nVidia's new handheld, the Shield

Project Shield is Nvidia's new handheld.

An Android handheld shaped like a controller that doubles... as a controller.

Sounds pretty interesting, if somewhat ripped-off from the Wii-U. It's not the controller I've always dreamed of (my ideal controller would be a two handed desk setup involving a mouse in one hand and a "grip" in the other with all the major buttons and shortcuts on it), but it has potential. If it gets enough third-party support it could end up being quite the success.

Kind of sounds a bit like that rumor about the "Steambox" a few months back though, doesn't it?

Ugh, the ergonomics on this thing look godawful. I don't play my PC games on the go anyway, and see no reason to.

So this is a worthless piece of crap. Figures.

Do I have to wear heat resistant gloves?

Also, the major problem is, you need a high-end video card (at least Geforce 650/680, I think) with your PC to do the streaming stuff. And even then, you've likely got a really good monitor, and the controller looks like it'll be horrible to use. Android phones have wireless support for controllers, too. So, basically, it's an overpriced piece of garbage.

Given how the hardcore PC gaming community generally considers handheld controllers to be inferior to the keyboard+mouse (the exception being simulation games), I can't imagine N Vidia being dumb enough to make a gamepad that demands a high-end comp to even run it. It wouldn't sell because the casual crowd typically don't care much about having a state-of-the-art gaming rig due to it's expense, and the hardcore crowd will choose the simpler, free option, such as connecting your Xbox 360/PS 3/3rd party controller to the PC. Therefore it must mean that they've found a way to make it work on the lower-end P Cs, probably with some extra perhiperal gear.

The hardcore PC gaming community can go jump in a lake. There are a lot of games I simply will not play with keyboard and mouse.

I am not sure if this nVidia thing is a good idea, mainly because I haven't used much nVidia kit in years. It may work out well, or it may not.

edited 7th Jan '13 5:49:33 AM by TamH70

N-Gage 2.0? EDIT: No, wait, that's Nokia.

edited 7th Jan '13 6:39:54 AM by maxwellelvis

And the OUYA takes yet another step towards utter irrelevance

The Steambox is something entirely different...

Calling the Ouya "irrelevant", is, quite frankly, ridiculous. They are very different beasts altogether, aimed at entirely different people. The Ouya is a cheap Android-based home console, while the Shield is (likely) an extremely expensive Android-based handheld aimed at seriously "hardcore" gamers. I'd bet my money on the Ouya being much, much more accessible and successful than the Shield will ever be.

It should also be noted that I personally think that more devices like the Shield and Ouya would be a good thing. The main problem with Android gaming is that, currently, game devs must assume that the player is only using touch controls, and design their games accordingly, which is extremely restrictive in any conceivable fashion. If devices that incorporate standardized controller setups becomes the norm, then devs can abandon that preconception, and Android games will become much, much better in quality.

Except for those of us that play Android games on things like... you know... Android smartphones.

I'm personally irritated by how the majority of Android games don't have native gamepad support that my DualShock 3 could utilize with the Sixaxis Controller app, or in the case of games like Grand Theft Auto III, actually have it but somehow manage to screw it up so that it doesn't control quite like the console versions.

Not that I consider my Samsung Galaxy S III a gaming device at all; just a mild curiosity on the state of Android gaming more than anything else.

I got to see this, and hold it while I was at CES.

Looks like it could be REALLY cool, but it's all going to come down to execution.