the future :p. Have the PC, but also have a simple receiver to allow the PC (games particularly, but obviously there would be benefits to media and Office and the like) to be streamed to the TV. But also have the option to do it to a handheld device. Because I know there are plenty of PC games I would rather play on my TV (and I can't always be arsed to move the PC over because I didn't set everything up with multiple display outputs in mind), and there are also some that I wouldn't mind playing on my tablet while watching TV with family or friends.

Obviously there are already solutions for this, but they are bootstrapped and very susceptible to high input delay. And an all-in-one solution would stand a decent chance of being adopted widely.

Maybe we'll never reach the point of being able to stream twitch shooters, but if we can reach the point that "most" gamers don't mind playing The Witcher 2 or even Dark Souls in this manner, it is a huge win.

[Shooop]

It could be useful for streaming games like XCOM and The Walking Dead. There are tons of games where input lag doesn't really matter.

Turn-based games? Adventure games without (strict) timing-related puzzles?

I know that I would LOVE to stream Civ4 onto my tablet and play a few rounds during a commercial break or something.

Oh those. Well with those I could see it being somewhat OK. But if that's the limits of its ability than it's not going anywhere financially. They even advertise action-heavy games on it which right now are still the most common of game types.

And when you consider it only works with computers that have one of nVidia's GeForce 600 series cards, I don't think it's likely many turn-based game fans will be picking one up. Don't get me wrong, they can have extraordinary engines, but the bulk of people who buy the latest video cards every year are "if my explosions aren't 60 FPS than I need a new rig" action-crazy gamers.

[gundato]

The card requirement shouldn't really bother anyone. It just means that early adopters will need to have a powerful system (and early adopters generally DO because they have more money than sense).

It is just like when PhysX cards came out. Everyone said "Oh my god, that is too expensive. Ewww". Then nVidia bought the company and started offering it via their modified architectures, and people still said "Oh my god, that is too expensive. Ewww". A few years later, those cards were cheap enough that now "everyone" has a GPU that can double as a physics processing unit.

[Finicky]

For real-time games.

Don't do this... there aren't that many turn based games and even those feel a lot better if the cursor doesn't lag behind and menus are responsive.

Noone should support anything with any sort of latency.

[Finicky]

I'm under the impression that it has to be in the 600 series, so not even a 590 would be eligible even though it would clearly be better than a 650. I guess there's something in the 600 series architecture that allows this to happen.

Yep , it's called profits.
Gota get those peasant gtx 580 users to upgrade ya know, who do they think they are using their 2 year old 500 dollar cards.

[Shooop]

The card requirement shouldn't really bother anyone. It just means that early adopters will need to have a powerful system (and early adopters generally DO because they have more money than sense).

It is just like when PhysX cards came out. Everyone said "Oh my god, that is too expensive. Ewww". Then nVidia bought the company and started offering it via their modified architectures, and people still said "Oh my god, that is too expensive. Ewww". A few years later, those cards were cheap enough that now "everyone" has a GPU that can double as a physics processing unit.

They're still not really cheap though. If you're gaming just fine with your old card would you really be willing to spend $200 for a new one that's only slightly better?

Yep , it's called profits.
Gota get those peasant gtx 580 users to upgrade ya know, who do they think they are using their 2 year old 500 dollar cards.

There actually may be a difference in the structure, because nVidia and ATI both make significant changes to their cards every year. And considering this device isn't going to be appropriate for the biggest game genre of all, FPSs, why the hell wouldn't they make it work on more than one series of their cards? It'd be like refusing to sell it to most people. And for this to take off, they need a crapton of sales because unlike PS3 and Xbox they can't make profits off software - the users already own the software.

[gundato]

They're still not really cheap though. If you're gaming just fine with your old card would you really be willing to spend $200 for a new one that's only slightly better?

If you want the feature, it is more than "slightly" better.

And the thing is: People do upgrade over time. It hasn't been as necessary the past few years, but people will do it over time. And this will be a nice benefit on the side.

Same with anyone buying a new computer in a year or two.

The ONLY real risk I see here is the controllery/display thing, and I am sure nVidia can absorb the losses on that. Everything else is just like most of their recent advances "We implemented architectural feature X, and it works for Y too. So let's advertise Y"

[Sketch]

Are AMD users boned or is it as long as you have a card that powerful?

[Feldspar]

Are AMD users boned or is it as long as you have a card that powerful?

Boned I guess, until someone back-hacks it and writes an AMD version that will fool it.

[Shooop]

Are AMD users boned or is it as long as you have a card that powerful?

It's made by nVidia, and PhysX is still bolted on to only their cards, so I can't see them offering any breaks for their competitor this time around either.

I could be wrong, but history's on my side unfortunately.

[Mohorovicic]

And its probably directed more to the people who do not have $2000 invested into their PC and accessories.

It's not like you're going to put Pentium II into a PC with GTX 650(or better).

And yeah, sure, there will be a demographic for this. Just like there is a demographic for Apple products. That's why we need World War 3.

[Moraven]

Ars looked at the Razor Edge tablet PC with a built on controller at CES.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/01/hands-on-with-the-razer-edge-a-mid-range-gaming-pc-stuffed-in-a-tablet/

Mentions Civ is playable completely with touch. Tho a bit different running it in Windows natively than streaming it from your PC through some Android app.

[Winged Nazgul]

Ars looked at the Razor Edge tablet PC with a built on controller at CES.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/01/hands-on-with-the-razer-edge-a-mid-range-gaming-pc-stuffed-in-a-tablet/

Mentions Civ is playable completely with touch. Tho a bit different running it in Windows natively than streaming it from your PC through some Android app.

Looks like you can play Dishonored fine on medium settings:

http://instagram.com/p/UO8c5_JKQ5/

[Shooop]

The Razor Edge actually might conceivably go places. Not a bad collection of hardware and not an unreasonable price. But No one's said anything about its weight though and no one has said anything about that yet.

[Moraven]

NVIDIA got Bohemia to develop an ARMA turn based strategy game for this console.

http://www.bistudio.com/english/games/arma-tactics

Potentially could be released to other platforms.

[Berzee]

/sigh
Can't we just get someone to make an updated version of the Power Glove? I love that thing.
It's so bad.

[Mohorovicic]

Yeah, at least POWER GLOVE was rad.