Nvidia’s Tegra 4 chip might have been leaked a dozen times in the run up to CES 2013, but its Project Shield handheld console was a complete surprise. Powered by the Tegra 4 and rocking a 720p display, the Shield is an Android gaming machine that seems to be flirting with both success and failure. But when you look at the state of the mobile gaming market one thing is clear: Nvidia has all the cards needed to score a big win with the Shield.
The single biggest advantage Shield has is that Nvidia is not stuck developing a content ecosystem for a single device. Sony and Nintendo, for instance, have to sell developers on making games for their singular handhelds. Nvidia is taking a different route by leveraging multiple existing ecosystems rather that starting from scratch.
Project Shield runs full stock Android with Play Store access, and Android gaming has truly taken off in the last year. There are loads of awesome platformers, adventure games, and 3D shoot-em-ups. Many of these titles include controller support (either Bluetooth or wired), and that means the Shield will be ideal for playing the likes of GTA: Vice City, Sonic, and Need for Speed. There are hundreds of games like this just waiting to grace the Shield’s screen, and Nvidia doesn't have to lift a finger to make that happen.
Developers don't need to be convinced to make these games. Android accounts for roughly 75% of smartphone shipments and Google activates over 1.3 million devices every single day. No one has to worry about whether or not there will be game available for the Shield. The calculation is based on Android’s success, and that’s an easy call for plenty of devs.
Nvidia is also using its dominance in PC gaming to sweeten the deal. The Shield will sync up with Steam to stream PC games across your home network so they can be played on the handheld or a TV in another room. And, of course, the visuals in a PC game are still worlds better than what you’ll see on any handheld console. Nvidia demoed this with a very pricey GTX680 desktop card, but it could be a killer feature if made available to a wider range of Nvidia hardware.
The third prong in Nvidia’s content attack is Tegra gaming. In addition to the standard controller-compatible games in Google Play, there are dozens of games with Tegra-optimized graphics. Some are exclusive to Tegra, and some just have enhanced graphics on Tegra chips. A game like Dead Trigger looks nearly console level on Tegra 3, and Tegra 4 is only going to up Nvidia’s game.
With Tegra 4, Nvidia promises graphics unlike we’ve seen before on Android. The brief demo of Dead Trigger 2 was indeed stunning. The Shield has more raw power than the Xbox 360 and it fits in your (admittedly large) pocket.
Nvidia has been working with developers for years to optimize games for its video cards. That’s the same thing it's doing on Android -- it works with app devs to support the creation of games that are targeted specifically at Tegra. I’m always surprised how effectively Nvidia pushes Tegra Zone games onto Android. It happened with Tegra 2, with Tegra 3, and it’s going to happen with Tegra 4 and Shield -- content won’t be a problem.
The Shield will be a pure Android device with access to all the cool cloud services Google has to offer. Nvidia could have forked Android and designed its own separate ecosystem for maximum control, but it chose a more open approach. That, along with multiple gaming options is going to earn Nvidia plenty of fans. If the company can sell Shield for a reasonable price, it's a clear winner and a good alternative to all those mediocre Bluetooth controllers strapped to phones.
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