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.

The folks at graphics company NVIDIA have been seen piloting a mobile-friendly quadcopter device this week with their own upcoming Project SHIELD Android handset. Project SHIELD is NVIDIA’s first in-house all-NVIDIA piece of hardware made for the consumer market and will be pushed to the public later this year, while the device it was spotted controlling has been out for some time: the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0. This Parrot device is one notoriously mobile device-friendly and was originally built to be controlled by the Apple iPad.

This update to the Parrot AR.Drone user experience will bring on hardware controls to Android, this being what we can expect as the cross-over to similar Bluetooth-friendly controls in the near future as well. With Project SHIELD, users will end up being able to work with a bit more of a unique experience with the unobstructed display not offered on any other platform. If you work with the Parrot AR.Drone on your smartphone, your controls are on-screen.

With Project SHIELD, you’re able to utilize this quadcopters on-board camera with Project SHIELD’s 5-inch display, allowing you to feel much more like you’re onboard the flying machine with physical controls outside your camera view. This demonstration by NVIDIA points toward a unqiue app update for Project SHIELD by Parrot in the near future.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see more information on NVIDIA’s Project SHIELD and make sure you’re tuned to SlashGear’s Tegra Hub for an expanded view of what the processor inside this device is capable of. We’ll have more information on Project SHIELD in regards to release time and price in the near future – stay tuned!

NVIDIA Project SHIELD pilots a Parrot AR.Drone quadcopter is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the gaming console known as OUYA has appeared in the FCC as it enters the hands and desktops of users across the USA. This machine is an Android-powered gaming console packing a fabulously powerful NVIDIA Tegra processor under the hood, originally funded by no less than KickStarter by the masses. The device’s appearance at the FCC means it’s full steam ahead for users about to receive their units in the mail – soon and very soon!

Up top of this particular unit you’ll see a cool transparent power button while the sides are a toned-down silver with black accents. This version is ever-so-slightly different from the funder-friendly version being sent to users on the whole right this minute and is expected to be slightly closer to the edition that’ll be sent to final purchasers after the funded edition is up and running.

You’ll be working with this device soon if you’ve worked with the creators of OUYA through Kickstarter, while those looking to buy the device after the first edition is shipped will be picking one up just a bit later this year. This second edition – the standard edition – will be priced starting at $99 USD and will come with an 8GB drive capacity while it outputs video via full-sized HDMI.

You’ll be powering this device up with a standard power jack (included in the box) while you’ll have both microUSB and full-sized USB ports to work with your other mobile devices and peripherals. This device connects with Bluetooth as well, and will be rolling with wireless internet and ethernet – make it work for you!

Have a peek at the timeline below for other recent news surrounding the OUYA console and stick around SlashGear as the final units are shipped from the first edition!

[via Engadget]

OUYA appears in FCC as it arrives on doorstep throughout the USA is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s a given that NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 can handle 3D — unless you’ve been crafting a fully open source project around the chip, at which point you’ve been stuck in a flat world. Fresh contributions from Avionic Design’s Thierry Reding have brought that extra dimension back, albeit in limited form. His early patches for the Linux kernel enable support for 3D when using the Tegra Direct Rendering Manager driver. There’s also a matching Gallium3D driver for us regular users, although it’s still young: it can run reference 3D code as of a recent check, but can’t produce visible imagery. While it may take some months before everything falls into place, the officially-backed work should make the (slightly aging) chip that much more useful beyond the realms of Android and Windows RT.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, NVIDIA

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