Hasta La Gadget!

This week NVIDIA’s Project SHIELD was revealed all over again, this time renamed simply: SHIELD, arriving as both the company’s first handheld gaming device and hardware sold direct to end users, all at once. It is here that NVIDIA starts its journey in converging the worlds of mobile and desktop gaming with the Tegra 4 mobile processor on one end and GeForce graphics on the other. NVIDIA has announced today that SHIELD will not only be available in the US and Canadian markets starting in June, but that it’ll be up for pre-order (for some) starting today.

If you’ve been following email updates about Project SHIELD straight from NVIDIA before today, you’re in luck. Those signed up with the company as a gamer interested in the product as an early adopter will be given the first shot at the device.

A shot at ordering SHIELD as a pre-order, that is. The device itself will be the same, but these earliest pre-orders will be filled first – of that you can be sure.

Hardware

At the head of this device is the NVIDIA Tegra 4 quad-core A15 CPU with custom 72 code GeForce GPU. That’s a mouthful, and we’re certainly not going to try to explain the full ins and outs of it here. Instead you’ll want to head over to the SlashGear 101: NVIDIA Tegra 4 in detail post we’ve prepared for an occasion just like this. In short: it’s got so much graphics power it’ll be good to go for years to come.

SHIELD works with a 5-inch 720p multi-touch display which flips-up from its hardware controller body. In this shell-opening form-factor, this device allows the user a gaming experience only otherwise given in part by 3rd-party accessories attached to smartphones. With NVIDIA’s solution, the display is made specifically for this setup, while the controls, sound system, and form factor are all made with one final single product in mind.

With SHIELD, users will be working with integrated speakers – both a left and a right – along with two tuned ports for high-end bass response. Each time we’ve handled this machine thus far, the sound has been full and deep, with the ability to get loud enough that it’s necessary to pull the volume back. Don’t want to wake up the upstairs neighbors, after all.

NVIDIA has let it be known that the device has seen a few – not many, but some – changes between its reveal and its final form, that being the one we’re having another look at here today. The device has had a tiny bit of weight added since CES 2013 several months ago – welcome, in this case, as this adjustment allows the device to feel the correct amount of substantial in a user’s hands. The device remains largely plastic, but certainly looks and feels like a high-end product, as it should.

SHIELD will be available for a retail price of $349 USD right out of the gate. This price remains the same no matter how or through whom you’ll be ordering it. Orders will be done through NVIDIA’s own website and through NewEgg and Micro Center here in the USA. Canadian gamers will be able to pick the device up at Canada Computers as well.

Android / TegraZone Games

The device will be delivered with a couple games installed, NVIDIA’s own game portal TegraZone – and that’s it. This delivery essentially counts as a vanilla build of Android Jelly Bean, allowing users to work with as simple and recognizable – and customizable – an experience as possible.

Five new games have been promised for SHIELD and its high-powered processor backing up Android, each of them coming to Android here for the first time. Double Fine will be bringing the games Broken Age and Costume Quest. Broken Age is an epic fantasy tale set in the clouds with flying ships, computers, and oddities galore. Costume Quest is a game that’s appeared on Windows PCs, PlayStation 3, OS X, Linux, and the Xbox in the past, coming to Android for the first time here to show the power of NVIDIA’s Tegra 4 processor.

Above: SHIELD at CES 2013 hands-on with Android gaming (Hawken, specifically).

Flyhunter: Origins is a new Android game coming to SHIELD from the developers at Steel Wool Games. This game will deliver not only a strange miniature storyline, but high-class art as well – NVIDIA has specifically pointed out the lovely artistic abilities of the development group behind this game – bright and pretty!

Dedalord Games will be bringing Skiing Fred with a full free-movement system that will be entirely unique to SHIELD. Don’t get caught in the drift! Developers at Niffler will be bringing Chuck’s Challenge to life on SHIELD as a 3D puzzle game that allows users to create their own levels and share with friends.

Two high-powered Android games will be installed on the device out of the box: Sonic 4 Episode II and Expendable: Rearmed. We’ve had our own hands-on look at Sonic 4 Episode II back a few months ago in all its full super-speed glory while Expandable: Rearmed makes with the massive amounts of firepower.

PC Connectivity with GeForce game streaming / Steam

Valve has joined the party as well for this device’s PC connection. As SHIELD is made to bridge the gap between PC and mobile gaming on Android, Valve’s own Steam gaming experience will be in play. Though GeForce game streaming will be launching as a beta feature, we’ve seen it in action more than once, and it looks pretty rad.

Users will need their own compatible PC and a WiFi network they can connect with to make any and all desktop gaming a reality on SHIELD, Steam included. Once this connection is made, Steam’s Big Picture Mode is the user interface that SHIELD will use. With a healthy handful of PC games (20 games at first, we’re told) optimized and prepared for this cross-device compatibility at launch, user’s should have no problem finding a good title for which to game from their couch.

Controls for these games will be automatically fitted to SHIELD’s own, allowing gamers to, for example, break into Borderlands 2 the first time they open it with the device. This set of games is not a limit for the device, of course, as SHIELD’s controls are able to be fit to any game that’d otherwise be able to work with a controller connecting to your PC with, for example, a USB or Bluetooth connection.

Development

NVIDIA’s SHIELD device will have more details revealed over the next few weeks, and of course the GeForce game streaming bit of this amalgamation will see mighty changes in the near future, but the main bulk of the device and its features are here. This device is a market-ready machine, and in it we’ll be seeing the NVIDIA Tegra 4 in action out in the wild for the first time.

Have a peek at the brief timeline of SHIELD items we’ve collected in the recent past and hit SlashGear’s Tegra hub for more information on NVIDIA’s mobile universe. SlashGear’s Project SHIELD tag portal will also serve to give you an exploratory look at the demonstrations and details that have emerged prior to today, as well.

NVIDIA SHIELD prepared for pre-orders with full detail rush is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The mobile gaming device known as Project SHIELD is nearly ready to be launched to the public in its final form, NVIDIA making it clear today that they’re far beyond the point of no return. The company that brings the mobile world its Tegra processors for Android devices and high-powered desktop computers their GeForce GTX processors for superior gaming have shared a miniature behind-the-scenes look at the device that will tie the two worlds together, showing how close this device is to the real world here in the spring of 2013.

We’re just days away from Google I/O 2013, this heralding the introduction of new services from the source of Android, if not new products as well. As such, it’s no surprise that companies like NVIDIA are preparing for the storm of excitement with announcements of their own, starting right here with a peek at the production of the device they introduced to the world earlier this year.

What you’re seeing above is a mold used to create the final casing for Project SHIELD as it exists today. As this mold is being presented by NVIDIA as a finished part of this puzzle, we can only assume that the final product is well on its way.

According to NVIDIA, the casing for Project SHIELD is made starting with an injection of polycarbonate material into the the RHCM (Rapid Heat Cycle Molding) tool you see above. This is done at a terrifying 10,800 PSI and 300 degrees Celsius, says NVIDIA, while the mixture is made up of 90% Sabic 500ECR-739 PC and 10% glass. That’s a mixture that’s rough and tough yet lightweight for easy carrying.

This device retains much if not the entirety of the look it did when we first saw it back at CES 2013. There it also had a set of specifications that have stuck – a 5-inch 720p HD touchscreen display, NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor inside, and connectivity with the user’s GeForce GTX-toting gaming PC at home over their wireless network for full-sized PC gaming in a hand-held package.

The NVIDIA Project SHIELD device is the first all-NVIDIA-made mobile device the company has ever made. It’ll be sold by NVIDIA straight to consumers and will be found in retailers across the United States by the end of the year – and likely much sooner than that. Have a peek at SlashGear’s Project SHIELD tag portal for more demonstrations with this device and stick around for more action in the near future as well!

NVIDIA Project SHIELD behind-the-scenes suggests release is near is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s time to jump back in the big pile of mobile smart gaming device excellence with NVIDIA’s own Project SHIELD handheld monster. This little beast works with the NVIDIA Tegra 4 quad-core processor and will be able to both play Android games natively and stream higher-powered games from the NVIDIA GeForce GPU-powered PC you’ve got in your home. Here we’re seeing this little beast play an enhanced version of Arma Tactics.

The game you’re seeing here will be available on the Google Play app store as well as the TegraZone for Tegra-toting smartphones and tablets rather soon. For now you’ll be seeing the highest-powered version of the title on the machine we’re also not going to have in our hands for several months. You’ll be battling it out with battlefield tactics on a wide playing field with a set of controls that, on other devices, will only be available on-screen.

Here you’re able to use essentially every control button on the Project SHIELD hardware, those being the ABXY buttons, joysticks, directional pad, and four buttons near your pointer fingers. Triggers, in other words. You’ve got the touchscreen up front as well to change the direction in which you’re viewing the ground.

You’ll be running through randomly generated missions with randomized objectives on the fly – this game is everything you’ll have wanted as a big fan of the PC-bound Arma titles of the past. Here on Android you’ll be getting as close to possible without the full streaming connection to Arma’s PC titles.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see additional Project Shield hands-on bits and pieces from the past few months and get pumped up about the final drop!

[via NVIDIA]

NVIDIA Project SHIELD demoes Arma Tactics is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s time again for some rip-roaring action with NVIDIA’s Project SHIELD and the sequel to one of the most awesomely entertaining games on the Android gaming platform: Riptide GP 2! This game takes on what the original blasted forth with awesomely futuristic jet-ski racing made excellent by NVIDIA’s team-up with the developers at Vector Unit for Tegra optimization. In this demo you’ll also be seeing the Project SHIELD implementation of NVIDIA Tegra 4 quad-core processing power with visual splendor popping up on a whopping 72 GPU cores.

The demo you’re seeing here shows one of two different types of futuristic gaming action you’ll be able to experience on Project SHIELD. While you’ll also be able to do streaming gaming from your GeForce-toting PC on your own wireless network, this demonstration is working with pure Android. This game will be released by the time the Project SHIELD hardware becomes available – soon and very soon!

According to NVIDIA, a collection of Tegra 4-specific features are appearing here in addition to the hot-powered action you’ll get outside of the NVIDIA environment. While you’ll be rolling hardest with this game on Tegra 4-toting smart devices, as with the original Riptide GP, you’ll still be able to (eventually) rock and roll with this game on most Android devices. Of course with a Tegra 4 processor you’ll be getting the best of the best!

• Full 3rd Party Controller Support
• Enhanced Water and Particle Effects
• HDR Lighting
• Boosted Reflection Shaders
• All-New Spectator Mode with Project SHIELD

So get pumped up – and have a peek a the timeline below for additional demonstrations of the hardcore power of Project SHIELD as well!

[via NVIDIA]

NVIDIA Project SHIELD unleashes Riptide GP 2 in sweetest demo yet is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The folks at NVIDIA are teasing their latest Project SHIELD game title, Zombie Driver. That name may sound familiar for those rocking an Android device as Zombie Driver THD has been available for NVIDIA powered tablets and smartphones. Coincidentally, the THD release is currently selling at a deep discount — 75 percent off, or $1.75. Not to stray far off the track, but the Zombie Drive THD game had an update back in December that added improved controller support for devices such as the PowerA Moga.

Currently available release aside, the latest Android related Project SHIELD teaser is for Zombie Driver and we are given a brief look at the game running and we have learned that it will be given a “full HD over haul” that will bring “a ton of mind-blowing optimizations.” Given the current release is pretty solid on the Nexus 7, we are more than a bit excited to play this when it becomes available with Project SHIELD.

Otherwise, details of the Tegra 4 optimizations include teasers such as how it will contain “real-time dynamic lighting, per-pixel shading with custom per-material specular masks, custom blood splatter and double the zombies.” Again, this does nothing other than make us want to play now. But alas, we must wait for Project SHIELD to come available.

While we wait, make sure to checkout the demo video (embed above) where they not only show a bit of game play on Project SHIELD, but also give a side-by-side look at the non-Tegra 4 version as compared to the Tegra 4 optimized version. Bottom line, while both look (and play) pretty nice, the Tegra 4 optimized version of Zombie Driver looks that much nicer.

[via NVIDIA Blog]

Zombie Driver getting an HD makeover for Project SHIELD is written by Robert Nelson & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.