Nvidia Countdown, Quest Points to Upcoming Shield

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By Kevin Parrish
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According to Nvidia, the "Ultimate" is coming. In fact, it will be here in just over three days thanks to Nvidia's countdown timer found here. The page doesn't provide any additional details; there are no Easter eggs to find. The only possible clue is hanging in the background as wallpaper, which could be a close-up shot of a tablet's rear plate.

This Ultimate countdown timer arrives as Nvidia announces the "Ultimate Quest," a tweet-based text adventure written by interactive fiction editor Emily Short. This game is basically an advertisement tool for a "mysterious" new product, spanning across five days. Players who manage to finish the quest will receive the unnamed new product.

"It's a five-day saga that will bring players across a dystopian urban landscape in search of a power that will change the world. This will be an adventured to challenge the most skilled gamers," says Nvidia's announcement.

Gameplay will take place on a website that features illustrations by Silvio Aebischer (Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee and Iron Man 2). A new episode will unfold each day from July 18 to July 22, the day Nvidia's new product will be revealed. Gamers will need to play every day, as pieces of the story will reveal how players can interact with the game on the next day.

To play, simply head here and log into your Twitter account. "There will be a variety of social activity tagged with #UltimateQuest on Twitter, with @NVIDIAGeForce driving the conversation. If you get stuck anywhere along the way, go to @Ultimate_Qs and see what kind of tips you can dig up,” says Nvidia's announcement.

Players can only beat the game on the last day, the announcement states.

So what is this new product that Nvidia will reveal next week? Probably the Shield Tablet. The device is expected to have a 7.9-inch screen with a 2048 x 1536 resolution, a Tegra K1 processor with a 192-core GPU, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. The tablet may also include a 7MP camera on the back and a 4.8MP camera on the front, along with Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity.

Whatever Nvidia has up its sleeve, we'll find out what this new product will be next week, so stay tuned.

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Kevin Parrish
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • RoxasForTheWin
    It's a shame I don't like tablets
    Reply
  • suture
    It's a shame I don't like tablets

    I i grew fond of them, what i dont like is the absurd and dumb resolutions they nowdays have on mobile devices.. 1080p is already overkill.. and in a gaming tablet? i reaaaallly hope it doesnt have more than 1080p.
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    they should have put more focus on GPU. How many times they need to fail b4 they realised?
    Reply
  • de5_Roy
    i've noticed that everyone mentioning tegra k1 soc never, ever, forgets to specify the gpu spec - 192 cores (some even mention the kepler uarch) but somehow always forgets to mention the cpu specifications. :whistle:
    rather convenient for nvidia. in case they're tricking people into buying the 32bit 4 core a15 variant instead of the 64bit dual core variant, or vice versa. does nvidia even have an soc with a 64bit quad core cpu? :D
    Reply
  • somebodyspecial
    i've noticed that everyone mentioning tegra k1 soc never, ever, forgets to specify the gpu spec - 192 cores (some even mention the kepler uarch) but somehow always forgets to mention the cpu specifications. :whistle:
    rather convenient for nvidia. in case they're tricking people into buying the 32bit 4 core a15 variant instead of the 64bit dual core variant, or vice versa. does nvidia even have an soc with a 64bit quad core cpu? :D

    What trick, we know the first rev is A15r3 (lower power better perf than T4 A15's), the second is a dual core denver that matches it with 64bit. This was on slides ages ago, not sure what you are confused about. The 64bit variant has already been benchmarked, so are you just not reading this site and others that have reported those scores ages ago? The 64bit soc is done, it will be in xmas devices. To answer, they have not announce a quad and what for if their dual already beats 805 and likely 810 (since 810 is off the shelf IP it won't run like NV's in house cores)? With the size of denver cores being what looks to be roughly twice A15, why quad? That would probably be aimed squarely at some low-end desktops or will come with 20nm which would allow this and still fit in a tablet envelope. It's easier to perform better with less threads in mobile and more IPC per thread. So no quad yet, just a very large dual core (like cyclone I guess), you don't need one if you do the dual properly as apple has proven again and again. The gpu arch and cores get mentioned repeatedly because that is what makes the chip special, it's a kepler and comes with everything the desktop chip does. Including features and of course dev experience already done. Nobody has to learn anything to code for kepler as it has already been learned inside out on PC's.

    So everyone is tricking us then? Nobody but apple is selling 64bit on the top end (and it's a dual). I'm confused by your statements, since nobody is running 64bit quad yet (not counting Intel here, they have to give their chips away and PAY you too...LOL 1.1bil loss for 50mil revenue).
    Reply
  • gsxrme
    Tablet gaming sucks. If I had $400 to blow, I would gladly buy an XboxOne or PS4 over a tablet or Nvidia Shield.

    Oh wait I did! Man I'm loving Destiny beta!
    Reply
  • de5_Roy
    13753327 said:
    <wall of text> don't worry, i read all of it. still.. yawn.
    sigh... i really don't care what beats what and who else discloses what. i am saying that here, nvidia is lying by omission. simple. others do too, i am well aware of that. using the igpu to turn our attention away from the cpu is a cheap tactic and shows how much nvidia has to show on cpu front (somehow that reminded me of amd...).
    Reply
  • airborne11b
    Tablet gaming sucks. If I had $400 to blow, I would gladly buy an XboxOne or PS4 over a tablet or Nvidia Shield.

    Oh wait I did! Man I'm loving Destiny beta!

    The SHIELD products are designed to be a high powered mobile gaming device and an extension of your gaming PC. With SHIELD you can play classic game emulators for systems like NES, SNES, Gensis, Playstation 1 / 2, N64 and more... while also being able to play all android games with a physical controller, at any time or place.

    Also, with a wifi connection, or on your home network, you can stream PC games from your PC to the device. So you can play Skyrim while you're waiting for a plane at the airport, or game through Boarderlands 2 while you're on a break at school or work.

    The SHIELD tablet can attach a controller, like Game Grip STG, or it can be used without one for normal tablet/touch screen uses.

    But this is stuff that appeals to PC Master-Race gamers. Dirty console peasants need not apply.
    Reply
  • somebodyspecial
    13753355 said:
    Tablet gaming sucks. If I had $400 to blow, I would gladly buy an XboxOne or PS4 over a tablet or Nvidia Shield.

    Oh wait I did! Man I'm loving Destiny beta!

    You're apparently not aware of the fact you can play from your tablet or shield on your 65in tv. You can also stream your PC gpu and play THOSE games on your tv with these. There are a LOT of top quality games on android now and you can hook a gamepad to any one of them and miracast or hdmi that game to your BIG SCREEN tv. You go blow your money on a console, and don't forget your games will be $60 every time on top. I'll play my PC or get a tablet/shield or some such for android gaming output to TV. I have zero interest in playing on the tiny screen unless out of the house. Otherwise it's a gamepad and hooked to tv for me. The list of console ports is already long (square enix, EA etc all porting like mad), so you get all those old games many of us have never played for $2-15 bucks. With the 20nm socs coming power will blow away K1 and new games will be amping up and all playable on TV. You talk like you think you're stuck on that little screen. Not so, and many gamepads (xbox360 for instance) already work fine hooked to these android devices.
    Reply
  • Ninjawithagun
    The screen resolution provided in this article is incorrect. 2048 x 1536 is a 4:3 aspect ratio, but as you can see in the photo of the device, it is clearly a 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio. Thus, the resolution will most likely be 2560 x 1440 or 2560 x 1600.
    Reply