NVIDIA SHIELD Console Review

If you’re a diehard gamer that has been looking for one device that will fit all your needs, NVIDIA is promising exactly that with their all-new NVIDIA SHIELD game console. An Android-powered controller with the 5-inch screen built right in. From the thousands of Android games, nearly any Steam PC game and more the SHIELD is a gaming device through and through. It’s finally available today and to help you make up your mind if this $299 device is right for you, we have a full review and tons of video.

This isn’t an Xbox One or Playstation 4, but it sure has more power than most handheld gaming devices. Rocking the latest generation 1.9 GHz quad-core Tegra 4 processor, 2GB of RAM, and plenty of storage. Plus who needs an Xbox when you can stream any Steam game right from your PC? NVIDIA took both angles here, and we’ll be diving into it all.

Hardware

The NVIDIA SHIELD is an impressive device when you consider everything they’ve packed into this rather lightweight device. You guys should all be extremely familiar with SHIELD now, not to mention it was delayed last month at last minute, so we won’t get too crazy with specifics. With a familiar Xbox-style controller layout you’ll feel right at home, but it is what’s under the hood and above the controls that are important.

A built in 5-inch 720p HD display is attached right to the SHIELD, and flips up to any angle you’d like. For gaming, watching video, or browsing the web. The usual XYAB buttons are in a familiar spot to the right, with two analog joystick controllers, the popular D-Pad, and then your Android home and back buttons. Two stereo speakers face up and boost excellent sound, and the dedicated NVIDIA button in the middle glows when powered on. That glow will direct you to all the gaming you’d ever want. From over 130 Android games specifically tuned for SHIELD, thousands in the Play Store, and oh, did we mention you can stream Skyrim, Crysis, COD and more right to it from the PC. Black Ops II from your couch, bed, or even poolside. Yup!

Under the display and familiar gaming controls is all the magic. Crammed inside this controller is a 1.9 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 4 quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. It runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and will give you that plain Android experience you already love. Then on back we have those usual triggers and bumpers for any game controller. NVIDIA didn’t just stop there, the back is loaded with ports to make things even better.

There’s a vent for when you’re heavy into some gaming, a 3.5mm headphone jack so you don’t bother people around you, micro-USB for charging the integrated battery, mini HDMI-out to stream anything and everything to the bigscreen TV and home theater (even PC games) and lastly a micro-SD slot for expanding storage. I have 64GB + the 16GB internal, and it’s full of games and movies.

So how does the hardware actually feel now that I’ve had almost 3 weeks to enjoy it? Epic. How NVIDIA managed to pack all of this into something only slightly larger than an Xbox controller, keep the build quality absolutely top notch, and make it stay under 2 lbs is impressive. SHIELD is 579 grams in weight, so won’t be too heavy to enjoy hours of use.

Two extremely important areas are the triggers, and of course the screen hinge. Both feel excellent after a month of heavy heavy usage. Not just a few days here. NVIDIA made sure the hinge for the screen was tight enough it doesn’t move while gaming and tapping, yet not so tight it ruins the experience. They got it perfect, and the triggers are the best I’ve used on a non console gamepad yet.

The entire device has a soft-touch black rubber design, and the top aluminum plate is swappable and custom gaming covers are coming soon. So far there’s no signs of wear and tear on the corners, or anything of that nature after holding this for hours and hours in my sweaty palms. To wrap things up on the hardware we will say NVIDIA completely shocked us with this level of build quality and perfection, but it will take some getting use to for most users.

Software

This is bone stock, plain vanilla Android 4.2 Jelly Bean like Google offers, with a few tweaks of course. So while we know you all want to hear and see the gaming, we’ll just keep this part brief. The experience is extremely familiar here, but of course having an only landscape screen some apps don’t like to play nice. NVIDIA’s addressed this with many but hopefully more improve over time. More on that can be found from the video below.

With stock Android and full support for Google Play, Gmail, Google Music and more this is basically an Android tablet with a 5-inch display and an attached controller. In a way. It can be used as such, although not practical, but the point were making is you can enjoy it even while you’re not gaming. The performance is blazing fast thanks to that quad-core T4, and hopefully Android 4.3 Jelly Bean comes up quick. Here’s a video showing a day without gaming on SHIELD.

A few of the issues from the video above were fixed in an update today. Apps like Netflix and more can all be installed right from the Play Store, they’ll just be sideways in some parts of the app before it switches to landscape. We’ll talk more about the pre-loaded SHIELD and TegraZone software, as well as the Steam PC support below. All you really need to know is this is completely stock Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and it is as fast and stable as ever.

Benchmarks

I know, I know, you want to see the gaming. First check out some benchmarks because this is the first Tegra 4 device to ever hit retail shelves. Rocking a 1.9 GHz Tegra 4 and 2GB of RAM this thing is blazing fast. Like really fast. Boosting some of the highest Quadrant scores we’ve ever seen, and easily topping 39k in AnTuTu. Oh and Qualcomm’s own Vellamo benchmark really favored this NVIDIA silicon, that’s for sure.

Instead of breaking this all down, as benchmarks are only a small part of the story, we’ll drop a full gallery for those interested below. PC streaming is all done on the GeForce enabled graphics card, so there’s no worry there. All you need to know is the Tegra 4 handles the streaming, gaming, video, and Android operations with ease.

Gaming

The heart and soul of SHIELD is Android gaming, and NVIDIA’s said this more than a few times. Mobile gaming is only going to continue to increase, and this will be front and center. Not only can you enjoy every extremely awesome Tegra HD game on SHIELD, but every Android game works too. Not all will enjoy the console controls of course, but there’s over 130 titles with full game controller support and you can see them all right here. From a pure gaming perspective, SHIELD is outright awesome. It truly offers a stunning experience, and the added benefit of streaming full PC games to it makes things even sweeter.

For the most part this is an Android gaming device. Mainly because you’ll need a solid $800 or so PC if you even want to consider using the PC side of things. So while we’ll be focusing on Android gaming, we won’t leave out the PC side. If you own a GeForce GTX 650 or above, you’ll love this little device even more.

From ShadowGun, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dead Trigger, Real Racing, Riptide GP2, Blood Sword THD, Real Boxing, and over 100 titles all ready to work with ease, you’ll have no shortage of games. And unlike the OUYA these aren’t crappy games, these are all quality Android titles. There’s 35 different NVIDIA partnered and Tegra enhanced games with stunning graphics, and an additional 96 games that are all confirmed to work excellent with SHIELD. Here’s a look at a few.

Riptide GP2 was released this week, available for all devices, but as you see above works wonderfully with SHIELD. It’s a “Tegra enhanced game” so if you rock a Tegra the experience will be even better. Then a few we’ve seen before, check out Real boxing, and the new Blood Sword below.

The experience on most games has been extremely favorable, although we have had a few moment where controls weren’t up to par. For things like Shadowgun, Grand Theft Auto, and many more you’ll be able to run into settings and manage all the controls. The setup is easy enough for customization as well. Here’s a few screenshots showing you what we mean.

Once you get all setup and comfortable, playing things like Shadowgun was a breeze, and the same can be said for full PC games like Need for Speed. It truly is an immersive and impressive experience. We’re enjoying it far more than we should be. Obviously having access to the Google Play Store is nice too, as you can get any game you’d like, even if it doesn’t support the controller. Some still work, and for the others you’ll be able to enjoy them with the 5-inch screen still. So it technically does it all, even though gaming is the high-point.

PC Streaming

Another huge aspect of NVIDIA’s SHIELD, one which will be a major factor for many users, is the simple fact that you can enjoy all your full-out PC games right on the device. Although it’s still in BETA at the moment, you’ll be able to stream all your games, including Steam games all in the same HD graphics we all know and love. I’m a huge Counter-Strike fan, and while that isn’t extremely easy due to the competitive nature of online play, everything else was amazing.

Playing Skyrim on my bed at night (which I’ve done all week) and even the all mighty Crysis works with ease. Any hardcore PC gamer will know the phrase “can it run Crysis” because most can’t. The NVIDIA SHIELD does so with no problems. Of course it isn’t playing the games, your PC streams it all to you over WiFi, and it works so wonderfully well that I’ve been enjoying Crysis 2 all over again. Have a PC with a GeForce GTX 650 or above, set up the drivers, and stream games over your WiFi. Here’s an extended clip of myself playing Crysis 2 on the SHIELD.

Yes, that’s Crysis 2 in the palm of my hand, and it looks stunning. All those CryEngine 3 graphics are as crisp as ever, and there’s absolutely zero noticeable lag. A few games we did experience the occasional audio lag, but a very minor amount that shouldn’t matter to anyone. Oh, and for those wondering, I had to wait (like always) for Steam to update.

Then, connect SHIELD to your 50-inch HDTV with the HDMI-out, and you’ll be playing games from your PC on the big screen with the home theater. Now that’s something worth mentioning! Also, for the record, you’ll need at least 4GB of RAM, Windows 7/8, fast WiFi, and a pretty epic computer if you want to do what I’ve just done. Every game I had worked with ease, well, all the ones I tried at least. Users will be happy to know this streaming experience is exactly what NVIDIA promised. And that is PC games anywhere, in the palm of our hands.

As an added bonus the NVIDIA SHIELD works wonderfully with the Parrot A.R. Drone 2.0 quadricopter. Using the controls like a realistic radio-controlled plane, and the 5-inch display to see what the camera is viewing. Whether you know what the AR Drone is or not, you’ll want to watch this one last video too.

Battery Life

SHIELD is the first device to market with the NVIDIA Tegra 4 quad-core processor, and so far I’m coming away absolutely impressed with battery life. Give me this in a Tegra 4i smartphone, and I’m sold. While SHIELD promises 4-5 hours of hardcore gaming, and over 10 with regular Android games, we experienced that or better. Yes, their quote was actually lower than what we achieved — for a change.

A full day of gaming off and on it should last well beyond the 5 hours they quoted, but PC game streaming might not be quite so forgiving. If you’re a casual user here and there, we noticed once the lid is shut, the device goes into an excellent power saving mode. Getting nearly 7 days of battery life picking it up occasionally. For the most part you’ll be able to enjoy SHIELD an entire day (unless it’s nonstop) on a single charge, and well through an entire weekend of casual gaming.

The battery life was one (of many) strong suits we found with this device, which is likely thanks to the Tegra 4. We can’t wait to see this in more tablets, smartphones, and devices running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

Wrap-Up

One thing is absolutely certain with this device. If you’re a gamer at heart, you’ll love the SHIELD. Whether that’s Android and mobile gaming, or PC games, this thing is aimed directly at you. Luckily for us this is only the beginning, and we can expect tons additional features and options to arrive soon. This device is capable of much more than just gaming, even though that’s clearly where it’s aimed.

This is the first actual hardware devices built from the ground up and sold to consumers in this type of scenario, and we have a feeling NVIDIA has big plans with additional options, accessories, features, and of course game developers. In the end this isn’t quite a tablet, but it does everything a tablet offers on it, and much more.

Overall we’re not sure exactly who all will purchase SHIELD, as the wider market might just opt for the Nexus 7. However, gamers like myself will absolutely love it, not to mention the potential upside is huge!

In case you haven’t been paying attention. The NVIDIA SHIELD is finally shipping this week and will be arriving on doorsteps and on shelves starting July 31st. So go grab one and enjoy hours of gaming this summer!

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It's not just fun to play; it's hysterical

 Ridiculous Fishing is simple, yet addictive, with great arcade action and dry humor throughout to keep you coming back for more.

 There is no landscape option for the iPad, making the game uncomfortable to play for long periods.

 Ridiculous Fishing is a fun and funny diversion, with upgrades that suck you in, and the kind of arcade action that makes it easy to recommend to any iOS gamer.

Ridiculous Fishing - A Tale of Redemption is a simple and hilarious fishing game with an old-school graphics style, tilt controls, and addictive absurd gameplay. Loved by critics and iOS gamers alike, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about for what -- at first blush -- seems like a game you might have played on the original Nintendo. Also, some recent updates added new items and fixed earlier issues, making the game better than ever.

In Ridiculous Fishing, you play as a fisherman named Billy, sending a line into the depths to catch as many fish as possible, then reel it back in. As your hook travels downward, you tilt your device to guide it past schools of fish to reach the lowest depth possible. When you reach the limit of your fishing line or the bottom, you slowly move back to the surface while tilting to catch as many fish as possible before you reach the top.

Once at the surface, the game takes a turn toward the absurd, as all the fish you've caught are flung into the air and you are commanded to "shoot the gills off of them!" At this point you touch the screen frantically trying to shoot all the fish. When the last fish is shot, you're greeted with a "Fish Report" that tells you how much money you made. Each type of fish is worth a different amount, and it pays to know which ones will give you the most loot as you're bringing in your haul.

Billy also carries a tablet computer where you can access the main menu of the game. Here you'll find four buttons to go to the in-game store, learn about the fish you catch in Fish-O-Pedia, read messages from your bird friends in Byrdr (an in-game Twitter-like feed), and access the map.

In the first phase of fishing (left), you want to avoid fish to get as deep as possible. Once you've caught a fish, you'll want to catch as many more as you can as you head for the surface.

At the store, there are a number of options to upgrade your fishing line, weapons, and other abilities. As an example, when you start out, your fishing line is fairly short, but as you earn money in each round, you'll be able to buy longer fishing lines in the store. You can buy more powerful weapons, like the Uzi that lets you "roll like a gangsta," or the shotgun that simply says, "chk chk BOOM." There are also upgrades like the lamp that helps you see when you're navigating the dark depths or the chainsaw lure that lets you blast through fish on the way down.

The rest of the buttons on the tablet bring you to the other important information in the game. Fish-O-Pedia is where you can see the fish you've caught so far and how much money you get for each type. The map button shows which areas you have unlocked and lets you quickly travel there to fish in different and more dangerous waters. Finally, Byrdr is where you can read "tweets" from your bird friends, mostly with pithy comments on the things you buy, but with the developers' unique style of comedy found throughout the game.

Make no mistake, Ridiculous Fishing is hilarious, from the funny "tweets" in Byrdr to the fish descriptions in Fish-O-Pedia. For example, the description for goldfish says, "A fish made out of gold colored fish," and for the piranha, "Careful, hard to spell." This dry humor is present throughout the game and definitely had me chuckling between rounds.

Open the tablet to access the store where you can upgrade your weapons, buy lures, and upgrade your reel for a longer fishing line.

Recent updates to the game add new items the store, fix some crashing issues, and let you play your own music while you play the game. One new item in the store is a particularly welcome addition: the knife. With the knife you can cut your line if you want to quickly restart after a bad cast. You'll need to earn the money to buy it, but it was a highly requested feature according to the developers, and I think it's well worth the somewhat expensive price.

The only problem I had with Ridiculous Fishing is a small one, but worth noting. The game can only be played in portrait mode. This is fine when you're playing on your iPhone, but it can get annoying when playing on the iPad. Holding the iPad in landscape orientation is simply the more comfortable option and if you spend a significant amount of time playing, the weight of the iPad starts to make you tilt the screen forward. Certainly not everyone will have this problem (depending on which iPad you own), but I found myself wishing I could switch to landscape more than once.

Overall, Ridiculous Fishing is a joy to play for the addictive fishing and shooting action as well as the comedic style. The games draws you in with the need to upgrade your lures and weapons, and keeps you interested by making you catch every species of fish to move on to the next area. Whether you're playing on an iPhone or iPad, this game is incredibly easy to pick up and play, and the absurdity of the gameplay only adds to the fun.

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Why Xbox One's used games policy doesn't need to be the end of gaming as we know it

Last week, Microsoft finally provided some additional information on how the "game licensing" policy will work for the company's newly introduced Xbox One. It was our first peek behind the curtain on how discs, digital downloads, game sharing, and Xbox Live accounts will work and interact on the upcoming game console.

The new policy explicitly states that the new system was designed so that "game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers." But reading between the lines of that lawyery language, most gamers took that to mean that the aftermarket for the buying and selling of used Xbox One games was dead on arrival.

The howls of outrage and calls for boycotts began immediately.

Why the unprecedented wave of righteous indignation? Is this truly the end of a way of life for gamers everywhere?

Well, yes. But that's because we've been living in a transitional age. One with a loophole in the form of shiny silver discs.

In reality, that's what the outrage is all about: the closing of that loophole. One we've taken for granted for 30 years. I can sympathize with that. We've had it pretty good up to this point. But believe me, if the technology existed in 1985, there is no way on Earth that Nintendo would have allowed you to let a dozen of your friends borrow your copy of Super Mario Bros.

Why? Because each time you lend the game out to a friend, it's money lost for the publisher and, more importantly, the developer. And ultimately, that's not good for the industry.

But gouging the customer isn't a solution, either -- and that's what many gamers feel is happening if the subsidized economy of game resales is shut down.

Physical media's last gasp

We've all dealt with the digitization of most of our entertainment. Carrying around an MP3 player is better than switching discs out on a portable CD player. Reading your Kindle is easier than lugging around hardcover books.

All of these conveniences have come at the expense of physical media. But because video games operate with much larger file sizes, they have remained on the outside looking in when it comes to digital distribution. The idea of physical ownership has evaporated into owning a license, which has become the way we symbolize virtual possessions.

That's what your e-book library is: a collection of digital licenses. And your iTunes collection. And your video collection. All that stuff in the cloud? Licenses instead of discs. And the gaming industry is just finally catching up.

Let me be explicitly clear: I am not defending money-hungry corporations that want to turn you upside down until moths fly out of your pockets. But I do think we're overlooking the developers who create these works of art for our playing enjoyment. I want them to feel that their work can be supported through the empowerment of gamers. I want them to be able to measure that.

Winners and losers

So who loses out the most in the evolution of licensing? We all do, but maybe some more than others. The "binge and resell" gamer will probably feel it the most. This gamer will finish a title in a weekend, then resell it at a brick-and-mortar store -- or an open marketplace for a better return -- and get a maximum value for a nearly new game.

Who else? Gamers who rely on buying used games. But this might be fixable. Each game has a diminishing value the second it's released -- and in the case of used games, opened. In an open market that price fluctuates, where at a chain retailer it's predetermined. (Just think how most new games are sold as used for $5 below full price.) The gradual lowering of the game's value in the open marketplace is something that can be adopted into the new dynamic pricing structure of Xbox and PlayStation's digital stores. Just like the way Tomb Raider (released in March) is now sold for $45 used, so, too, can the official Xbox One pricing be in its digital store.

Here, the middleman reseller is bypassed, and the money is going to the makers of the game -- or at the very least, headed in the right direction.

Steam's all-digital success story

My biggest problem with the bandwagoning and witch-hunting that's been floating around is double-sided. First off, we don't really know the full story about PlayStation 4 and its policies regarding licensing, so the angst aimed solely toward Microsoft might be unfair. The playing field is still open. Second, a lot -- but not all -- of the core elements of the licensing system Microsoft is outlining for Xbox One are similar to Steam.

A word-of-mouth hit with PC gamers, Steam has managed to develop an overwhelmingly positive reputation with gamers thanks to its frequent sales, ease of use, game management, empowerment of its loyal community, and support for the independent gaming scene. It's owned and operated by Valve, a developer responsible for franchises like Half-Life and Portal.

But where there are similarities in structure, right now there doesn't seem to be much congruity in philosophy with Valve's game distribution platform. That imbalance is manifested primarily in one of the most important elements regarding all of this: pricing.

Flexible pricing is what has made Steam a PC gaming haven. I recently bought every single Grand Theft Auto game ever made on Steam for under $15 -- total. That's spectacular. Sales and deals can revive catalog titles, and make them attractive to a new group of consumers. And publishers can get revenue they'd otherwise miss out on: 100,000 consumers paying $10 for an older game beats out 10,000 paying $60.

How to get gamers to stop worrying and love the Cloud

As my colleague David Carnoy recently explained, the "value" of games is as much about psychology as it about economics.

As Carnoy pointed out, if used games can't be resold, they're "worth" less to the buyer. If Microsoft and Sony want to appear that they're in this for the gamers, they need to address that value discrepancy. And following Steam's model is the best way to do that.

New games are going to cost the most, I get that. But surely the money saved in not having to manufacture and ship physical media can chip away at the price of a game. Better yet, incentivize game buying. Offer digital punch cards. "Purchase three Xbox One games and get 20 percent off your next." Offer weekend sales. Bundle titles together. Give us reasons to get excited about browsing an online store, the way it is when discovering a great deal on Steam.

Meanwhile, there are other elements of the Xbox One game-licensing policy that are undeniably positive. First, up to 10 family members can use your account regardless of which Xbox they're on. Second, some disc games will be able to be loaned to a friend for free as long as that person has been on your friends list for a month. If you want to bring a game over to a friend's place, you can log in on his system and download it.

You'll have all your games no matter where you go. As long as there is an Xbox One, you'll have total access to everything you've purchased. (You know, just like Steam.)

No, we can't have our cake and eat it, too. I read a lot of enthusiast sites crying about how the shift away from used games is a crime against the culture of gaming, but they ignore that the switch to digital is simply another evolution of the medium. A lot of things have changed in 30 years.The point is this: this new world of gaming doesn't have to suck.

There's a stench of hypocrisy that emanates from a class of gamer who demands progress on every level from a new console, yet belligerently revolts at the discovery that games won't be delivered on plastic discs any longer.

The funny thing about Steam is that no one complains about the lack of discs, or the dearth of game lending and reselling. That's because its convenience and affordability trumps any downsides.

If Microsoft and the game publishers follow Steam's model and create a more dynamic digital marketplace, the death of used games will be a small footnote, not an epitaph.

It's a big if. But one that could well determine the success or failure of the next generation of consoles.

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