
I've never been much of a game console guy. It's not that I look down on them with some misguided sense of technical superiority. But as an old-school PC gamer, I've always preferred first-person shooters and RPGs to platformers. I feel I have more control with a mouse and keyboard than a gamepad. There's a sophistication you can get on the PC that'd be difficult to replicate on a console.
When it comes to handheld gaming, though, the PC isn't as much of a factor. Laptops are too large to carry and play on for short jaunts across town, and unless you're flying first class, they're not all that practical in the air, either.
Nintendo catered to the space with its Game Boy, which evolved into today's 3DS XL. Sony countered with its PlayStation Portable. That was replaced by the Vita. Of course, smartphones and tablets are quickly encroaching on the mobile gaming space thanks to advancements in graphics hardware and standardized APIs able to maintain compatibility. Nvidia's Android-based Shield bears mention as well, since it facilitates gaming in its native environment and on Windows, if you're running the right GeForce card and in range of a fast-enough Wi-Fi network.
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While all of these portable consoles have their strengths, none of them gi
ve you a truly mobile version of the desktop experience. You can't play something like Dota 2 on a Nintendo DS. Nvidia comes the closest with surprisingly faithful ports of Half-Life 2 and Portal, but the Android library is otherwise limited. The company continues to implement innovative technologies with GameStream and Grid cloud gaming. However, both features depend on blazing-fast network connections for smooth performance. The day might come when tethering and in-flight Wi-Fi are quick enough, but we're not there now. So what's a PC gaming to do?
Windows 8-based tablets aren't marketed as gaming platforms, and for good reason. The hardware inside most of them tends to be modest, particularly with regard to graphics. Moreover, their storage space is usually quite limited. In many cases, basic peripherals don't work with them due to a lack of simple USB connectivity. Lastly, PC games still aren't written with touch-based input in mind. Right out of the gate, gaming on a Windows-based tablet is a mess.
Of course, enthusiasts lead the charge when it comes to exacting change. We put our minds to making the mobile PC game console idea happen. And let's be clear: I'm not talking about playing Angry Birds or Halo: Spartan Assault here. Some of those Windows-based touch-optimized titles are decent. Cold Alley, GTA: San Andreas, Armed!, Asphalt 8: Airborne, and Skulls of the Shogun are good for hours of diversion, and available on the Windows Store. But that's not what I'm going for. I want hardcore desktop gaming on my mobile console.
The Platform
We have to start somewhere, and Dell's Venue 8 Pro is ideal in some ways.
The 8" tablet form factor is undeniably mobile, yet it provides us with a larger viewing area and resolution compared to the 5" displays on Sony's Vita and Nvidia's Shield. The Dell's 1280x800 native resolution trumps the PlayStation's 960x544 and matches Nvidia's Tegra 4-based portable. Dell Venue 8 Pro (32 GB)
As far as the internals go, our Venue sports an Atom Z3470D with HD Graphics and 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a single channel. All three of those line items potentially limit what we can realistically play. We're going to try some contemporary games, but also know we have to consider older titles as well. The good news is that there's a colossal library of fantastic PC games to choose from, and many are available inexpensively. If anything, this is a great opportunity to try some of the games we never got around to when they first emerged.
A PlayStation Vita or Nvidia Shield is in the $200 neighborhood; Nintendo's 3DS XL is slightly below that. Dell's Venue 8 Pro starts at $300 on the company's site, but you can pick it up for $200 if you have a Micro Center in your area. Granted, those prices cover the 32 GB model. If you plan to install more software, consider the 64 GB version for $320 from dell.com or $250 at Micro Center.
We haven't even made it off the first page yet and we've already paid a premium compared to competing portables. But keep in mind that a Windows-based tablet is useful for much more than gaming. The Venue also includes a full version of Microsoft Office Home 2013. This isn't the much-maligned Windows RT, either. It's the full Windows 8.1 operating system.
You're probably going to want a mouse and keyboard to make navigating Windows more familiar, and on a tablet with a single micro-USB port, that means leaning on Bluetooth. We picked up a low-cost HP X4000b mouse on Amazon for $18, and Bluetooth-attached keyboards can be found for the same price (I snagged a new Microsoft Wedge mobile keyboard off of Craigslist for $30). As for wireless networking, the Venue includes a 2x2 antenna setup and 802.11n connectivity. Link speeds aren't the bottleneck I thought they might be.
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To recap, I snagged the 32 GB Dell Venue 8 Pro for $200 from Micro Center. I spent another $50 on a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. Another $10 was invested into a leather case that doubles as a stand. All of those parts together give me the equivalent of an ultra-portable laptop, along with the peripherals needed for desktop gaming. But there are some compelling extras that I also wanted to test. If they're able to enhance my experience even more, I might be willing to spend a bit extra...
The Venue 8 Pro's 32 GB of solid-state storage won't get you very far if you plan to install games on your tablet. That's why the 64 GB model is tempting. Fortunately, Dell equips the Venue with a microSD slot. Not all mobile devices have one, so prioritize expansion as you shop for mobile devices. You can find a 32 GB Class 10 card to drop into that slot for as little as $15, instantly doubling your capacity. If you're even more committed to the cause, 64 GB cards start at the $40 mark.
For this story, however, I was planned to install a lot of games. It just so happens that SanDisk recently launched a long-awaited high-capacity card, the Ultra 128 GB MicroSDXC Class 10 UHS-I with an adapter. Call me old-school, but it's surreal to think that such a tiny device holds 128 gigabytes of information. Is it fast, though?
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| Capacity | 16 GB | 32 GB | 64 GB | 128 GB | 32 GB |
| Format | SDHC | SDHC | SDXC | SDXC | SDHC |
| Class | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Read Speed | 30 MB/s | 30 MB/s | 30 MB/s | 30 MB/s | N/A |
The company claims up to 30 MB/s read speeds, which is expected from a UHS Class 1 device (they have to guarantee at a 10 MB/s minimum). In our tests, performance indeed varied between 10 and 40 MB/s. In fact, I measured the same read transfer rates from a 32 GB G.Skill Class 10 microSD card also in the lab. Both designations are rated for the same minimum performance level, so that checks out.
SanDisk isn't marketing the Ultra 128 GB under its Extreme brand, which tells us that the product's purpose is primarily mass storage, not peak transfer rates. Regardless, if microSD-based storage space is what you need, it's hard to go wrong with 128 GB. Then again, for many folks, the $15 32 GB option delivers the biggest return on investment. It all depends on how much information you need to keep local.
The SteelSeries Free Bluetooth Gamepad
As I was researching for this story, I discovered that there just aren't many Bluetooth-capable game controllers for the PC. Thankfully, SteelSeries has a well-designed option: its Free.

The gamepad is small, yet surprisingly comfortable. It doesn't feel restrictive or limiting in any way. There are eight buttons, two analog sticks, and an eight-way directional pad. The Free shares the same form factor as SteelSeries' Stratus controller, designed exclusively for iOS-based devices.
In addition to extending PC compatibility, the Free works with iOS- and Android-based devices, too. It gives you the option to remap key functionality on all three platforms. However, I found the PC version's profile editor (called the SteelSeries Engine) perfectly-suited to what I needed, even though the interface took me a little while to get accustomed to. I'd also like to see the company facilitate a way for users to share their custom game profiles. The software can't do that right now.

You can map custom keys to each button, or run the controller in mouse and keyboard mode. This allows the analog stick to emulate mouse movement, which is perfect for first-person shooters. Moreover, the controller can simply be used as a Windows gamepad in titles that support it.
With an advertised 10+ hours of battery life, I was able to complete my testing without recharging the gamepad once. Of course, the Free is still operable while it charges, so you're never left hanging if it runs out of juice as you're playing.
Really, my only criticism of the Free is its $50 price tag on Amazon. Given a lack of competition out there, though, SteelSeries likely isn't under any pressure to make the controller more affordable. On the bright side, wide platform support means you can use the same piece of hardware under several different operating environments.
GestureWorks Gameplay
While the Free is certainly nice, it'd be even more ideal, in my opinion, to have controls built into the gaming device itself. Nintendo, Sony, and Nvidia give you the ability to hold their consoles in your hands. The Wikipad Gamevice promises to deliver this kind of functionality, but we still haven't heard much since its announcement. What is today's tablet gamer to do?
Enter GestureWorks. The company's Gameplay software creates a controller that overlays on top of Windows-based games not already optimized for touch support.

The utility is highly configurable. Simply place the joystick, directional pad, button, switch, or scroll wheel on the screen, wherever you want, and assign the corresponding control. Multi-touch gestures and accelerometers are even supported. I wouldn't call functionality particularly intuitive, and the configuration software runs slowly on Dell's Venue 8 Pro.

When Gameplay works, it's wonderful. Unfortunately, the overlay has some practical limitations that get in the way. For instance, it can be a bit finicky when Steam or Origin is involved. In some cases, it simply doesn't work (Need for Speed World is an example). I also encountered occasional glitches. But overall, the software seems to do what it advertises, and the developers at Ideum do pay attention to the issues that users report.

Best of all is the low $15 buy-in for Gestureworks Gameplay. That's a relatively insignificant expense for software enabling desktop-oriented gaming without the encumbrance of physical keyboards, mice, and gamepads. Version 2.0 is on the horizon as well, and from what we hear, upcoming improvements include the ability to use smartphones as game controllers. If you're seriously into tablet gaming and willing to spend some time configuring this application, it'd be hard to go wrong for the price.
We're testing Dell's Venue 8 Pro differently than we would a desktop PC. To begin, we aren't comparing it to anything, so there's little value in charting performance. Rather, my goal is to demonstrate that playing PC games on a tablet is viable (or not). With that in mind, I chose to record video of actual gameplay to illustrate the usability of our chosen titles with a real representation of frame rate.
It turns out that video does a pretty good job of this. With that in mind, here are the specifications of Dell's Velue 8 Pro:
| Test System | |||||
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| CPU | Intel Atom Z3740D (Bay Trail), 1.333 to 1.833 GHz, Four Cores, BGA1380, 2 MB L2 Cache | ||||
| Memory | DDR3L, 2 GB, 1600 MT/s, CL 9-9-9-24-1T | ||||
| Graphics | Intel HD Graphics, 4 EUs, 313-688 MHz | ||||
| SSD | 32 GB NAND | ||||
| Software and Drivers | |||||
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8.1 32-bit | ||||
| DirectX | DirectX 11 | ||||
| Graphics Drivers | Intel Graphics Driver 10.18.10.3349 | ||||
Dota 2
The multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre is one of the most popular PC game types of all time. Frankly, League of Legends would be too easy to play, even on this HD Graphics-powered tablet. So, I went with Dota 2 instead.
Naturally, I was most interested in the Venue 8 Pro's native 1280x800 resolution for testing. All of the detail settings were turned down as low as they'd go, except for texture quality, which I nudged up to Medium.
As far as controls go, this type of title requires a keyboard and mouse. So, I didn't bother with the SteelSeries Free gamepad or GestureWorks Gameplay software. You can see the result in the video below:
Performance isn't great, but I'd still say that Dota 2 is playable on Dell's tablet at these settings. Of course, there's a big difference between frame rate and network-imposed lag when you're playing an online game. While 30 FPS should be playable for a MOBA, too much latency makes gameplay unpleasant (and that applies to every gaming platform).
Battle for Middle Earth II
I have a fondness for EA's Battle for Middle Earth series, set in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy realm. This title really pushed the visual boundaries of what I expected from an RTS back when it came out. So, I'm dusting it off for today's experiment.
Right off the bat, I ran into an issue: the game doesn't run on Windows 8. Thankfully, a resourceful fan who goes by the alias of Turin Turumbar created the BfME_Startup_Fixxer.exe patch to get around the problem.
The display's native 1280x800 resolution caused some performance problems, so I dialed that back to 1024x768 and cranked the detail preset up to Ultra-High. On Dell's small 8" screen, the lower resolution makes very little difference. Once again, I went with the Bluetooth-attached keyboard and mouse for control.
As you can see in our video, the game looks great considering its age. It runs surprisingly smoothly on Dell's small Windows-based tablet.
World of Warcraft
Believe it or not, there was a time when World of Warcraft demanded more than an entry-level system (and even today, you can dial the game up to Ultra and hammer performance pretty hard). This title remains one of the most relevant names in the PC space, so we decided to give it a try as well.
I went with the DirectX 11 code path and WoW's Low detail preset with no anti-aliasing applied, which allowed us to play the game smoothly at the tablet's 1280x800 resolution. As with the strategy games on the previous page, MMOs aren't truly suited for anything other than keyboard and mouse controls.
The video shows us viewing a multiplayer PvP battle without any performance hitches. With a good Internet connection, you can have a respectable WoW experience on the road.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Star Wars: The Old Republic is built on a more sophisticated graphics engine than World of Warcraft, but it scales down detail levels for less-capable hardware fairly well. It's also free-to-play, and a textbook example of irritating nagware.
Regardles, to get the game running on Dell's Venue 8 Pro, we had to lower the detail levels as low as they'd go and switch to an 800x600 resolution. That probably sounds terrible to most of us, but it's not bad on an 8" screen. And remember, Sony's Vita is always limited to 960x544.
The game is playable, though frame rates drop noticeably on occasion. Strictly speaking, I'd call the performance playable, though I don't know how much of this you'd be willing to endure on an Atom-based tablet. Perhaps our configuration would suffice for a hardcore player looking to maintain a character on the road. It's not ideal as a viable platform for participating in demanding missions.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion set the standard for modern sandbox adventure games, and it still looks good today. Despite a reputation for necessitating high-end graphics hardware when it first launched, I'm going to give it a shot on our tablet.
Although 1024x768 is playable, I prefer to err on the side of responsiveness and higher frame rates. As with Star Wars: The Old Republic, 800x600 is a viable resolution on an 8" tablet, and that's what I went with, also selecting the Low detail preset, but bumping texture quality up to Medium and increasing the view distance to its highest level. The Distant Land option was enabled, too.
In this type of game, a mouse and keyboard are preferable, but not imperative when space is an issue. I decided to give the SteelSeries Free a shot, as well as the GestureWorks Gameplay software, allowing me to play the game through touch-based controls.
Oblivion still looks great and runs smoothly at these quality options. The Free worked as well as any gamepad I've ever used, despite its compact size. GestureWorks' Gameplay software is functional as well, though it takes some getting used to. You'll probably want to adjust your sensitivity settings to taste.
Left 4 Dead
Valve's fast-paced zombie shooter Left 4 Dead is one of my favorite multiplayer co-op games. It's also a great manifestation of the Source engine, which is also prevalent through Half-Life 2, Counter Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2, Portal, and many other titles. If Dell's Atom-powered tablet can handle Left 4 Dead, other Source-based games will probably work as well.
We ran the game at its highest detail settings with trilinear texture filtering, but with shader detail set at Low. Resolution was kept at 800x600. But again, that looked great. As for the controls, we couldn't get the Gameplay software running correctly. However, the SteelSeries Free gamepad worked like a charm.
Left 4 Dead runs surprisingly smoothly on the Venue 8 Pro. The gamepad provides excellent response. As with any shooter, however, I prefer a mouse and keyboard setup. I actually played through Left 4 Dead on Dell's tablet in a hotel room over Wi-Fi. It took two hours for me to realize I was having fun without the power cord plugged in.
Unreal Tournament 3
Epic's Unreal Engine 3 has a long and distinguished history of driving some of the most popular PC games, including the Batman: Arkham series, Gears of War, BioShock, Borderlands, and Mass Effect, among others. It's an older title, but I decided to take Unreal Tournament 3 for a spin, too.
I was forced down to 800x600 once again, this time selecting the lowest detail level, a texture resolution of "3", and the middle level of character LoD. Even with a big compromise in graphics fidelity, some of the game's maps still suffered from low performance. I eventually settled on the Torlan map for optimal playability.
The game's well-known camera spin issue occurred when I tried to use the SteelSeries Free, but I switched to GestureWorks' Gameplay on-screen controller and was fine.
So long as you're mindful of the map you're playing Unreal Tournament 3 is playable. Naturally, that's bad news for newer, more demanding titles based on Unreal Engine 3. But I can't say I'm surprised. The HD Graphics engine with four EUs just isn't suited to fast-paced gaming, even backed by Intel's more capable x86 architecture.
Burnout Paradise
Burnout Paradise is another of my favorites. It's a shame that developer Criterion Games got redirected to the Need For Speed franchise. While Most Wanted was great in its own regard, and indeed the spiritual successor to Burnout Paradise, it lost a good measure of Criterion's cheeky attitude in the process.
Regardless, Burnout Paradise still looks fantastic, and it's a wonderful example of a console port done right. The game runs well on entry-level hardware; we were able to set it at the tablet's native 1280x800 resolution, albeit with minimum detail settings.
In my opinion, an analog control stick is essential for racing games, and the SteelSeries Free works like a charm. Unfortunately, GestureWorks' Gameplay profile for Burnout Paradise didn't work for us, though the developers got it working on their end.
I'm happy to say that Burnout Paradise is very much playable on Dell's Venue 8 Pro.
Need For Speed World
Free-to-play MMOs aren't limited to RPGs; EA entered the fray with Need for Speed World. You can spend virtual winnings from street races to buy cars, upgrade your ride, and customize paint jobs and liveries. The game oftentimes feels like pay-to-win. Still, you can get a lot of enjoyment out of the title without putting any cash into it, so long as you don't mind the grind.
The worst thing I can say about this game involves its terribly limited gamepad options. The list of supported hardware is very short. Its a complete mystery as to why Need for Speed World doesn't recognize generic Windows gamepads, but we weren't able to get it working with the SteelSeries Free. And I couldn't get the game to launch with GestureWorks' Gameplay controller enabled. So, I took it for a spin with the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard combination instead.
We set the game to the tablet's native 1280x800 resolution with the level of detail set to Low (one notch above minimum).
The game runs smoothly on a tablet. I noticed a few dropped frames at launch, but performance was consistent after that. Of course, latency issues are more of a worry during multiplayer races, but that problem is just as prevalent on the desktop.
By no means am I forecasting the impending success of Windows-based gaming on tablets anytime soon. But as some enthusiasts wait for their favorite PC experiences to hit the Android ecosystem, my passion for the desktop pushed me in a different direction. I write for Tom's Hardware, after all.
Of course, if you expect to spend a lot of time away from home base, a gaming-capable laptop is probably your smartest play. High-end notebooks sport high-res screens and the underlying hardware to drive them at demanding detail levels. If your budget is fairly flexible and you want the convenience of a convertible tablet, Microsoft's Surface Pro and Razer's Edge are much more powerful than the Venue 8 Pro tested today. But expect to pay four or five times more than I did.
But if you're a PC game enthusiast, you're willing to put up with a time investment into customized settings, you covet small form factors, and you dislike the idea of toting a full-sized notebook around, you'll be pleasantly surprised that the latest Windows 8.1-based tablets sport hardware fast enough for mainstream gaming. The fact that they're also quite affordable is icing on the cake.
A couple of years ago, if you tried to tell me I'd be enjoying a game of Left 4 Dead on an 8-inch tablet, I probably would have laughed. Substitute that title with Oblivion, Burnout Paradise, The Battle for Middle Earth 2, Dota 2, and so on. They're all enjoyable, and I just showed that they're playable, too. Plus, the legacy PC game library is spectacularly huge; we didn't even scratch the surface here today.
That also speaks to price. You can pick up older PC titles with a lot of gameplay value for very little money, many of which are available on Steam. A Windows tablet sells for as little as $200, and that number keeps falling. I've seen announcements for sub-$150 devices, even. While you a couple of Bluetooth-attached peripherals to maximize the experience, you end up with a true Windows-based piece of hard that easily replicates the functionality of a small notebook with Microsoft Office. Sony's PlayStation Vita, Nintendo's 3DS XL, and Nvidia's Shield don't boast nearly as much flexibility.
How about the limitations? They are indeed significant. We couldn't get most of the games we typically benchmark with to run. Titles like BioShock Infinite and Sins of a Solar Empire won't launch properly, while Star Trek Online, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Grid 2, Dirt Showdown, and Just Cause 2 simply run too slowly. Current-generation Atom processors and HD Graphics engines are simply underpowered and unable to handle the vast majority of modern PC games, even some that are known to have relatively low system requirements.
As for controls, the SteelSeries Free Bluetooth gamepad is a complete pleasure to use. Unfortunately, in my opinion, a separate peripheral takes away from the unified mobile console experience. While GestureWorks' Gameplay software gives us the option to use a virtual gamepad overlay, it has its own quirks. Having said that, the utility's future looks promising thanks to responsive developers, and I think it's worth the $15 price tag. Of course, the ideal setup would be game controls affixed to the left and right edges of the screen, similar to Razer's Edge gaming tablet. Wikipad promises a controller able to do that called the Gamevice, but it's not expected until later this year.
Storage is another concern when you start thinking about installing Windows-based games. Most tablets include 32 or 64 GB of NAND, which is woefully undersized. I avoided that issue with SanDisk's Ultra 128 GB MicroSDXC Class 10 UHS-I card. Of course, much cheaper 32 and 64 GB models are available if you're trying to save some money.
If you're a PC gaming enthusiast willing to do a little trial and error for compatible software, there's a lot of entertainment to be found in small, low-cost Windows-based tablets. In another year or two, I think this space will have evolved tremendously. When that happens, it's possible that gaming on tablets might become more mainstream. Fingers crossed.
