Nvidia announces portable gaming device - Project Shield

Oh, OK. It looks like the WiiU's gamepad for PC. It looks cool, but I just can't see any scenario in which it would prove to be useful to me. I much rather get a new monitor or better GPU (which I would have to either way, since my GTX 570 isn't compatible with Shield).

Silly Nvidia.

Handhelds are for JRPG's.

Is Grizzly Bear getting in on this?

Eh.. meh..?

ou ya this looks ok

God damn, this year will be a very interesting one for games. All these Android devices coming out of nowhere, Valve still to drop their hardware, now this NVIDIA thing... Pressure is building on MS and Sony to really knock it out of the park with new consoles, because anything less might not be enough!

Having full Android on this is the real take-away. That environment is going to get richer and richer. SuperGNES on a nice 5" touchscreen with a full controller? Given the right price the emulation capabilities alone are going to be enough to sell a lot of these.

One problem is that it might be a pain-in-the-ass to play touch-focused games on this, and touch-focsed games are a big deal because of the large number of Android phones out there.

But I'd say the biggest risk is how much gaming might be ghettoized on Android. TegraZone, OuyaStore, Amazon App Store, etc... might all start battling with each other over exclusives and fragment the userbase in a way that keeps Android as a gaming platform from being developed to iOS levels.

The ability to stream Steam is just nuts. Plus all the normal touchscreen time-wasting you can do outside of games.

It's interesting. Writing this thing (and the eventual clones) off right now is silly. This isn't an N-Gage situation.

Funkydupe likes this.

Will buy it just for the emulation possibilities.

@Worcanna said:

As silly as this sounds, if people WANT to play PC games at other points of their house, they would put the PC there. No room? They tend to find ways.

Believe me there are more idiotic people out there than you think, who make a big deal about moving a nightstand-sized PC to another room and would rather buy an expensive assbackwards "Steam streaming" nVidia-manufactured handheld robot to play their PC games on their TVs.

@OfficeGamer said:

@Worcanna said:

As silly as this sounds, if people WANT to play PC games at other points of their house, they would put the PC there. No room? They tend to find ways.

Believe me there are more idiotic people out there than you think, who make a big deal about moving a nightstand-sized PC to another room and would rather buy an expensive assbackwards "Steam streaming" nVidia-manufactured handheld robot to play their PC games on their TVs.

Is it "expensive"?

Is it "assbackwards"?

Why are "Steam streaming", "nVidia-manufactured", "handheld", and "robot" bad things?

I am trying to decode your outrage and I'm having a very hard time doing it.

@groverat said:

@OfficeGamer said:

@Worcanna said:

As silly as this sounds, if people WANT to play PC games at other points of their house, they would put the PC there. No room? They tend to find ways.

Believe me there are more idiotic people out there than you think, who make a big deal about moving a nightstand-sized PC to another room and would rather buy an expensive assbackwards "Steam streaming" nVidia-manufactured handheld robot to play their PC games on their TVs.

Is it "expensive"?

Is it "assbackwards"?

Why are "Steam streaming", "nVidia-manufactured", "handheld", and "robot" bad things?

I am trying to decode your outrage and I'm having a very hard time doing it.

He's upset because he doesn't have a Nvidia GTX 6xx card and now he can't play Skyrim while taking a shit. He's very constipated about it.

@Jay_Ray said:

@Th3_James said:

STEAM STREAMING TO IT.......I CAN PLAY MY PC GAMES IN THE BATHROOM OR MY KITCHEN NOW. HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

I'm never leaving my bathroom now

Might I suggest an upgrade if you're going to live in your bathroom?

I'm going to need a translucent blue hand to replace this ugly fleshy one I've got now.

Can't wait for Valve to show what it's been up to and offer up more details on the Steamer.

I think this shows that 2013 could be one of the most interesting years for gaming hardware. I'll be very interested in the price of this device. With this and maybe even a steambox and the next Xbox, I better start saving for some potential purchases!

Ummm...don't android games suck? I'm just curious cuz I don't have one. Also this thing looks a bit stupid,but i buy anything if it has a a game I want to play. I'm looking at you vita,you mother fucker.

This seems really...weird.

@Jams said:

@groverat said:

@OfficeGamer said:

@Worcanna said:

As silly as this sounds, if people WANT to play PC games at other points of their house, they would put the PC there. No room? They tend to find ways.

Believe me there are more idiotic people out there than you think, who make a big deal about moving a nightstand-sized PC to another room and would rather buy an expensive assbackwards "Steam streaming" nVidia-manufactured handheld robot to play their PC games on their TVs.

Is it "expensive"?

Is it "assbackwards"?

Why are "Steam streaming", "nVidia-manufactured", "handheld", and "robot" bad things?

I am trying to decode your outrage and I'm having a very hard time doing it.

He's upset because he doesn't have a Nvidia GTX 6xx card and now he can't play Skyrim while taking a shit. He's very constipated about it.

You got me... Damn that 600 series, damn it to hell!

@Ravenlight said:

@Jay_Ray said:

@Th3_James said:

STEAM STREAMING TO IT.......I CAN PLAY MY PC GAMES IN THE BATHROOM OR MY KITCHEN NOW. HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

I'm never leaving my bathroom now

Might I suggest an upgrade if you're going to live in your bathroom?

Well damn, I do like my tech gadgets, never thought I'd buy a high tech toilet though. Off to Amazon I guess...

And to all the people saying if you want to play PC games in a room that isn't your office/computer room to just move your PC that would be incredibly time consuming and the exact reason why so many people prefer consoles. Anything that makes playing PC games on my regular TV easy to do should be welcomed instead of shunned.

I personally have zero interest in any portable gaming.

They didn't learn anything from THQ, did they?

@coribald said:

This thing will never happen. Way too insane. We'll hear that it's been cancelled within a year due to "unforeseen changes in the market" or some nonsense.

...except that it's releasing before June.

Personally, I think it's fine, but it's trying to be too many things at once without focusing where it needs to be. PC gamers typically aren't the types to want to play their PC games on a handheld, and the PSP as well as Vita both prove that people don't want to play lengthy adventures on a small screen.

At the same time, I like the idea of Nvidia getting into the consoles business solely because it should make this thing very affordable since they are the ones providing the GPU overall.

Streaming from my current gaming PC to the living room without having to build out another gaming PC is what makes this thing compelling. Beating Steambox to the punch.

Wasnt there a different version of this that already failed.

@OfficeGamer: So here is the thing. The thing with PC gaming, is that i want to play games...at my PC, with all the things that come with the PC. If i wanted a trashy looking handheld, with a iphone size screen to play HD games which will be scaled too small for me to see anything, in a attempt to look all cool ...in my own house because that is all its good for, then i don't know...i think id not play games. That is the same thinking that said we wanted the Ngage before we were ready for it. The screen res for that thing can't be high enough to play gaming at a size that would make it even worth it. You'd think Nvidia of all people would get that handhelds do not go with PC gaming.

Or maybe NVidia of all companies sees where the most new demand for powerful graphics comes from since they're the ones who make all of this stuff.

Even if this is nothing more than a tech demo, it's kind of cool.

Definitely looking forward to this, WAAAAY more than the Ouya. I think the whole HDMI, and streaming thing sold it for me.

EDIT: If you haven't already seen it:

What a terrible time to release a handheld.

@Blair: Wat. They haven't released it yet...

@Dacnomaniac: I'm speaking in terms of the general business cycle.

Doomed to fail. Stop them.