NVidia has been trying, really hard, to create a portable gaming space for hardcore PC gamers. And, to be fair, the Shield was a gorgeous piece of hardware at a great price… it just didn’t have any games. Now NVidia is following that up with a tablet that has an enormous amount of firepower… and marketing materials that emphasize what a total dweeb you will look like using this thing in public.
Everyone is trying just a little too hard, and the results feel less like a modern promotional video and more like a ’90s tips and tricks VHS. We can sum up how awkward this video is in one GIF:
The tablet, which will cost $300 for a 16GB WiFi version shipping next week and $400 for a 32GB LTE version arriving in August, is packing quite a bit of firepower, however. It’s shipping with the Tegra K1, NVidia’s insanely fast mobile processor, which it claims has more computing power than a PS3 or an Xbox 360. NVidia says it can run Unreal Engine 4, for example.
Which is great, and all, but again one’s forced to ask: Where are the games? NVidia is positioning this as the way to play games on the go, but there’s no killer app here. If they were announcing Steam for Android, and NVidia has definitely been working with Valve on bringing PC games to portable platforms, that’d be one thing, but NVidia is mum on the actual potential.
Add to that the fact you’ll probably want $100 in accessories, what with the $60 controller and $40 cover, and it’s honestly not looking like that good of a deal. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on: NVidia wants very much to bring PC gaming to the mobile space, and they’re probably going to spend piles of cash to make it happen, so expect some big gaming announcements soon.