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Nvidia kicked off CES in a big way by announcing an all-new handheld console, Project Shield. The console runs Android and can also stream games from your PC. It's powered by Tegra 4 — another new Nvidia product — that'll be shipping in smartphones and tablets later this year. Will the Shield and Tegra 4 turn Android into a gaming powerhouse? Follow along right here.
10 updates and 1222 comments below.
May 14 9:00a
The biggest surprise at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show is about to go on sale. The Nvidia Shield, a five-inch portable Android game console that can also stream PC games from a nearby gaming computer, will cost $349 at Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center, Canada Computers, and Nvidia.com when pre-orders begin May 20th. Devices ship by the end of June. Technically, you can actually pre-order one today if you sign up on Nvidia's "notify me" webpage — and there's nothing to keep you from doing...
Jan 10 1:47p
Two days ago, my esteemed colleague Vlad Savov told you why Nvidia's Project Shield will fail. It's a thought-provoking piece, and one you should read.
I just happen to disagree with practically every point he makes.
Project Shield is a strange beast, to be sure, a device that feels a little out of place. Like Vlad says, it's a gaming handheld, a device in a category historically dominated by Nintendo to such a degree that every competitor has more or less failed — except Sony, whose...
Jan 08 10:38p
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has confirmed that the upcoming Project Shield handheld console will be the first of many devices from the company. Speaking with CNET, Huang said that future versions of its Tegra processor will debut in Nvidia gaming devices. The CEO then ruled out the company building a smartphone or tablet and implied that there was a need for a compelling handheld console, saying "I wouldn't build a smartphone or tablet because Asus [and other hardware makers] are doing a...
Jan 07 11:53p
Nvidia already told us that we shouldn't expect the 5-inch Project Shield handheld gaming system to be a loss-leader, but tonight the company's really driving that message home. On the official Nvidia blog, SVP Tony Tamasi explicitly says "we’ll make our money by selling the device to gamers." He continues on:
This differs from the razors-and-razor blades approach, which isn’t just used by Gillette and Schick. Printer-companies use it, as well, making money from highly profitable ink....
2:35p
It didn't take long for the first bombastic announcement of CES 2013, with Nvidia's clamshell Project Shield handheld console stealing the Sunday limelight. This morning I got to grips with this wild new Android portable, gleaning an early idea of the green team's future as a consumer hardware vendor, plus a better idea of the performance of the all-new Tegra 4 system-on-chip. Our first hands-on video, photos and impressions can be found below.
So, what to make of Nvidia's Shield? Well,...
1:11p
A gray-haired but still leather-clad Jen-Hsun Huang ascended the CES stage last night to reveal what may well end up being the most audacious product announcement of this year’s show: Project Shield. The culmination of half a decade’s worth of research and development, Shield is a portable gaming console with no lesser an ambition than the root transformation of the way we play games. With it, Nvidia is hoping to do for gaming what Netflix did for movies or the Kindle achieved with...
12:59a
Nvidia has just announced at its CES press conference that its new Shield handheld gaming device can connect to users' home PCs to stream and play games. To work, users need an Nvidia Kepler-based graphics card (GTX 650 or GTX 660M or higher), which utilizes a piece of software in GeForce Experience. Games streamed to the device must also support controller input, though Nvidia says some games without controller support can be played by mapping control buttons to the Shield's inputs. The move...
12:33a
Nvidia has just unveiled a new handheld gaming system called Project Shield. Project Shield is powered by the Tegra 4 processor and can play console-quality games while still providing a mobile experience. The processor is capable of pushing 4K resolution video over HDMI to external displays. It includes advanced sound processing that Nvidia says rivals Beats Audio-equipped laptops, and a 33Wh battery that provides five to ten hours of play time or 24 hours of HD video playback. It features a...
Jan 06 11:56p
Nvidia has just announced its next-generation Tegra 4 processor for smartphones, tablets, and notebooks. The Tegra 4, like its predecessor, features a quad-core processor along with a fifth, low power, core to save battery life. Although it retains the 4-plus-1 setup of Tegra 3, Nvidia's fourth-generation chip is built on an all-new architecture. The company's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang says that Tegra 4 is the world's fastest mobile processor, surpassing everything currently on the market. Nvidia...
11:53p
Nvidia has just announced the Nvidia Grid, an updated version of its GeForce Grid cloud gaming architecture that was originally announced in May of last year. The Grid is a rack-based server that can support up to 24 individual racks at once with a total 240 GPUs and 200 teraflops of processing power. The company boasts that this is the equivalent processing capabilities of 700 Xbox 360s.
In addition to showing off a few photos of the Grid servers, complete with internal shots of the rack's...
May 17 9:00a
Nvidia Shield pre-orders start today, shipping in June for $349
Nvidia is starting orders of its new Android-powered handheld console, Shield, today. After announcing a $349 price tag and June release date earlier this week, the gaming company has decided to move its pre-order date forward from Monday 20th. The handheld can be pre-ordered directly from Nvidia, or from retail partners including Newegg, Gamestop, and Canada Computer — Micro Center will be accepting pre-orders shortly.
Shield will arrive with access to Google Play (and the full suite of...
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