Shield Yourselves

One final post on CES for this week, but it’s about one of the very first products to be revealed. I really had to mull this over and work out exactly what I think about this piece of hardware, and yes... I found something good to say about it, sort of. So here we go, my thoughts on Nvidia’s Project Shield.

The Shield is essentially a souped-up android device, running Nvidia’s new Tegra 4 processor. It features a 5 inch, 720p display, and a very... very familiar game pad, all wrapped up in a nifty clamshell design. Let me start on the design, this thing is sexy, it’s like a 360 controller and a F-117 Nighthawk had very awkwardly positioned love and made a babby. For a controller it doesn’t look like there’s too much extra bulk, even though this is much more than a controller, and as pretty much anything else, yeah... there’s too much bulk. This thing is not pocket sized although it is marketed as portable, but practical is something we’ll have to see about, I’ll get to that later.

Cogs be Turning

So yesterday at CES we got a decent look at what is likely to be the specs for one of the 3rd Party versions of the long hyped Steambox. Codenamed “Piston” it’s based on Xi3’s X7A mini computer. And no, I hadn’t heard of them either. I’ll just briefly go over what we know so far, but since details are all over the internet by now I won’t dwell on them too much, and just focus on what to make of it all.

So at the heart of the Piston will be an unspecified quad core processor, the X7A clocks it’s quad core at 3.2GHz, so it’s likely the console will be based around the same basic power, with minor tweaks. The X7A also has 8GB of DDR3 Ram, and a 1TB solid state hard drive. Of these features the Piston has been confirmed to include “up to 1TB of storage,” so a possible hint that there will be multiple price points for the console. The X7A uses onboard graphics that can support up to 3 monitors, and is ram packed with ports and plugs on it’s back. The X7A boasts of being modular and upgradeable (like every computer, ever) and has a tiny form factor, looking a lot like the Ouya’s badass older brother. Essentially it’s a gaming PC with a thyroid problem, however there’s no word as to whether it’ll run Windows, Linux, or a custom steam-based OS.

Shoulders of Giants

Now as you’re probably aware, I'm big on the Ouya, I think it’s got the potential, and the interest, to be a fun addition to everyone’s already overcrowded TV cabinet. However as good as the hardware sounds, and as good as the message of openness sounds, the console and OS are just the blank canvas that developers use to craft the worlds and experiences that imprint themselves in our memories forever. To further the hype, I’d like to look at the ideas and games that already exist, and show what Ouya developers need to have in mind to fully push the boundaries of this little box.

Vita Blockers

Late last week, Kotaku posted two news articles, within five hours of each other. The first was titled, “Thousands of Developers Want to Make Games for the Ouya,” and the second was titled, “Sony Was Surprised How Few People Wanted To Make Games For Vita.” Now look at those two titles, look at them again, and tell me your first impression wasn’t the same as mine. What the fuck is going on here‽ How can an untested company without a single released console to it’s name have developers lining up out the door, and a well trusted, big name with such a history as Sony get barely any interest in comparison? Well bear with me, because the answer takes a little bit of explaining.

Sony attributes its failure to the fact that there are “so many options for publishers now that we cannot take [developed games] for granted.” Ouya, on the other hand simply says that “over a thousand [developers] have been in touch with us since our Kickstarter ended.” That’s it from each company, so we’re on our own from here on out, but I have a couple of theories I want to run by you, and let’s see what you make of them.