NVIDIA announces gaming console

[Thrik]

lol wat.

http://m.kotaku.com/5973641/nvidia-out-of-nowhere-announces-a-new-gaming-handheld?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

I guess this'll be the first pure Android handheld with solid hardware, but will the game quality be good enough for people to justify carrying such a device around? Or perhaps it's targeted more at home users like the Wii U. Whatever the case, weird to see NVIDIA being the ones doing this.

[Jetsetlemming]

Handhelds are not consoles. This actually makes sense: The Tegra platform has gotten really mature, and awesome. I've got a Nexus 7 tablet, which runs on a Tegra 3, and it's actually a surprisingly powerful device, but touchscreen only controls severely limit what kind of games realistically work well. This device, especially with its tie-in to PC applications, actually sounds really sweet to me. Access to the existing PC and Android markets means that you don't really have to worry about a niche bit of tech going unsupported by publishers, too.

[knj]

But after Vita, didn't we just learned that handholders are pretty much dead ?

And why da hell this looks like Xbox game pad ?!

[FrieChamp]

But after Vita, didn't we just learned that handholders are pretty much dead ?

And why da hell this looks like Xbox game pad ?!

Since it taps into the Android and PC game libraries nVidia is not making the mistake to expect developers to port existing games or even create titles specifically designed for their new platform. But with the Ouya, new Microsoft & SONY consoles AND even Valve cooking up their own hardware for the living room (not even mentioning the smartphone/tablet competition) I remain skeptical about this taking off.

[Thrik]

Handhelds are not consoles.

Any gaming-centric device is a games console, that's the term historically by the industry and retailers alike. I guess all these new contenders are starting to make 'device' a popular term though, seeing as so many of them now do so much more.

It's quite a messy area when you think about it. If this is pure Android, that means it'll probably have all the other mobile stuff it has to offer — but do you class it as a gaming machine that does some extra stuff, or a tablet with gaming controls? And what about the Ouya? Is that an Android PC that happens to have a game pad and gaming-orientated apps pre-installed or can we call it an honest-to-god games console?

I don't know, I'm just going to let the incoming wave of hardware come and I'll try to ride it as best I can. One thing's for sure, though: my days of buying every major games console pretty much out of principle are over.

[knj]

I'm still consered that handheld gaming is shit, it starting to get AAA - with poor graphics (in compare with PC / curent gen consoles) the games are very expensive (as much as regular games) and if i want to play a big AAA game i want to play it in front of my 50 LCD in a comfortable couch not with 10inch small box in my hand. Hand holders would be OK with just casual games (like it was 1 milion years ago) at this point the games are to expensive, and are not giving me as much fun as it should for this cash.

What i'm saying is that handheld's are going in wrong direction. as far as i see it

[AlexM]

Is that actually what it's going to look like? That's Hideous.

I'm in the small minority of about 20 people who actually love the Vita.

[Thrik]

I'm still consered that handheld gaming is shit, it starting to get AAA - with poor graphics (in compare with PC / curent gen consoles) the games are very expensive (as much as regular games) and if i want to play a big AAA game i want to play it in front of my 50 LCD in a comfortable couch not with 10inch small box in my hand. Hand holders would be OK with just casual games (like it was 1 milion years ago) at this point the games are to expensive, and are not giving me as much fun as it should for this cash.

What i'm saying is that handheld's are going in wrong direction. as far as i see it

I agree with most of this, although I think what you say is mostly limited to Sony (and now NVIDIA). Nintendo has been getting handheld gaming right for many years, with lots of games that're perfectly suited to quick sessions during train journeys, etc rather than trying to squeeze full-blown home console experiences into a small package like Sony.

Still, I think people are still generally moving away from dedicated handheld devices simply because their existing devices (phones, MP3 players, etc) can do so much. Who wants to carry a big 3DS or Vita around when they have a relatively powerful iPhone or tablet that can provide fun mobile-optimised gaming experiences? There's always the 'you need buttons and thumbsticks' argument, but do many people really want to play games that need those while on the move? Plus let's not forget that people on the move often have limited pocket room, so carrying these things around is impractical.

One thing I can say is that I don't see many people using handheld gaming devices, and I use public transport all the time. Playing games on phones sure, but it's a rare occasion that I see a 3DS or Vita out in the wild. And I suspect that even when people do have such devices, they probably use them mostly at home anyway.

Companies like Sony and Nintendo would be far better off concentrating efforts into funding excellent games for Android and iOS — and any other mobile platforms that become ultra-widespread in the future — rather than putting all their effort into making their own hardware. Lots of people would love to play the games they publish or develop, but aren't willing to invest in or carry their dedicated hardware too. Of course we know this'll never happen.

One thing I did like in recent years: that Sony-backed phone that was a proper Android phone but also had reasonable gaming controls that could pop out. That was an excellent compromise and I'd love to see more phones and games incorporate such an approach. That's the only thing that makes a huge difference between phones/tablets and handheld consoles: it's very limiting when only touchscreen interaction is possible.

[AlexM]

On the other hand back in Canada I saw a ton of people using Ipads on the bus. Those things are ridiculously bulky.

Here in Japan I see 3DS'es out in the wild everywhere. Mainly by people under the age of 30 though and from that 80% is under 18. It's obviously just a Japan thing but they are selling very well here.

I personally hate touch phones for the exact reason they don't have decent game input. Because of that I always just get the cheapest phone I can get because outside of maybe astrid tasks there's nothing that interests me. I just take my Vita or NDS with me when travelling. The Sony phone does appeal to me and the fact that the Sony portable SDK's now simultaneously target both the phone and the Vita from the same codebase might hopefully lead to them having decent games that use the controller too, Time will have to tell on that one.

Edited January 7, 2013 by AlexM

[Warby]

wow didnt see that one coming ...

if it required its own software to be specifically made for this device i would yell " DEAD ON ARRIVAL" now .... but having it play existing pc software is pretty clever so i remain cautiously optimistic.

i will argue for eternity that people will only ever carry 1 device with them so it better be a phone too and this thing does not appear to be which is a huge knock against it !

i am just starting to notice that with the advent of the tablet devices now everyone tries to merge our phones our gamecontrollers and our handheld gaming devices into on ... but i welcome this trend to be honest.

this thing and the wii u controller appear more and more like "baby steps" towards the onlive/gaikai esque future ... render the intensive shit somewhere stationary powerful and play/watch it on your mobile/gamepad/tablet/handheld device. ( we need a proper word for these kind of devices now ! ^^ ) maybe if this and the wii u are successful enough apple will software patch in this kind of functionality for its macs too:

wii_u ---------------> wii_tablet

windows_pc ------> nvidia_thingy

mac ----------------> ipad

[Skjalg]

Where does it say it can play existing pc software? As far as I understand it can only run android games, and even those probably has to be ported to use the the new kind of input controllers that this thing has. Hopefully it will be very similar to ouya in that regard. But I am not optimistic about this.

[FrieChamp]

Where does it say it can play existing pc software? As far as I understand it can only run android games, and even those probably has to be ported to use the the new kind of input controllers that this thing has. Hopefully it will be very similar to ouya in that regard. But I am not optimistic about this.

It streams the PC games.

Project Shield can instantly download Android games, including Android-optimized titles available on Nvidia's TegraZone game store. It can also be used as a wireless game receiver to a nearby PC equipped with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 GPU or higher.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-01-07-nvidia-introduces-new-gaming-console

[Thrik]

Basically a PC-based Wii U. Interesting, I didn't catch that before...!

[Pampers]

ngage2

[Minos]

ngage2

lol my thoughts exactly.

The device itself looks pretty ugly... it kind of reminds me of those shitty chinese Tetris handhelds from the 80s. But on the other hand it's gonna be pretty easy to make games for this so it could end up being a great alternative for small studios/teams.

Let's just hope it's priced at 100 bux or so, cause otherwise there's no way this will compete with the 3DS.