Nvidia annnounces Shield Android console at GDC

[Rangers]

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/03/shield-set-top-box/

Well, GAF hates this thing. Me, I tend to be intrigued by Android consoles for whatever reason, I still think one done right could be interesting. Although one has to assume this one will die a similar death to the others, who knows, one day one could catch on.

This also is positioned as a (expensive) Fire TV or Apple TV analogue. A netflix box.

This also really pushes the cool, small, and quiet aspects. It's powered by Nvidia's Tegra X1 chip, which they rate at 520 Gflops GPU. 3 GB RAM.

Another interesting angle of discussion IMO is this could have been a great tech for the Wii U. It's much more powerful, smaller and slimmer, less power draw. Of course too be fair to Nintendo, Wii U will be 2.5 years old by the time this releases.

They are pushing the streaming aspect heavily as well, which IMO is a turnoff. I'd rather they push the dedicated consoles aspects more (but then, it'd probably be vastly overshadowed by the more powerful HD twins I guess).

-Android TV compatible game console. Has access to Google Play for media and also Nvidia's own "Shield Store" for quality games.
-Considerably more powerful than the Xbox 360 in a slim, whisper quiet package.
-Controller has a 40 hour battery life and comes with the console.
-Costs $199 and launches in May alongside 50 games in the store.
-Titles like Crysis 3, Borderlands the Prequel, Metal Gear Solid Revengeance, Half Life 2 and more were shown.
-Can stream 4K video content.
-Remote and packaged controller have microphones so you can use voice search.

In addition it also access to Nvidia's new streaming service "Nvidia Grid".
-Is able to stream up to 1080p/60fps (Requires a 50MBs connection at that level).
-Offers a $20 per month subscription for a variety of games with more added every week.
-Will also offer brand new games at the same time they release on other platforms purchasable for $60 (Titles like Witcher 3, and Arkham Knight shown).
-Will allow you to play split-screen with games that support it.

So yeah, seems like another tweener android console destined to fail, but who knows, could Nvidia one day be a true console competitor?

 

[Ike Turner]

Worst f@cking press/PR event I have ever had the fate of seeing..Jen Sen/NVIDIA need to shut up with all the BS and misleading ppt charts etc...gosh

 

[Deleted member 86764]

I like that they're trying this. I don't understand why they don't aim for considerably higher specs though. I doubt this machine's games will be as pretty as a 360 tbh, not unless they can fix the bandwidth issue with mobile processors.

 

[Grall]

I was gonna say that it looks like it would take up a lot of un-necessary shelf-space, laying down flat like a big flat slab of plastic, but the xbox comparison suggests it can stand up vertically as well. I wonder about the physical dimensions however. It does look rather large compared to its stated specs; it really should be no bigger physically than a wii U with the optical drive chopped off. A little bigger with integrated power supply perhaps, but only marginally so, if it really only draws 20W tops.

 

[fehu]

360's bandwidth is not that much wide, and new mobile gpu implements a tons of optimization in that aspect
Still like the shield tablet it feels more like a pr stunt than a real platform.
For sure it will become more and more interesting when they will close the gap with actual consoles. I can see Jensen with a new tattoo saying 10% more TF than xbox one.

 

[liolio]

Expected, now it is interesting to see some games being ported but we are still in the premise. As far as serious gaming it seems Android has finally entered its childhood.

Wrt to the device by-self it seems that Nvidia took a really calculated risk. The price is pretty high, with their fans, enthusiasts and collectors they should be fine. Even if some money is lost it is a reasonable investment to promote gaming and their product on a new platform.

I suspect being the curtain neither MSFT or Sony are cool about this, especially the former for which the threat is doubled.

 

[Rangers]

For sure it will become more and more interesting when they will close the gap with actual consoles. I can see Jensen with a new tattoo saying 10% more TF than xbox one.

Yeah, I think that's where a Shield 2 could really get interesting, when it has 1, 1.5, or even 2 teraflops, meaning then it can receive PS4/X1 ports with ease. Perhaps even in the latter case, "we have the best multiplatforms". Imagine that hook.

But I have no idea when mobile tech, if we assume shield's will only be based on mobile, will reach those numbers.

Well, I cant imagine a Tegra X2 will be anything less than double, or they'd scarcely bother, so that's 1 teraflop right there.

Nvidia is one company that probably has the muscle to marshal third party support for a new console, as well (talking more of a prospective 1TF+ shield 2).

At 512 Gflops Shield 1 will be too hindered for native gaming I think. It has price in it's favor, but as pointed out on GAF you can already get an X1 with games for $349.

Alternatively, they will have to position Shield 1 as native gaming+ a "better than console" (never mind the lag) streaming grid experience on top. Who knows how that will work.

In this video the guy says the streaming was good in his controlled test

 

[DieH@rd]

And yet, no one is making HQ games for Android. Few old ports from time to time.

 

[Rangers]

And yet, no one is making HQ games for Android. Few old ports from time to time.

Yeah. The more I think about it that's why I cant see this console in itself going anywhere, unless the grid aspect really works well.

But I think it could get really interesting if next year they do 1TF+ shield2 and say gomme all your PS4 ports for minimal effort=bam instant large scale third party support...It gets really really interesting the moment they have any tech superiority over current gen consoles, but when that might be is very speculative. If they get there in 2017 is it too late? By then PS4/X1 will be cheaper and have ginormous back catalogs, plus the threat of PS5/X2 (with renewed tech superiority) will be in the air.

 

[liolio]

Yeah. The more I think about it that's why I cant see this console in itself going anywhere, unless the grid aspect really works well.

It is clearly meant to go somewhere and that is EOL. Even if successful (which is not the type of expectations I have for the device) I will be damned if it is not replaced within 2 years.

 

[Rangers]

True, but in a way that's how Android works. All these Android consoles "fail", but the Android console as a thing doesn't go away it just keeps coming, seemingly. Like cheap android tablets.

Nvidia is likely not losing any money on these Shield projects (they claimed as much on the original shield) and doesn't risk anything in that respect . One day the upside for them is they might actually strike gold with one.

 

[Rangers]

I found this on Fudzilla

Nvidia is promising 50+ Android launch titles for Shield, and we are talking about some rather impressive games including Doom 3: BFG Edition, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Cryis 3, The Talos Principle and more.

Those are all native on Android? Crysis 3 should be interesting from a technical point of view at least, how it compares to X360 version.

 

[liolio]

True, but in a way that's how Android works. All these Android consoles "fail", but the Android console as a thing doesn't go away it just keeps coming, seemingly. Like cheap android tablets.

I agree I was more playing with words than anything

Nvidia is likely not losing any money on these Shield projects (they claimed as much on the original shield) and doesn't risk anything in that respect . One day the upside for them is they might actually strike gold with one.

The most interesting part for Nvidia is Grid with its subscription based model. The more AAA games run on Android the less Intel CPU Nvidia has to buy, so promoting ports still makes sense. There is a convergence in Google and Nvidia interest on the matter.

That device is "weird" it has the power to run the most demanding Android games and could have port of some pc/console games but the choice for storage tells another tale about its purpose. Underwhelming yet a step in the "right" direction (especially from Google's pov).

 

[eastmen]

I fell asleep during this conference. It was horrible. But anyway I think they have a problem when they are comparing their new hardware to a 10 year old piece of hardware. Not only that but this thing is launching for $200 in 2015. It be interesting at $100 and might be a no brainer at $50 . But $200 is way to much. I can get an actual next gen console for not much more money and it will play games much better than this thing. Yes they are bigger but I don't carry my console around with me

 

[liolio]

I found this on Fudzilla

Those are all native on Android? Crysis 3 should be interesting from a technical point of view at least, how it compares to X360 version.

That is how I read it from Anandtech and others sites, Nvidia manages to get quite some publishers on board.
It seems that the big publishers mentality is shifting wrt to "mobile" OS and that they are willing (given support) to give it a fairer trial.

OT but looking at how well iOS is doing it would not surprise me too much if at some point blizzard announces that it will port all theirs games to "Metal" and makes battlenet available on iOS.
Call that a prediction gut feeling, etc. but I think such a move from Blizzard could be the real kick stater for serious gaming on mobile OS.
Blizzard is struggling to push new IP out, it makes sense to extend to new markets.
It is weird the idea got into my head a hour ago now it sounds natural and I would expect it to be announced within the year /OT

 

[Shifty Geezer]

They need a Tegra X1 powered tablet for $300. That gives the console experience and the tablet. The tablet experience in a console makes little sense.

 

[iroboto]

This is written harshly, poke holes at it as I haven't thoroughly seen all the angles yet.

Grid is a big takeaway for me at this conference. It is a real threat to the existing model to be providing games at the same time as street date.
Nvidia Grid, Steam streaming, Xbox steaming + EA Access it's too easy to become device agnostic.

Get any device you want, so looking back at you MBP Retina, and you can model that device to how you want it to shape your needs for work function, and for everything else there is some form of remote/web/local to stream said games to your device without having to eat that penalty of trying to pair it with a high gaming GPU. It'll allow people to delay upgrades much longer, the entry barrier for high fidelity gaming across all your devices lessens. All it takes now is Steam, Windows 10, or a simple box, or, if Grid is available as an application it makes it even easier.

This is the real deal imo. I need to spend $700 on a new mobo, CPU and memory, add in a DX12 video card and I'm at about $1000. If the subscription service is $30 for premium, that means it covers the cost of the PC every 3 years (assuming after 3 years you can no longer sustain 1080p/60). However - it also includes the costs of playing these new street date based games which is a savings as well.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

This is the real deal imo. I need to spend $700 on a new mobo, CPU and memory, add in a DX12 video card and I'm at about $1000. If the subscription service is $30 for premium, that means it covers the cost of the PC every 3 years (assuming after 3 years you can no longer sustain 1080p/60). However - it also includes the costs of playing these new street date based games which is a savings as well.

Except with GRID you need a constantly fast connection (>50Mbps) just to get 30Hz, so you won't ever reach those 60FPS no matter what.
So for half the performance (1080p/30FPS) you can pay half the money (or even keep you CPU and RAM for well over 3 years), making those $200 initial + $30 monthly subscription really hard to swallow.
Especially if your console breaks whenever your internet goes down.

 

[OlegSH]

A couple of interesting links -
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...d-micro-console-set-top-box-or-something-more
Titles list: http://shield.nvidia.com/games/android

 

[Shoujoboy]

This might be off topic but how long could it take before mobile
tech eclipses current gen consoles (U/ps4/Bone) ?

And someone else said it in this thread already but if it takes too long
to catch up won't they be left in the dust again when the next batch of more
powerful boxes launch ?