Nvidia Officially Unveils the Shield Tablet and Shield Controller

By Matt Humrick
published

The Shield Tablet advances both mobile media consumption and gaming by combining the best features of the Tegra Note 7 and Shield handheld gaming device into a compelling mini tablet and wireless controller.

Wouldn't You Prefer A Nice Game Of Chess?

While the Shield Tablet is all that’s needed to play the thousands of native Android touch based games, the Shield Controller is necessary for the full Shield gaming experience. The Shield Controller is naturally modeled after the Shield Portable, with a similar control layout and feel. The wireless controller works with both the Shield Tablet and Shield Portable, and uses Wi-Fi Direct rather than Bluetooth for communication. Using Wi-Fi keeps control latency to a minimum and allows sufficient bandwidth for transmitting bi-directional audio, a necessity when a headset with microphone is plugged into the headphone jack on the controller.

The Shield Controller offers a wealth of functionality specific to the Shield family of products. The controls can be used for navigating the Android UI and various menus, but the on-screen keyboard is still necessary for entering text. There’s a dedicated button for launching the Shield Hub app and Google Voice, working with the built-in microphone, can be summoned for voice control. The buttons can also be used for controlling GameStream and there’s even a small capacitive multi-touch touch pad.

The Shield Tablet inherits all of the advanced gaming features from the Shield Portable. First, there’s Console Mode. Like the name implies, the Shield Tablet can be hooked up to an HDTV via the MiniHDMI port and function like a game console. Up to four wireless Shield Controllers can be used simultaneously while playing Android and PC games. It can also function as a media player for watching Netflix HD and other content on the big screen.

Next, is GameStream, which allows you to play PC games on the Shield Tablet from anywhere over a Wi-Fi or LTE connection. In the article Shield Remote GameStream: How Far Will You Go to Game?, we examine how well Nvidia’s game streaming technology works over several different connections using the Shield Portable.

With GameStream, the game is rendered on the PC, which then uses the NVENC hardware-based video encoder to create an H.264 video stream that’s sent to the Shield Tablet. The Kepler GPU in the tablet then uses PureVideo HD for decoding the stream. Using this process, GameStream can send 720p video over wireless or 1080p video over ethernet with an optional ethernet to USB adapter.

Nvidia Grid, an extension of GameStream to the cloud, is yet another way to enjoy PC games on a Shield portable device. This service functions the same as GameStream, but instead of using your own PC for game rendering, Nvidia’s cloud computers do the hard work. Nvidia Grid is still in beta and currently offers 16 titles, including Borderlands 2. The good news is this service is free for a limited time for Shield users. The bad news is Nvidia Grid is limited to users in Northern California only. Hopefully, Nvidia is able to extend this service as it offers a great deal of potential. Check out the Nvidia Grid Cloud Gaming Beta page for more information.

Another feature that’s unique to the Shield Tablet is Twitch integration. Using Nvidia ShadowPlay, it’s possible to stream game sessions, complete with voice and video overlay (via the front camera), to the Twitch network for sharing with friends and family. Twitch streaming works with any native Android or GameStream game. This feature isn’t limited to just games either; any Android app can be streamed to Twitch by just pressing a button on the Shield Controller and activating it from the popup menu.

Games

Any gaming device is only as good as the games it plays. Fortunately, there’s already a strong catalog of titles for the Shield Tablet with more on the way. Nvidia enumerates over 400 optimized touch and controller games for Android, including Half Life 2 and Portal.

Trine 2: Complete Story, a FrostByte game bundled with the Shield Tablet, is one of 11 new Tegra K1 optimized games. It uses the same textures and assets as the PS3 version of the game and even includes PhysX support.

For the PC gamers, there’s currently over 120 GameStream-ready PC titles, with the only real requirement being support for external game controllers.

And yes, you can even play Pure Chess.

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Matt Humrick
43 Comments Comment from the forums
  • TechyInAZ
    Cool! What a great tablet for not just gaming, but it can also be a great productivity powerhouse.
    Reply
  • DarkSable
    ... seriously Tom's?

    Websites have been proclaiming the end of the world as we know it (or at least of desktop computers) for years now, and it's all just built on itself. The reason desktop sales have declined marginally is because most home users already have a desktop fast enough for their needs, and only need to replace it when it breaks.

    The other reason is that people have leapt headfirst into the pile of hype that surrounds tablets, which means they're going to see great growth... right until they hit market saturation.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    Finally something new and noteworthy in the sub-$300 tablet segment.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    13776476 said:
    The other reason is that people have leapt headfirst into the pile of hype that surrounds tablets, which means they're going to see great growth... right until they hit market saturation.
    Tablet sales have already started to slow down; probably in large part due to tablet specs having remained mostly stagnant for much of the past two years. I hoped the N7-2013 would start a flood of decent ~$200 devices but it seems most of the sub-$300 segment just continued filling up with devices having specs closer to the N7-2012 instead.

    PCs on the other hand are getting bumper sales on the back of companies being forced off XP.
    Reply
  • hahmed330
    I have to correct one thing Matt... You can use Nvidia Grid Streaming from anywhere, but obviously you need latency of less then 40ms and 10mbit download speed for a great experience. I am seriously looking forward for the whole review though. Direct Stylus 2 looks really interesting. Hopefully Remote Gamestream has come out of beta.
    Reply
  • TheMentalist
    People always open their mouth saying the shield is worthless. It's the best hardware you get for the money!
    Reply
  • DarkSable
    Guys, read what I was saying.

    Never did I say that the Shield, or the shield tablet, was worthless - I think they're great pieces of tech.

    I was annoyed with Tom's Hardware for perpetuating the absolutely faulty myth, which has been around for at least five years now, that desktop computers are "on their way out" and that we should all give up and buy mobile devices.

    I have a 3ds and a nexus 5, both of which I like to game on... but that doesn't mean I'm giving up my gaming computer, or that gaming computers aren't going to exist in a few years.
    Reply
  • kamhagh
    That Price is amazing!!!! Also i agree with darkdable,,

    Phones will NEVER replace pc, well at least not for next 80 years! And touch is the worst kind of input, specially for gaming, but its portable and good! Ita good to play awesome games outside and bring it with you, but still, its not pc!!! Pc is amazing, mouse and keyboard, huge screen,
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    13777299 said:
    I was annoyed with Tom's Hardware for perpetuating the absolutely faulty myth, which has been around for at least five years now, that desktop computers are "on their way out" and that we should all give up and buy mobile devices.
    Well, Intel is putting more effort in their laptop/mobile/embedded R&D and still pushing power-efficiency across the board, Nvidia adopted a mobile-first design mentality, AMD is moving to a heavily if not exclusively APU-centric device lineup, etc.

    They might not be dropping desktops overnight but they are all moving in the same general direction: towards a future of mostly low-power if not mobile/embedded systems.

    XP maintaining a ~30% market share until Microsoft dropped public support for it is living proof that many people and applications do not need anywhere near as much processing power as today's entry-level systems provide. Intel's Q2 report says ASPs have dropped by 3%, meaning that a fair chunk of Intel's end-of-XP bumper sales are for lower-end/lower-cost chips. This is not going to get better.
    Reply
  • airborne11b
    I love this new design. It's a mobile gaming powerhouse and if you combine it with a controller that attaches to the device itself, you get one hell of a mobile gaming device with a huge screen that also doubles as a really powerful android tablet.

    PC streaming, GRID, Console Mode, Tegra K1 fueled android gaming, Direct2 Stylus, full android OS backed by serious processing power.

    All for $299. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

    I also sent an email asking when the STG-ONE tablet-attachable controller will be released. I'll reply back here if I get a response.
    Reply