Yes, NVIDIA confirmed, it looks like it will be shipping by the 31st. It's funny, in their FB post it said Shipping the 31st, but down below in the comments, an NVIDIA rep response was that it would be to those who pre-ordered by the 31st. Also, MicroCenter is suppose to sell the Shield and according to their in store lookup page, the store near me has 10+ available?!? http://www.microcenter.com/product/415249/SHIELD_16GB_Gaming_System_-_Pre-Order#
I had one on preorder but I took off 3 weeks ago. It looks like an interesting device if you will take advantage of the android games, streaming and Onlive, but all i wanted it was for streaming on my PC and emulation. The problem is that nvidia has to program the games to stream onto the device and I'm going to get this http://www.gcw-zero.com/ instead for handheld emulation. The handheld market has dramatically changed over the years I don't see this as being anything other than a niche thing that will end up being a collectors item in a few years, like the OUYA. I actually own the OUYA which works great for emulating 2D consoles, but to nobody's surprise it's going to be another failure with the lack of decent storage along with mediocre sales according to the devs (which will only get worse when the library expands). But at least with the Shield there's something compelling about being able to stream full blown PC games designed for a gamepad (which is like almost everything nowadays) to it...
I hear what you are saying and agree, this is entirely a niche product that I don't expect to sell very well. However, as an emulator and Android gaming device, it has what I want. I also have a play subscription to Onlive so can't wait to be able to stream games to it instead of my laptop.
I guess the point of this thing is so you can stream your gaming desktop PC to it? But then the picture is so much tinier that you can probably play the games on your laptop with similar results, even if it's not a gaming laptop. I guess I'm struggling to see the point of this thing. Looks top heavy too, but maybe it's not?
My plan was to wait for reviews and then snag one off Newegg. Unfortunately they are out of stock now...
Initial Impression Holy crap this thing is heavy! I've owned a lot of portables over the years and even the bigger ones (Lynx, Nomad, Game Gear) didn't feel quite as heavy as the Shield. The good thing is that once the scree is open and it's held like a controller, the weight is pretty evenly distributed. The Device The device feels very solid and quality made. The bottom is lined with a rubber material for grip which feels soft to the touch and definitely helps when gripping the system. It's a big system, no doubt about that. I should have compared it to an Xbox 360 controller, but to me it feels about that size if not a little larger. It's still very comfortable to hold, at least for my hand size. What I found that when holding the device is that the analog thumbsticks fall within good reach and never felt like it was a strain to reach for them. I thing NVIDIA designed the placement very well and my thumbs naturally fell onto them with little effort. All of the buttons feel great and feel just right. I've used controllers where buttons are either too stiff or too spongy, but the Shields feel great. There are 4 sets of trigger buttons on top and again, all feel nice and firm and of good quality. Again, NVIDIA did a very good job with the actual device and this feels like a quality product. The screen is very nice and is very clear with good brightness and vibrancy. It's not "retina" quality, but darn close as far as I can tell. The viewing angles are very good from the sides - I can almost view turning it completely to the side. The screen doesn't flip up quite like a 3DS does where, if you're familiar, its snaps into place. Instead, it opens more like a laptop does where you can open and set the screen to the desired position until it is completely flat with the device. I like this since it allows the screen to easily be positioned at any angle I might need. Overall, I'm really surprised by the quality of this device. It does not feel cheap and flimsy at all. Instead, I have the same initial feeling as I did with my Vita. I always felt like Sony nailed the feeling with the Vita and the Shield is pretty close to it's quality - just on a larger scale. The Games Here are my initial impressions on some of the games and how the controls worked for me. GTA Vice City - near perfect as far as I can tell. Buttons seem to be what I remember them to be on the PS2 and everything feels responsive and great. Camera control is set to the right analog which makes rotating and moving the camera up and down perfect. There are display options which seemed to be defaulted at the lowest settings. I maxed out everything and the game is still buttery smooth. Sonic 4 - Have and issue with the d-pad not working, but the left analog controls sonic pretty well Cordy 2 - good feeling and very responsive with D-pad and analog. On screen control buttons stay up, but aren't too distracting. GLDOOM - Good controls, and the right analog even controls up down view, but is inverted. Everything is mapped well, but on screen controls stay up while playing. Riptide GP 2 - solid analog controls with triggers used for accelerate and brake. very nice and beautiful game. Dead Trigger - One of my favorite iOS games is that much better with real controls. Game looks fantastic on the Shield. When I logged in, it even brought over my game save from the iOs version so I can continue from where I'm at. Mupen64 - I really have always wanted a portable N64 and this emu makes it darn close. Controls can be fully customized to different layouts and then individually saved. I mapped out Goldeneye to be more like modern FPS controls and it plays great. Good speed on the emulator as well and even offers the option to speed up the game which increases speed. Happy! Onlive - games stream and look decent on the shield. Controls are all mapped and work great for those games that offer controller support within Onlive. I did find that some games (bioshock, duke nukem forever) did not run on Android devices for some reason. Some of my favorites are fine (split second, Just Cause 2) so I will be enjoying those since I cannot stream from the Pc. I think that's all I messed with tonight. I really wish some of the Gameloft games (Asphalt and Modern combat 4) were compatible with the Shield, but I cannot download them. I really want more racing games as well that work with these controls! Overall, I'm satisified with my purchase so far. I have always wanted an iOS device with actual controls that work and I'm getting that so far with the Shield. Hopefully more games are released that are compatible with the controller, but so far I really like it.
I just got one myself and I have to say that it's pretty fantastic. This is a great buy compared to my OUYA which is littered with poor indie made titles and I strictly used that for emulation purposes. What I realized over time is that when OUYA advertised that they were going to be the best console for independent developers I realized that all the best indie titles were actually on STEAM. My Nvidia Shield can most of my steam games (that support a controller of course) from up to 20ish feet away from my pc and it's an emulators handheld dream come true. NES all the way up to the PSP and DS (where you can swap or display 2 screens of varying sizes). Now I was easily able to do this with my Nexus 7 and bluetooth gamepad, but it feels so much nicer to play this on an all in one device where everything is already integrated like a handheld. Now as an actual gaming device on its own, its about as good as you can expect it to be. Virtua Tennis is so much better with a Gamepad (one of my favorite games ever one the Dreamcast) and Asphalt 8 feels so much nicer with the analog stick. If this is what I can expect with iOS 7 bluetooth gamepad streaming then you guys are in for a treat. Games designed for a touchpad feel fantastic on an iOS device, but many of them are designed for a controller in mind where the screen does a mediocre job emulating this. This is going to redefine how you play platformers and action games on iOS and it's gonna be amazing.
I love my shield but asphalt 8 feels better on the iPhone to me, I found drifting impossible on the shield. Every time I try to drift the car immediately jacknifes and becomes uncontrollable. Maybe doing something wrong? I don't have a pc so I don't stream games and dead trigger is by far my fav game on the system until dt2 releases or we get a full cod for it. I watch all my tv on it but find it doesn't handle Netflix to well (lots of screen stuttering and buffering) but every other video streaming worked great. I've never tried onlive as I thought you needed a pc? And I've never tried emulators because I don't understand them
Really? I was playing Burnout Paradise and defense all night on my bed and was just constantly amazed by how awesome it was to play them in portable form! I forgot about the Onlive functionality and yes, it works great and it streams everything via wifi when you get the free app. You basically pay for "rights" to play the game until it expires usually in 2 years. Or you pay 10 dollars a month to access over 250 games but I only saw maybe 3-5 worth playing that actually supports a gamepad. As strictly an android gaming console it has a ton of potential but only if the games optimize for the gamepad and tegra 4 chip.
I downloaded the free app and it worked very well. I didn't see burnout paradise on the list but did play a trial of homefront and loved it. You said the rights run out after a couple of years? Does that mean I shouldn't purchase homefront?
I don't play games via Onlive anymore, but I did try Tomb Raider Legends and it worked out pretty great. Most games like Burnout Paradise are streamed from my Steam collection. As for homefront, when you are taken to the page to buy the game it should be guaranteed to at least be on there by a certain date. I bought NBA 2k11 there to play with a friend a while back and now it's gone as if that purchased never happened. It did tell me it was going to expire in 2 years though.
How did you configure the settings to make it run so smoothly? Mine runs really laggy and only lumines seems to work well on it.
