Is There Room for the Shield? NVidia Needs to Learn from the Vita.

BNR: While I’m honestly not the biggest fan of the Shield’s design (it looks like the folks behind the N-Gage never stopped working), I’m curious as to how well it’ll sell in today’s market. The trouble is, it’s not exactly easy to sell a handheld with beefy innards- while at PAX, I saw hundreds of people carrying around the Nintendo 3DS, Streetpassing and gaming and having a good time. As for Sony’s Vita, I think I saw about four or five. It’s not a bad console by any stretch of the imagination, but right now I couldn’t name five great Vita games to save my life. It’s not that they aren’t there, it’s just that barely anybody knows about them. The 3DS, meanwhile, has been doing comparatively well, both in hardware and software sales. Why? Because people know it exists. What does any of this have to do with the Shield?

[ai_nui]

dont know that there is another handheld?
but to me there are more than 5 great vita games for me.. that i can play.. ;_;
maybe you are just chosey when comes into games..(^__^)y
(sorry for my grammar, not native english (^_-)y)

[murdock55]

this thing is going to be useless. pc gamers are hardcore gamers who wants full experience meaning the best resolution and graphics. they dont want to play on a handheld that cant disconnect from they're pC.

[reynod]

Pretty much true, I am a PC gamer id never consider Nvidia Shield. While i have a monster rig. I also have a Laptop for my portable gaming needs.

I dont like handheld gaming, if i have to play i want the full experience. Having a good laptop means i can pretty much play all my game Steam games on it. I can also plug it onto a HDTV and play on it like a Console when i am traveling.

[monkeyfox]

I think there is room in the market for an android hand held with TV out functionality (maybe not at this price though...)

[Jourdy288]

A TV out functionality may help Shield sales to a degree- the thing is, if you have a PC, don't you have a much bigger, nicer screen somewhere in your house attached to a more powerful machine?

[FragGen]

You can have that today with High End android phone and the Moga Pro controller for fifty extra bucks.

Honestly, I just don't think there is that big a market for hardcore handheld gaming, especially for something which is that big and can be essentially put together trivially by the user with off the shelf hardware. That's the beauty of an open architecture like Android. This thing has failure written all over it, it'll make the Vita look like it is a huge marketing win by comparison. LOL.

The PS4+Vita combo with streaming, where the handheld is like a companion to the set top machine is more appealing to me as a serious hardcore gamer than something which is basically redundant to the phone already in my pocket.

Microsoft should try to couple the windows phone os to streaming on the XBOX 720 then let manufacturers come out with controller cases and accessories. Then let the hardware compete in the market place. That might be an edge for them.

Anyway, glad I have a Vita and looking forward to using it with PS4.

[monkeyfox]

I agree with you however Tegra 4 urinates over any/most high end phones currently available at twice the cost. I have an S3 which i sometimes use with a hdmi mhl adaptor and a wireless PS3 controller. Have a few emulators running on it etc but the experience is fiddly and jarring at best.

The market is ripe for a solid android based gaming platform. Maybe it wont be shield or Ouya but someone needs to do it. So many startup developers have flocked to android recently but its plagued by compatibility issues with different phone manufactures (not the case with ios obviously) - If there was an industry standard for the actual hardware then you'd get a huge amount of games coming out.

I think microsoft would be extremely foolish if they DIDNT try to make their phone software work/stream with their latest console...

[Bigpappy]

What are some of these hot android games that people can't wait to play on a big screen. Most handheld gamers don't care to have a bigger and those droid games were designed to be played with out a controller.

Now, if they can sell enough to attract some top developers who are willing to put some amazing games designed specifically for it, it could catch on down the road. But as it is right now, I really don't see a market for any of these droid consoles. People will just stick to their phones and tablets.

If I had to make a prediction, it would be death by neglect.

[r21]

At $350, it could do well. It's nice to see some companies jump into the handheld race. Also, dual sticks design is much appreciated IMO.

[CEOSteveBallmer]

Only for PC gamers who have an expensive gaming rig. But how many of them are there in the world compared to console gamers?? This is expensive. its nearly enough for me to buy a minimun-medium range PC

[MGRogue2017]

It depends on what games are available that are dedicated exclusively to the system. No one's going to be buying this device solely for playing casual touch-screen titles like Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja on it XD might as well just buy a cheaper smartphone if your only going to be playing those lol

Shield will also depend on how successful Tegra 4 will be.. & how many of it's games will make full use of the game-pad & triggers.

I would like to see this handheld being successful.. but I believe it will only be successful when lots of dedicated games are available for it & when NVIDIA lowers the price a lot.. Only then will we see people actually buying this beast.

[Jourdy288]

Agreed- I think Tegra 4 is a nice idea for mobile devices, but frankly? How many developers are going to rush to make the next Skyrim for a handheld barely anybody knows about? There's more money in making Bejeweled knockoffs that beg for money every five minutes than there is in making worthwhile experiences on Android, and until people start putting their money down on the unfortunately obscure, worthwhile games on the platform, it's not going anywhere fast.

That's not to say that there aren't any good games on Android- the aforementioned Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja are fun, Four Pics One Word will stretch your mind at times- there are lot's of other fun games for the platform. Trouble is, there isn't much depth and there's lot's of money-grubbing. Couple that with the fact that most people's Android-based devices can aren't Tegra 4-based, let alone particularly powerful. For gaming to seriously take off on Android, somebody needs to take a big risk with a game that has depth. Otherwise, the platform will be stuck in a rut.

[Gamesgbkiller]

To be honest, I forgot about the shield.

Still busy with my VITA.

[radecGaming]

hahaha LOL me too!

[Kingthrash360]

my first time hearing about this shield thingy.....no thanks
my vita takes too much time away from my life already.

[tubers]

This device actually fits well within the competition:

3DS = Lot's of software/exclusives, weaker hardware, weak multimedia

VITA = Home console mobile iterations, stronger hardware, OK multimedia

Shield = Android Games/PC streaming, *best internals, best *multimedia

No proprietary cards, standard I/O and better speakers.
Can truly compete with iPod Touches/smaller tablets/other pmps due to ecosystem.

..

Doubt this is any more niche than a GTX Titan.