The Ultimate Is Coming(Nvidia)

[BrightCandle]

I don't find anything other than turn based games particularly compelling on a tablet/phone, simply because the touch interface is very inconsistent. Turn based games also tend to be games that don't really benefit from massive amounts of real time graphics capability. I just don't enjoy real time games on a touch screen so Nvidia producing a better/faster GPU based tablet isn't exactly exciting. More CPU performance is what matters here as most tablets/phones are still kind of laggy and slow.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Like I said I think nvidia would be better off investing most of their money into funding devs to make a game that would actually sell the hardware. There would likely be much more money in doing that than consistently losing money selling miniscule amounts of products only hardcore gamers that are extremely uninformed about what games are available will buy.

 

[Grooveriding]

I don't get tablets at all. They're basically smartphones with bigger screens and the phone functionality stripped away. Hardware wise they are generally on an equal footing and gaming on either is pointless outside of angry birds or bejewelled.

If I want a larger footprint I'll take an ultrabook over a tablet any day. Just slightly larger, similar battery life, vastly more powerful and much more functional. I can't find a use case for a tablet when I compare it to our Yoga 2 Pro.

 

[xpea]

Like I said I think nvidia would be better off investing most of their money into funding devs to make a game that would actually sell the hardware. There would likely be much more money in doing that than consistently losing money selling miniscule amounts of products only hardcore gamers that are extremely uninformed about what games are available will buy.

well during the last weeks, they did Portal and Half-Life 2... not too bad...
and they are 300 games optimized for their SoC in the TegraZone...

 

[Morgoth780]

I'm certainly interested in picking up a Shield 2, if only because of its tablet-based design. I don't use an nvidia GPU in my desktop, so I'd just use it as a normal tablet.

And say what you will about gaming on Android, but I really like super-powerful chips. Which seems to be what the Tegra K1 is in terms of GPU. Still, I doubt I'll pick up one at launch; I'll wait and see how it goes, especially since I struggle to justify purchasing a tablet in the first place.

 

[toyota]

for $299 its a pretty darn good tablet. $399 for the wifi version with 32gb is good deal too. Apple rapes you charging a laughable 100 bucks more just to go from 16 to 32gb on the ipad mini. then to go LTE Apple charges another 130 bucks on top of that. thats right, Apple charges an additional 230 bucks for what Nvidia only charges 100 bucks for. so 630 bucks for a slower 32gb LTE Apple ipad mini with less memory looks like a joke compared to the 32gb LTE Shield for 400 bucks. and that is only looking at just the tablet features.

 

[Techhog]

So this was posted in Nvidia`s facebook page (UK) few days back.
Seems to be videocard related because they made a picture where it says "Nvidia Geforce GTX"....

Geforce GTX Tablet.

 

[sxr7171]

I don't get tablets at all. They're basically smartphones with bigger screens and the phone functionality stripped away. Hardware wise they are generally on an equal footing and gaming on either is pointless outside of angry birds or bejewelled.

If I want a larger footprint I'll take an ultrabook over a tablet any day. Just slightly larger, similar battery life, vastly more powerful and much more functional. I can't find a use case for a tablet when I compare it to our Yoga 2 Pro.

I'm with you on that. Tablets look cool and that's it. They are uncomfortable and unergonomic. Just look at the stupid "stands" and cases and dumb keyboards they sell with them. By the time you add that stuff they are heavier than a good ultraportable. To use on a table an Ultraportable is better. To use on your lap an ultraportable is better. To use in bed an ultraportable is better. If I have to use an Ipad in bed for more than 10 minutes my wrist hurts. Same problem while sitting on a couch. On a table it lays flat and tilting your head to use it is not fun.

 

[toyota]

lol I am sure you two guys not understanding the reason for tablets will have a big impact on sales.

 

[Phynaz]

for $299 its a pretty darn good tablet

When did you use one?

 

[ams23]

Except nvidia has no choice but to literally resort to making their own products to put Tegra chips in. They failed for years to get enough design wins to get it going and recently ended up leaving the smartphone market and pursuing 'high performance tablets and gaming devices'

That is incorrect. NVIDIA is not "leaving" the smartphone market. They are not pursuing low cost mainstream smartphones (why is that so hard to understand?). TK1 is expected to make it's way into some high end smartphones by year end.

Tablets and smartphones are not sold on hardware prowess.

Again incorrect. Low cost mainstream tablets and smartphones are not sold on hardware prowess, but higher end tablets and smartphones are sold on hardware prowess. In fact, one of the driving forces behind Xiaomi's marketing efforts for Mi Pad is the Kepler GPU inside Tegra K1. And due to the high performance and advanced mobile feature set, TK1 is a reference SoC for Google's 64-bit Android L OS, Google's TV and automotive initiatives, and Google's Project Tango.

Xiaomi's Mi Pad tablet and Shield tablet is just the beginning for TK1. TK1 is expected to be in at least one new Google Nexus tablet, and likely a variety of other tablets, high end smartphones, micro gaming consoles, automobiles, robotics, military devices, etc.

 

[toyota]

When did you use one?

are you that bored?

 

[Grooveriding]

We've been hearing that same song and dance for years. First it was they have to take the risk and losses to get into the market, now it's they're out of the market and only going after 'high performance' products.

No such thing. The best performing smartphones are coming from Apple, Samsung, HTC etc. Anything that comes to fruition will most likely be like this Shield tablet; a small niche with very low volume in sales. Maybe they'll make a smartphone next

 

[ams23]

LOL, right, and in the meantime companies like Xiaomi will be selling millions of TK1-powered Mi Pad's over the course of a year, and the next 64-bit Nexus tablet (likely to be powered by TK1) will sell millions over the course of a year, and people such as yourself will still be wondering why people buy higher end tablets in the first place.

 

[Phynaz]

are you that bored?

Lol, just messing with ya.

 

[Grooveriding]

LOL, right, and in the meantime companies like Xiaomi will be selling millions of TK1-powered Mi Pad's over the course of a year, and the next 64-bit Nexus tablet (likely to be powered by TK1) will sell millions over the course of a year, and people such as yourself will still be wondering why people buy higher end tablets in the first place.

This reads more like wishful thinking than a thoughtful assessment to me.

 

[ams23]

This reads more like wishful thinking than a thoughtful assessment to me.

Right, wishful thinking, good comeback

 

[VulgarDisplay]

LOL, right, and in the meantime companies like Xiaomi will be selling millions of TK1-powered Mi Pad's over the course of a year, and the next 64-bit Nexus tablet (likely to be powered by TK1) will sell millions over the course of a year, and people such as yourself will still be wondering why people buy higher end tablets in the first place.

Selling millions when they need to sell hundreds of millions to turn a profit. They probably sold millions of shields and they were still flop.

 

[antihelten]

Selling millions when they need to sell hundreds of millions to turn a profit. They probably sold millions of shields and they were still flop.

They certainly don't need to sell hundreds of millions to turn a profit. Apple only sold about 70 million ipads (mini and air) in the past 12 months.

A few million should be plenty to recuperate R&D and make a profit.

With that being said though, they do arguably need to sell tens or even hundreds of millions, if they hope to push the development of android games in a direction where having this kind of hardware will actually make a meaningful difference, for the average consumer.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

They certainly don't need to sell hundreds of millions to turn a profit. Apple only sold about 70 million ipads (mini and air) in the past 12 months.

A few million should be plenty to recuperate R&D and make a profit.

With that being said though, they do arguably need to sell tens or even hundreds of millions, if they hope to push the development of android games in a direction where having this kind of hardware will actually make a meaningful difference, for the average consumer.

Apple takes a cut of all the apps sold for their products.

 

[antihelten]

Apple takes a cut of all the apps sold for their products.

So? you don't think Apple sells their ipads at cost, do you?

I believe the ipad mini with retina has an estimated BOM of about $200, the Mi Pad is probably a tad lower, maybe $150 or so. They are selling it for around $250.

They obviously won't have the profit margin of Apple, but they should still be able to turn a decent profit, even at relatively low (i.e. millions) sales volume.

 

[ams23]

Guru3d GFXBench data for Shield tablet:

 

[ams23]

So Half Life 2 and Portal are running the full OpenGL code path on Tegra K1 (not the OpenGL ES code path) @ 1080p resolution with high details!

Also, due to use of the magnesium thermal shield, the heat dissipation of the Shield tablet is reportedly 2x better than most other thin [fanless] tablets, which means very little thermal throttling!

There is also an optimization feature where battery life and performance can be adjusted by the user on an app-by-app basis: http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/shield-tablet-the-ultimate-tablet-for-gamers

Hands on with Shield tablet:

Mobilegeeks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJSWe6Ane5A

Cnet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJU7NQBYrMw

TechnoBuffalo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsNjH08Sil8

Tested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACli2jGvMJo

PC Games Hardware: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0URGIwobbwE

Hardware Canucks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_0uZYumVlE

 

[RussianSensation]

Even if K1 was 100x more powerful than 780Ti, Shield had 4K screen, and you could stream every single 3rd person shooter at 4K with 0 lag, there are 3 aspects that can't be overcome - controls, screen size and usability.

1) Without a controller, any serious gaming on a tablet is reserved for causals and kids. You cannot brag about K1 running HL2 cuz without a keyboard/ mouse or at least some kind of controller, it is an exercise in frustration.

2) OK so you go out and buy a $60 shield controller. Now what? You are going to buy a $40 stand or use a book to hold the tablet on the table? Talk about awkward gaming because most tables for humans are designed to eat off which means you'll be looking downward at a 30-45* angle at the screen instead of it being in front of you like a TV or PC screen. Awkward gaming with sore neck.

3) Now you paid $300+$60+$40 and realize you have a horrible game library of crappy Android games and you are playing them on a tiny 8 inch screen. Even playing traditional tablet touch style pretty games such as Rayman Legends is boring as heck after 20 min.

As I said, if one wants a gaming device they can carry around, you get 3DS/Vita. If you need portable gaming at home, you get Wii U.

Everyone else who quickly realizes that serious gaming on a tablet is awkward will suddenly view this as a working tablet. And here it instantly runs into competition with the Kindle, iPads and Samsung Tabs.

For about 2 hours you salivate that you have the worlds most powerful gaming tablet and then you realize the screens on the Samsung and iPads blow it away in real estate size and resolution. This product will sell to 5% or less and that's about it. If you read comments on other sites, besides hardcore NV users, no one cares about this thing.

In reality even PC streaming is compromised:

"NVIDIA did note that only 720p is supported through WiFi, and an Ethernet connection is necessary to stream at 1080p due to latency reasons"

 

[TrulyUncouth]

So Half Life 2 and Portal are running the full OpenGL code path on Tegra K1 (not the OpenGL ES code path) @ 1080p resolution with high details!

Not to drag any drama over from the other thread- but there are NO sources for the claim on high details for the source games. They are running the OpenGL render path, but nothing saying they are using high settings yet. If someone has a link saying otherwise, of course I will change my tune.