Nvidia's Project Shield - 'Android & Tegra 4 inside'

[Nintendo]

Article with video showing graphics difference between Tegra 3 Dead Trigger 2 and Tegra 4 Dead Trigger 2.

http://www.slashgear.com/dead-trigger-2-tegra-4-feature-video-outlines-shield-bound-boosts-05285147/

Water wet and HOT!

 

[monstercameron]

I can't believe that they are pulling a tegra on the tegra 3!

 

[Exophase]

-Shield is meant to bring a gaming standard to android. The control scheme and input codes are suggested and are being accepted by controller hardware OEM's and some big name android game developers. They want to "tegra certify" controllers. for OEMs. Seeing how they are chip manufacturers selling to OEMS, this falls directly in line with their almost "ARM-like" business model.

Between this and OUYA pushing controls I hope it really does become more of a standard consideration. I hate having to use mapper software (which can be flaky and almost never gets everything you need) for Android games that couldn't be bothered to add physical controller support, which unfortunately seems to be the norm.

-nvidia hinted at the fact they are going to fully publically open source their source code for tegra4 to include their 3d GPU driver which is one of the first, if not the first for arm based platform.

I've seen these sort of hints before that 3D drivers may get opened for various GPUs, but they never get fulfilled. And it's not hard to see why. Open sourcing their code probably means they need legal to carefully review it first, and even if they're certain they're doing absolutely nothing wrong they could still be opening themselves up to patent trolls to attack. It also adds overhead since they have to keep pushing back their changes.

I bet the only reason Intel did it is because their driver team sucked and needed all the help they could get. nVidia's drivers are industry leading, and therefore a competitive advantage. There could be techniques in them that other GPU makers could use to improve their drivers, probably not something nVidia wants.

The safer alternative would be for them to just release detailed hardware documentation. But it probably doesn't benefit nVidia that much either way, except some mildly good PR.

 

[Mr_Loon]

...


Between this and OUYA pushing controls I hope it really does become more of a standard consideration. I hate having to use mapper software (which can be flaky and almost never gets everything you need) for Android games that couldn't be bothered to add physical controller support, which unfortunately seems to be the norm.


...

Big fat +1 from me. Just picked up an IPEGA contoller to ease the wait for iCP2 and it is rather frustrating that some devs seem to ignore the rather obvious possibility that a player may wish to use such a device, great piece of kit though, lovely DPad & buttons simple to use. Have found Game Keyboard to be pretty good though.

It'll be interesting to see if NVidia include any software with Shield that handles remapping of controls.

 

[Exophase]

I almost want nVidia to not include remapping software just to encourage developers (especially those they're sponsoring in some way to enhance games for Tegra) to add support. It'd be the detriment of the device but I don't care

 

[SNESFAN]

there is no mention of mapping software, there is some on the play store like game keyboard, but other than the tegra zone and a couple of bundled games and facebook and crap this is pure android. Hopefully it stays that way

 

[CocoCreekFisherman]

got the t-shirt today.

 

[SNESFAN]

Where did you preorder yours from? Also did you sign up for their newsletter before preorders went up?

I found out some little tidbits today.

The l&r 2 are full analog in addition to the joysticks like the Xbox 360

The joysticks push down for l&r 3 functions.

Right analog maps to emulated mouse in web browser. No word on what the clicking action would be. left analog does page up/down and its equalivant for right and left scroll.

 

[CocoCreekFisherman]

Where did you preorder yours from? Also did you sign up for their newsletter before preorders went up? I found out some little tidbits today. The l&r 2 are full analog in addition to the joysticks like the Xbox 360 The joysticks push down for l&r 3 functions. Right analog maps to emulated mouse in web browser. No word on what the clicking action would be. left analog does page up/down and its equalivant for right and left scroll.

pre order was directly from their web site Digital River US Inc. Yes I signed up for the email newsletters  about the day it all started. I believe you or someone a while back said they received their free T-Shirt so I emailed Nividia asking for mine. I don't know if that accelerated the process but in a week..today.. I received my XL tee with a nice card and envelope thanking me for the pre order-- which I will save...A class act indeed to send that . I also pre ordered the case and carbon fiber lid. The lids are magnetic and can be taken on// off and easily switched. If my memory serves me right I think there are 3 lids to choose from but I did like the carbon one the best esthetically. I am curious about that clicking action you mention?? I am getting next AM delivery so needless to say I am counting the days   I did read the overall feel and function of the gaming pad has been altered since the E3 demo!! I also know and was not aware that Steam will have an optimized web site so that a Shield owner can download Steam games directly from this web site right on to the Shield. So one will not have to use a PC.

It keeps getting better and I think Nvida is taking a huge correct direction in the hardware gaming dept.

 

[SNESFAN]

The clicking action for mouse clicks. On the Pandora its the right nub. I would suppose its a trigger or something cause action buttons+right joystick would need an extra thumb. R3 might be an option but I can see it causing inaccurate mouse clicks.

 

[CocoCreekFisherman]

The clicking action for mouse clicks. On the Pandora its the right nub. I would suppose its a trigger or something cause action buttons+right joystick would need an extra thumb. R3 might be an option but I can see it causing inaccurate mouse clicks.

If I read correctly...there is no mouse function on the Shield. So I suppose a comparison would be  playing say a game like Elder Scrolls on a xbox 360 controller vs playing on  pc.  ....not a big deal for me but some might find this a big negative.

The Shield is bluetooth compatible so perhaps there might be some tailored attachable external hardware in the future. Maybe a design similar to the Xbox Messenger  as a keyboard?

I do not think there are any peripherals out yet.

 

[monstercameron]

The clicking action for mouse clicks. On the Pandora its the right nub. I would suppose its a trigger or something cause action buttons+right joystick would need an extra thumb. R3 might be an option but I can see it causing inaccurate mouse clicks.

maybe they could emulate steam BMP web browser, it actually works pretty well.

 

[SNESFAN]

There is a new video out where it shows him controlling a mouse pointer with the right stick. And he says its a part of several apps so i would guess any app that doesn't take over the analogs will be a mouse. Like the pandora. I hear a hollow click like sound when he selects the spreadsheet cell. To my untrained ear it sounds like what im guessing the shoulder button would sound like. He doesn't specifically say though.

 

[Nintendo]

http://kotaku.com/nvidias-shield-gets-a-price-drop-and-a-june-27-release-515629031

 

[vcoleiro1]

^ you are quick SONY, Ill have to work on my draw


@Android , does this mean you get $50 back from your $350 preorder ?

Priced between $200 and $250 max it would absolutely be massive .


To be honest the only way Nvidia can F.ck this up, is by over pricing it. Unfortunately I feel they will probably do just that. Wouldn't be surprised if they went $399 initially and no one really buys it, followed of course later by panicked price cutting.

^. it was all too predictable

 

[SNESFAN]

They just put a hold on the money, haven't actually taken the money out. I'm sure something like this was in the works from the beginning. Shoot high and if people didn't complain that was the price.

 

[vcoleiro1]

They just put a hold on the money, haven't actually taken the money out. I'm sure something like this was in the works from the beginning. Shoot high and if people didn't complain that was the price.

Don't forget to give us a review when you get it. I'd like to know what you think of it.

 

[Fzero]

Nice little price drop.

I want to have a go on one of these when they released here, I could be tempted I think

 

[Nintendo]

Will there be demo pods or demos on display in Europe or NA yet?

 

[vcoleiro1]

Will it be at PAX which is coming up in Melbourne?


Have no clue what PAX is about, so apologies if this is a stupid question.