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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Nvidia Shield mini review: 10 reasons why Nvidia Shield is the best gaming handheld you can buy

disolitude on 15 August 2013
Spazzy_D said:
When I have some extra cash to burn I will get one, just because the Wii U made me SUCH a huge fan of offscreen gameplay. I really like being able to walk around the house when I'm playing something, and I like being able to play from my bed or while laying down on my coach.


Yeah its a neat feature that WiiU has for sure and I will pick it up when Sonic and Bayonetta 2 come out.

But here is something cool...once this Nvidia streaming technology comes to Geforce laptops and other Tegra 4 tablets, you will be able to play WiiU, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4... games wirelessly as well.

All you need is a PC with a Geforce GTX 600 card, console of your choice, HDMI capture card, and software that will run the video from the capture card with as little latency as possible. 

PS3 would plug in to the PC through the HDMI capture card and you would launch the capture software through Steam big picture mode as an executable and just use the PS3 controller anywhere in the house to play and stream video to your laptop/tablet/smartphone. 

It's expensive, and highly unpractical but hella cool... :)



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Spazzy_D on 15 August 2013
disolitude said:
Spazzy_D said:
When I have some extra cash to burn I will get one, just because the Wii U made me SUCH a huge fan of offscreen gameplay. I really like being able to walk around the house when I'm playing something, and I like being able to play from my bed or while laying down on my coach.


Yeah its a neat feature that WiiU has for sure and I will pick it up when Sonic and Bayonetta 2 come out.

But here is something cool...once this Nvidia streaming technology comes to Geforce laptops and other Tegra 4 tablets, you will be able to play WiiU, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4... games wirelessly as well.

All you need is a PC with a Geforce GTX 600 card, console of your choice, HDMI capture card, and software that will run the video from the capture card with as little latency as possible. 

PS3 would plug in to the PC through the HDMI capture card and you would launch the capture software through Steam big picture mode as an executable and just use the PS3 controller anywhere in the house to play and stream video to your laptop/tablet/smartphone. 

It's expensive, and highly unpractical but hella cool... :)

That does actually sound pretty awesome.



Scisca on 15 August 2013

disolitude wrote:

Exactly. Can't argue if its true...


I write:

So you are aware that it's only true when you move your goalposts to a place in which no matter what happens, Shield is a winner and the best handheld ever created? In that case - nothing to argue about, but you can make exactly the same argument about anything, if you move the goalposts this way.



Wii U is a GCN 2 - I called it months before the release!

My Vita to-buy list: The Walking Dead, Persona 4 Golden, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, TearAway, Ys: Memories of Celceta, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, History: Legends of War, FIFA 13, Final Fantasy HD X, X-2, Worms Revolution Extreme, The Amazing Spiderman, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - too many no-gaemz :/

My consoles: PS2 Slim, PS3 Slim 320 GB, PSV 32 GB, Wii, DSi.

papamudd on 15 August 2013
Ssenkahdavic said:
I wonder if they have one of these up for display at, say, Best Buy? Id love to check one out. Anyone know?


What metropolitan area are you closest too? Im not sure about bestbuy, but there are gamestops demoing the device... Only 22 stores nationwide have the product currently. If you are near me in the us i can tell you when and where it will be demoed live in store



Talal said:
I will permaban myself if the game releases in 2014.

in reference to KH3 release date

soulfly666 on 15 August 2013
disolitude said:
soulfly666 said:
disolitude said:
artur-fernand said:
I think it's great that you're loving the Shiled so much, but it's kinda ridiculous seeing you trying to convince EVERYONE that it's the best handheld ever, and firmly believing it will sell well just because it has Android and streams PC, "two of the most supported platforms on the market". It doesn't work like this man.


You talk about "I have great Android games and emulators on the Shield", when I can get the same exact things if I buy a good smartphone and a PSP. Sure, the smartphone won't have buttons, but from my experience, adding buttons to Android games is not worth $300. The only thing it has going for it is PC streaming. And you'll only be able to use that if you have a gaming PC.

I'm not saying it will sell well because it has Android and streams PC games. Not at all... I am saying that it can't "bomb" from a user perspective because of that. People say a device is afailure because it is discontinued and software support dies. This is impossible with Nvidia Shield. Games and support will not stop if it sells 10 or 1 million units. 

Secondly, I am not trying to convince anyone of anything. Buy what you like and can afford. I guess don't take in to account that I may have a little more disposable income and that the price of $299 isn't something I would consider as a dealbreaker for a cool gadget.  If someone is able to take their Galaxy S3 they already own and attach a Moga controller and accomplish the same thing and save $250 bucks in the process...power to you! 

All I am saying is that it's an awesome "premium" handheld device that does a LOT of things that no other single device is currently able to do. These features along with it's flexibility and design build/quality make it the best gaming handheld for my gaming needs. 

And for the record, I am not new to the portable handheld game or am someone that hasn't had the chance to use many hence Nvidia shield is easily blowing me away. I have owned or currently own Game gear, all kinds of gameboys, Sega Nomad, GP2X, PSP, DS, and PS Vita. 3DS I tend borrow from my little sister hence I didn't need to buy one myself. 


While I agree with you somewhat because it does sound like a cool device, It can't play Gravity Rush, Uncharted, Person 4G, Kid Icarus, Castlevania: Mirrors of Fate, Batman Blackgate, Hot Shots Golf, VLR, etc etc.  But I can play PC games on my gaming PC or laptop and Android games on my Galaxy or that plug n play thing for TV's...I fail to see how it is the best portable overall.  But it does sound cool.

This is a very good point. Essentially you are right... If you are buying a portable device for a select few games that are not available anywhere else, all of the points I made in OP are irrelevant.

This really sin't me...not at least when it comes to mobile gaming. When it comes to gaming on the go, I personally just want to be entertained and can't really think of a single show stopper title that I have to play or GTFO. I just want things to do and many games I can play and there is plenty on Nvidia shield in terms of gaming variety to keep someone like me entertained.

Another reason why this device may appeal to someone like me is the fact I always enjoyed tinkering and hacking open source handheld devices. The problem I ran in to before was that the open source devices usually did not have the build quality or community/dev support that was worthwhile. This device however is as well built (if not better) as the 3DS or PSVita and is running open source Android, one of the most supported mobile platforms on the planet.

But yeah...to recap, if you want a device that is resonably priced, and has a list of games you absolutely want and must play, there is a good chance that the Shield isn't the best choice for you.

But if you want a very well built device with top notch specs, that provides a huge variety in terms of types of games you can play, and it offers many extra features plus allows for open source hacking, not to mention a full blown mobile OS...and you are willing to pay a premium for it and other stuff needed to make the most out of this device, Nvidia Shield is the ticket. There really is nothing else like it at the moment.


It would be so EPIC if you could Linux the Shield!



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Ssenkahdavic on 15 August 2013
papamudd said:
Ssenkahdavic said:
I wonder if they have one of these up for display at, say, Best Buy? Id love to check one out. Anyone know?


What metropolitan area are you closest too? Im not sure about bestbuy, but there are gamestops demoing the device... Only 22 stores nationwide have the product currently. If you are near me in the us i can tell you when and where it will be demoed live in store

North Carolina.  RTP to be precise (near Raleigh)



 

  

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jonathanalis on 16 August 2013

I didnt understand.
i dont have a PC, can i play steam games on it without a pc?
if not, for me is useless.




disolitude on 16 August 2013
jonathanalis said:
I didnt understand.
i dont have a PC, can i play steam games on it without a pc?
if not, for me is useless.

Its useless for you. You can't even boot up the device without PC... let alone play any of the 1000s of classic emulated games or Android games which include XBL/PSN titles like Afterburner climax, Sonic 4 1 and 2...PC games like MAx Payne and GTA Vice City, Wii games like The Conduit...and exclusive Android games like Dead Trigger and Shadowgun.



papamudd on 17 August 2013
Ssenkahdavic said:
papamudd said:
Ssenkahdavic said:
I wonder if they have one of these up for display at, say, Best Buy? Id love to check one out. Anyone know?


What metropolitan area are you closest too? Im not sure about bestbuy, but there are gamestops demoing the device... Only 22 stores nationwide have the product currently. If you are near me in the us i can tell you when and where it will be demoed live in store

North Carolina.  RTP to be precise (near Raleigh)

hmm I'm in texas and am going to be doing live demos for this product today and tomorrow. I'll have to check with my supervisor if they have any locations near Raleigh, NC... Only 22 in the country and I have 2 of them in Dallas :/



Talal said:
I will permaban myself if the game releases in 2014.

in reference to KH3 release date

r3tr0gam3r1337 on 17 August 2013

sorry but the shield as promising as it was at E3 offers very little in terms of future proofing, let me explain, every year people like to upgrade their hardware and try to pick what offers them the best bang for their buck, currently (but only for the past 5 months) Nvidia have had faster graphics cards than their competitor AMD, at the end of september 2013 they are going to release the successor to the 7970 in the 9000 series of GPU's, would you restrict your gaming pleasure by having a slower GPU just so you could carry on playing on the shield?.

there are plenty of Android tablets that have nvidia tegra in them and no doubt the google nexus 3 will have Nvidia tegra 4 technology but a lot cheaper than the slate and you can already buy a wireless bluetooth controller called the MOGA pro which is 100% compatible with all android devices, there are also free streaming apps which can be installed on a PC to sync with an android device which pretty much does exactly what the shield does but works with both Nvidia and AMD GPU's (shield only works with GTX 600/700 series GPU's, it will not work with GTX 500/400/300/200 etc), shield is more of a novelty item rather than an all out solution, what's wrong with having a 30 foot HDMI cord linking your PC to your big screen TV and getting a wireless controller which works over 30 feet away for the source.



Current PC build:

Asus Z97I-Plus, i5 4790K @ 4.6ghz, EVGA GTX 980 ACX 2.0 1377/1853/124%, Corsair Vengence Pro 2400mhz 2x 8192mb, Corsair RM850, Corsair H80i, 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD, 750GB Seagate Momentus XT SSHD, 320GB Weston Digital HDD, Corsair 230T, Corsair K50 Raptor, HP XQ500AA mouse, Windows 10 Pro 64bit. iiyama Pro Lite G2773HS 120Hz 1Ms G2G gaming monitor.