TR Forums

Ok, this has my attention.

Why Nvdia is the one to pull this off I don't know but I think its really smart. Of course I'd rather see a GPU agnostic version that MS or a 3rd party (Razer?) did themselves but this isn't bad. I don't really expect to buy one but the ingredients have been around to make this happen for awhile and the Wii U showed it could be done on a console - so I'm glad to see a PC/Android version that does it one better (not a dig against the Wii U, I think it's pretty underrated). If it ran RT instead of Android I might consider buying it (don't hit me!)...

The problems i see with this:
- it's a console controller, meaning it will rule out any FPS and real time strategy game (for me);
- latency from the moment the frames are ready to the moment they are displayed, which also involves the response time of TV screens (which in general, suck compared to monitors);
- works only with nvidia video cards (so you say, i didn't even bother researching);

Now i understand i do not represent the majority of gamers, otherwise i wouldn't spend time reading TR's GPU reviews about minute frame times differences, so this device might actually be comercially sucessfull if enough people switch from consoles to "Steam Boxes" and use this to replicate the kind of control input they are familiar with.

Edit:
Regardless i see this like another great blow to the traditional keyboard+mouse and it's brought by a major PC centric brand no less. *Profanities* directed at Huang.

It interesting. I think a lot of us PC gamers already have "Steam Boxes" so something like this is kinda cool.

The N-Gage lives!!

It's a Tegra 4-based handheld, like a PS Vita or 3DS, but you can also plug it into your HDMI-capable display. It runs Android ("stock" Android, allegedly, but from what Ars wrote it appears you're only getting apps from a walled garden within a walled garden - it's a portal to Tegra Zone, which itself is a subset of the Play store) and it has what I would hope is a decent controller built in. It's kind of meh, honestly. Tegra 4 is the most interesting component, and it'll make its way into so many tablets that this won't matter before too long.

The N-Gage had the upside of also being a phone, btw.

derFunkenstein wrote:

The N-Gage had the upside of also being a phone, btw.

That you looked absolutely silly when using. (I wish I could find the PA comic about the N Gage.....)

My wife worked at an EB Games back when the N-Gage launched and in person those things looked ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the t-shirt that they were giving away if you bought one (they never sold one so she wound up with a shirt). It's a light-gray heathered deal with with white lettering (so it's impossible to read) that says "Are you ready for a four-way in the back of a cab?" and a black Nokia N-Gage logo. So all you could see is the stupid product logo.

I'll just quote what I posted in the front page comments:

Kurotetsu wrote:

This is probably just my ignorance showing itself but....wouldn't it be easier to just plug your PC into your TV or receiver with an HDMI cable? Like what every console does? The whole wireless streaming thing seems overly complicated with little real benefit. I mean, we already have SFF PCs like the Zotac Zboxes that are smaller and lighter than consoles yet pack more powerful hardware than current consoles (definitely on the GPU side), so its not really a matter of keeping a big desktop PC out of sight.

If Nvidia wants to help push gaming PCs to the living room (a noble goal, certainly), I'd rather they work on a graphics chipset specifically tailored for SFF PCs. More powerful than a mobile chipset, but eats less power and produces less heat than an actual desktop card. Basically, start pushing the mini-ITX & NUC platforms as the ones of choice for getting a PC into the living room.

I couldn't care less about the Shield streaming back to a TV - that's not a problem that needed solving. What I am intrigued by is letting a PC in another room do the heavy lifting and streaming that to the handheld. This isn't entirely new either of course, there are plenty of solutions for playing WoW on an iPad or similar - but I've tried a few (not for playing WoW, just mentioned it because it was the most popular use) and have not been impressed - mostly because of latency. HOWEVER - the Wii U has shown me that you can have a beautiful image streamed to a wireless screen without latency problems so I think Nvidia could pull off the same thing with Shield and for PC games that played well with a controller it could be pretty neat (and for other PC games that's why I have an 11.6" gaming laptop). At the very least I like seeing companies trying new things.

Coincidentally I ordered a wireless 360 controller from NewEgg last night for the primary purpose of giving Steam Big Picture mode a proper test on my HTPC.

drfish wrote:

Coincidentally I ordered a wireless 360 controller from NewEgg last night for the primary purpose of giving Steam Big Picture mode a proper test on my HTPC.

Not to thread jack, but whats there to test? I have been running this setup since day 1 and and its awesome!

(some games dont look as good and they are usually older ones, but everything new I have tried looks great)

Hmm, well let's see... I don't think I have had a traditional gamepad connected to any of my computers in at least 10 years. I have a joystick that's older than that but it never gets used. So the word "test" is pretty broadly encompassing the entire concept of me using a controller on a PC that isn't a keyboard or mouse.

Edit: This was the last PC gamepad I've used.

How long until OnLive or whoever owns OnLive's IP files a lawsuit? Seems like it's just OnLive to your home PC.

Also, drfish rockin' the Gravis! I had a Gravis GRiP system and only ever used it for 4-player NHL96.

Lol, I think the last time I played NHL 2001 I used my Sidewider joystick instead of the Gravis...

Also, streaming service like OnLive on the Shield -> meh. As I see things it has two reasons to exist, the preexisting Android ecosystem/whatever potentially comes from the Ouya's influence AND for Steam/streaming local PC content. That's it Nvidia, just make sure you do those two things perfectly and don't skimp on the hardware and you'll make things very interesting.

derFunkenstein wrote:

My wife worked at an EB Games back when the N-Gage launched and in person those things looked ridiculous. Even more ridiculous is the t-shirt that they were giving away if you bought one (they never sold one so she wound up with a shirt). It's a light-gray heathered deal with with white lettering (so it's impossible to read) that says "Are you ready for a four-way in the back of a cab?" and a black Nokia N-Gage logo. So all you could see is the stupid product logo.

I did too, we never sold one either..the good old taco phone. Part of the issue was that it wasn't even that good of a phone, and the fact that you had to take it half apart to change games. I saw it in action and it chugged badly on real simple graphics, not to mention barely any games were ever even made for it.

drfish wrote:

Lol, I think the last time I played NHL 2001 I used my Sidewider joystick instead of the Gravis...

Also, streaming service like OnLive on the Shield -> meh. As I see things it has two reasons to exist, the preexisting Android ecosystem/whatever potentially comes from the Ouya's influence AND for Steam/streaming local PC content. That's it Nvidia, just make sure you do those two things perfectly and don't skimp on the hardware and you'll make things very interesting.

It's my understanding that the Shield is actually doing the streaming from the local PC. I think "local" is still a "remote computer" and I'm being cynical in thinking that whoever owns the OnLive IP could/would sue over that. I realize there's tons of prior art for VNC and RDP and all of that, but that's desktops and this would be games which I am again being cynical in thinking there'd be some legal distinction.

Mmmm NHL.