If the Nvidia Shield already sounds like a familiar name, that's because it is. Nvidia has used the Shield moniker across a couple of its other products - Shield Portable, Shield Tablet - but the Shield, revealed this week at GDC 2015, is the missing piece of the puzzle.
An Android TV and high-end gaming console in one, Nvidia Shield is a set-top box box that wants to be the hub of your living room.
This is a product that's been five years in the making, according to Nvidia, and from what I've seen so far the company has every right to feel proud of what it's achieved. This isn't just taking on the likes of Apple TV, it's also gunning for your big living room console.
Design and hardware
For all that it does, the Shield remains pleasingly thin with an interesting angular design and - of course - a green V-shaped light that glows when the device is switched on.
It's quite long, but the box can be stood upright if that TV cabinet is looking crowded enough already. However, we doubt Nvidia's design will prove too intrusive.
I'm also rather fond of the varying matte and gloss panels Nvidia has built this thing with - it's certainly a lot quirkier than the likes of Amazon Fire TV.
The size is especially impressive when you consider what's inside: a Tegra X1 processor with 256-core Maxwell GPU, 3GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which can be boosted up via MicroSD.
As for ports, you've got two USBs, ethernet, HDMI 2.2, a power port and one micro-USB. Nvidia also confirmed that the Shield supports both Dolby 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound output.
Content and streaming
So how does it work as a streaming device? Pretty damn well so far. You'll have to wait for our full review until we can really give into the guts of this thing, but first impressions were good.
In terms of TV content, those of you who have used Android TV before will be familiar with what's on offer here. You've got a range of apps and content to browse through, which can be done a bit faster using the device's voice search that comes built into both the bundled gamepad and the remote.
But more importantly, the gaming - so far - works great too, and is where the Shield outdoes rivals like Apple TV and Amazon's Fire TV. Nvidia is opening up its Grid streaming platform to Shield come the May launch, letting you beam 1080p 60fps games to your living room for a (as yet unconfirmed) subscription fee. Obviously the quality of streaming is going to depend on if your home connection is up to scratch.
My hands on time so far has been brief, but both locally stored and streamed games ran smoothly. Doom 3 has been touched up for Android and ran impeccably (and quite beautifully) during my time playing it from local storage.
Doom 3 has been ported to Android for launch, and Nvidia will be bringing a number of other AAA titles to its console, such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel to Shield, for launch day. It will be interesting to see how more meaty games stream over the Grid.
What I've seen so far, however, ran with little sign of any lag, but I'll need to test this in my own home before I know just how well the service holds up under varying connection speeds. Nvidia was particularly proud to announce that, yes, Shield can play Crysis 3 - a game that has become somewhat of a barometer for game machine power.
Nvidia told us that you'll also get a Steam code of any game bought on the Shield Store, which is an excellent added bonus. Oh, and speaking of the Shield Store, Nvidia plans to have just over 50 games available on it for launch day, promising to have more than 100 by the end of the year.
With games like Batman: Arkham Knight and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes already on the lineup of available titles, it's clear that Nvidia wants the shield to be a high-end console that can compete with the likes of the PS4 and Xbox One.
The upper hand it has is price - just $199 (around £130, AU$255, but global prices are yet to be announced).
Early verdict
So far the Shield looks great and plays great, and combined with Nvidia's Grid service this could turn out to be a really big core product for the company. I look forward to putting one properly through its paces to see if my first impressions of the device are spot on. So far, Nvidia has every right to feel proud of its work over the past five years.
from www.techradar.com
