# nVidia's Project SHIELD



## warfreak (Jan 10, 2013)

Portable Handheld PC Gaming | NVIDIA Project Shield



Quadcore Cortex A15 running @ 1.9 Ghz and a "72" core Nvidia Tegra 4 GPU... 

Any daydream I had of getting a PSVita had been bludgeoned to death by this beast.

Srry if this has already been posted here..


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## ico (Jan 11, 2013)

btw honestly, handheld gaming is dead. PS Vita is a flopshow and same is going to be the case with this one. Mobile phones rule them all.



warfreak said:


> "72" core Nvidia Tegra 4 GPU...


Core count for GPUs don't matter. Some companies directly call 1 SIMD as 1 core and some companies call a group of SIMDs as 1 core. What matters is the FPS.

The current ULP Geforce in Tegra 3 has "12" cores. Why is PowerVR SGX543MP4 which has "4" cores* 3x faster than Tegra 3?

As far as GPUs are concerned, 1 core for company #1 != 1 core for company #2.

Even then you can never know the performance looking at the SIMD count.

* = as per marketing/company.


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## vickybat (Jan 11, 2013)

I don't think project shield will be a flop show by any degree. It will push developers to build quality games for android platform and its already starting to show. Considering new soc's in the horizon with gpu's having unified shader architecture and supporting latest api's, this is a bold step in the right direction. On a big level, all platforms will benefit from this.

Handheld gaming is far from being dead and a controller design works better any day than a touch interface while gaming.
Its just the way its meant to be played.


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## gameranand (Jan 11, 2013)

Handheld gaming is not dead but now it is more of a mobile and tablet gaming.


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## ico (Jan 11, 2013)

gameranand said:


> Handheld gaming is not dead but *now it is more of a mobile and tablet gaming.*


that's what I said. 

This thing is dead on arrival. Just like PS Vita was.


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## gameranand (Jan 12, 2013)

ico said:


> that's what I said.
> 
> This thing is dead on arrival. Just like PS Vita was.



I know, that was for bat.


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## Neo (Jan 12, 2013)

Some things are designed to fail. Project Shield is one such thing.


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## gameranand (Jan 12, 2013)

^^ Actually its not right time to release these handheld gaming only devices.


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## Neo (Jan 12, 2013)

If you ask me, playing 3D FPS on a handheld mobile device is a pita, since most users prefer 3.5-4.5 inch screen.


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## vickybat (Jan 12, 2013)

Neo said:


> If you ask me, playing 3D FPS on a handheld mobile device is a pita, since most users prefer 3.5-4.5 inch screen.



Shield has a 5 inch screen. 



gameranand said:


> ^^ Actually its not right time to release these handheld gaming only devices.



No anand its not about timing but expanding a platform the right way. 
Android gaming needed a push and think this as that. Its not like nvidia has developed the tegra 4 only for shield.
Tegra 4 will eventually find its way into a plethora of devices. So if a capable handheld exists, you will get more quality titles.


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## gameranand (Jan 12, 2013)

As a android extension its good but as a standalone gaming device its a fail.


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## vickybat (Jan 12, 2013)

gameranand said:


> As a android extension its good but as a standalone gaming device its a fail.



Its fail or not only time's gonna tell. Too early to comment now. 
If priced right, it could be a steal. Don't forget that this can also be used as a tablet device coz it runs android in the background unlike ps vita.
So you have a 5 inch screen , an extremely capable controller design, powerful hardware under the hood and can be connected to your desktop pc wirelessly to stream game content.

If nvidia supports its cloud based *GRID* gaming servers in this, it might be nothing short of revolutionary. Just check the ingame quality of "broken sword" and "reality boxing".
The 2nd one is present in IOS but runs much sharper and better in shield. Broken sword is a devil may cry style hack and slash with console quality graphics.
The software library is expected to grow at unprecedented levels coz of android's huge developer base + nvidia's in-house developing unit for tegrazone.

The pricing just has to be right for this one to take off.

Nvidia’s Project Shield Can Succeed Even If It Fails

Nvidia’s Project Shield Is Impressive, But Not Perfect

nvidia-project-shield-right-on-time

So there you have it. Its not destined to fail but has huge potential.

Just check the ingame quality :



Spoiler



[YOUTUBE]HOHNmzz1gYo[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]4jiTe8XYRKw[/YOUTUBE]



Btw both *EPIC GAMES* and *UBISOFT* has shown great interest in project shield and will develop for it. 

And this sums everything:


Spoiler






> Some people might have preferred a different kind of hardware from Nvidia — say, a standalone tablet with an attachable game controller — but a dedicated gaming device is the best way to get things rolling. It sends the message that gaming is the main focus, and provides extra incentive for developers to build Tegra-optimized games for physical controllers.
> 
> And really, that’s the goal. Nvidia needs to legitimize Android gaming and show people that Tegra-powered devices are the best way to play. Eventually, that translates to more sales of its processors.
> 
> ...


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## warfreak (Jan 12, 2013)

I wouldn't call a console dead on arrival before it is even released. 
As opposed to PSVita, shield has an advantage of an already established developer-base releasing quality android titles.
I admit some features are a bit silly.(why on earth would someone "stream" games from their 1080p capable gtx powered PCs to a small 720p capable screen??) but still this device shows plenty of promise.


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## ico (Jan 13, 2013)

Even this device showed a lot of promise and then failed. Sony didn't attempt a similar device again and they went back to creating simple phones. - Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY - Full phone specifications

Whatever happened to it will happen to this Shield.

Handheld gaming was ruled by Nintendo anyway and now handheld consoles are redundant.


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## vickybat (Jan 13, 2013)

Comparing xperia play with shield is like comparing apples to oranges honestly. Play was never marketed as a game console but a mobile phone.
Its specifications were also substandard. I mean adreno 205 for gaming = LOL. 

Btw nintendo isn't the only company to taste success in handheld gaming. The original psp was highly successful too owing to its huge library of quality titles.
We can say psp almost b*t*h-slapped nintendo on its face and showed what serious handheld gaming was all about.
PS-VITA also has tremendous potential but sales did not take off owing to its lackluster library of games. Only a few titles worth considering till now like uncharted golden abyss.

Its not completely out of equation though but has chances of revival with price cuts and some good titles from both first and third party developers. 

Shield is yet another move to put some sense in people that touch isn't the right way to enjoy quality titles but a controller is and always was.
Now we can finally see some quality games being developed for android.

These will run much better and most importantly play much better on shield:

*play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gameloft.android.ANMP.GloftWBHM
*play.google.com/store/apps/details...id.ANMP.GloftKRHM&feature=more_from_developer

Besides shield can also do everything a conventional tablet can coz it runs on pure android with no custom UI or skins. 
The ability to stream games from PC is just an add-on and can also be handy  for a lot of users who want to enjoy games on their big 1080p displays 
in their livingrooms while the game is actually being rendered in their desktop pcs , lets say in their bedroom. Pretty cool imo.

More possibilities when cloud gaming becomes mainstream and Nvidia's GRID server will play a huge part.


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## ico (Jan 13, 2013)

vickybat said:


> Comparing xperia play with shield is like comparing apples to oranges honestly. Play was never marketed as a game console but a mobile phone.
> Its specifications were also substandard. I mean adreno 205 for gaming = LOL.


Xperia Play's specs were fine for its time. It was marketed for its physical controls being the real way of enjoying games. Too bad it pooped.

People want iPads now.


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## JojoTheDragon (Jan 13, 2013)

Good collection of exclusives can save it, provided companies foresee a good future for the device.......no ?


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