NVIDIA Tegra Updates from GTC 2013

Project Shield

Project Shield

Project Shield was first announced at CES 2013 and we had an early experience with the handheld gaming console. It sports a Tegra 4 SoC and is able to play games from the Google Store and its own Tegra Zone.

At the exhibition hall of GTC 2013, we had the chance to witness the streaming of the PC version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted from the GTX 680-based desktop system to a Project Shield device albeit through a wired connection due to Wi-Fi interference. NVIDIA Marketing Manager Jeff Chen said that by using GeForce Experience, the symbiotic link between the devices can be set up at the click of a button as long as they are on the same wireless network. He also mentioned the low device latency as the H.264 video feed from the master device to Project Shield didn't consume much bandwidth, allowing the user to experience gameplay without any stutter or delayed response; however, he did wisely advise to avoid competitive gaming using such a setup and it's more of a convenience feature for casual multi-player gaming.

We also witnessed Project Shield in action as it was used as a controller for the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 and we could truly appreciate the benefits of having a pair of analog joysticks as opposes to a conventional touchscreen-based control. The controller software is not available yet and the same could be said of Project Shield as we await its arrival with bated breath!