Tag Archives: Project Shield

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

NVIDIA Has Big Plans for the Next Few Years

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By Steve Symington, The Motley Fool

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It seems an understatement to say NVIDIA has been busy so far this year.

First, at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the graphics specialist simultaneously unveiled both its beefy Tegra 4 processor, and a curious Tegra 4-powered handheld gaming device called Project Shield.

Then, in February, NVIDIA excited the smartphone market and sent shivers up the spines of Qualcomm investors when it announced the Tegra 4i. Why? The Tegra 4i stands tall as NVIDIA‘s first fully integrated 4G LTE mobile processor, featuring an integrated version of its i500 4G LTE modem, 60 NVIDIA GPU cores, and a quad-core CPU which was jointly designed by NVIDIA and processor specialist ARM Holdings.

At the same time, as I noted last month, NVIDIA provided new details on its Chimera digital photography architecture. In addition to being integrated into its Tegra 4 and 4i platforms, Chimera should also help even further solidify NVIDIA‘s grasp on the industry by allowing photographers to capture wide-angle HDR images while the camera is moving. In addition, Chimera also lets users choose a static focal point in their scenes, helping them to maintain a properly-focused shot regardless of whether the camera or its subjects are moved. 

Let’s talk about the future
Of course, there’s plenty more activity to note, from the use of NVIDIA‘s technology in the world’s leading supercomputers to its new GRID-based virtual graphics products. That doesn’t mean, however, that NVIDIA will be content to rest on its laurels anytime soon.

To the contrary, at its 2013 GPU Technology Conference, NVIDIA just described its future plans for both “Project Logan” and “Project Parker” — or, as many are tentatively calling them already, Tegra 5 and Tegra 6.

 

Source: NVIDIA 2013 GPU Technology Conference.

This announcement, mind you, comes before we’ve even seen the very first Tegra 4 devices hit the market. Even so, NVIDIA management was quick to point out during its latest earnings conference call that, “at this point, [they] already have more design wins with Tegra 4 than [they] had in total with Tegra 3″ — and that’s a great thing considering analysts at Needham downgraded the stock last month while complaining of the existing Tegra line’s “limited traction in smartphones.”

Harnessing the power of Wolverine
Aside from the fact the Tegra 4i should provide plenty of incentive for smartphone makers to change that, there’s even more to love about Project Logan.

Logan will not only be integrated with NVIDIA‘s next-gen Kepler GPU and OpenGL 4.3, but also will be the first mobile processor to incorporate the company’s high-performance CUDA parallel computing platform — and yep, that’s the same CUDA utilized by NVIDIA‘s Tesla processors for supercomputing applications. This, as NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang stated, will enable mobile devices to do “everything that a modern computer ought to do.” What’s more, NVIDIA should have its first Logan processors ready later this year, with the line “easily” entering mass production by early 2014.

Hanging with …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Is NVIDIA's Visual Computing Appliance a Game-Changer?

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By Steve Symington, The Motley Fool

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In a press release yesterda, NVIDIA unveiled the industry’s first Visual Computing Appliance, or VCA for short. And no, it’s not a high-tech refrigerator for hardcore gamers.

Instead, according to the release, the gaming specialist’s GRID-born VCA is a “powerful GPU-based system that runs complex applications” like those from Adobe Systems , Autodesk , and Paris-based Dassault Systemes, and then “sends their graphics output over the network to be displayed on a client computer.”

Source: NVIDIA.

What’s more, to circumvent all the performance skeptics out there, NVIDIA had the foresight to make sure the device was certified and supported by its professional application partners, even going so far as to include encouraging quotes from each of the CEOs of Adobe, Autodesk, and Dassault Systems on its VCA product information page.

One more piece in the long-term puzzle
So why does this matter?

Aside from the fact that this rack-mountable wonder is a whole new bucket of awesome for all those hardworking folks in the IT trenches, it’s also important to note that this product represents a significant step toward NVIDIA‘s quest to grab more low-hanging fruit in the IT budgets of small and medium-size businesses, which generally have limited resources in their IT infrastructure. Depending on the configuration, each device will be able to support up to either eight or 16 concurrent users.

I suppose NVIDIA‘s creation of a VCA geared toward small business shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, especially considering the GRID platform previously only boasted graphics virtualization options geared toward the extreme ends of the user spectrum, from its enterprise solutions for large corporations to its consumer-oriented cloud gaming GRID service, which promises “high-quality, low-latency, multi-device gaming on any PC, Mac, tablet, spartphone, or TV.”

Of course, not all of us are convinced that NVIDIA‘s long-term vision is entirely valid, especially when we recall the company’s semi-confusing motives behind its recent unveiling of Project Shield, the company’s yet-to-be-released, Tegra 4-powered portable gaming device.

Even so, as I wrote last month, I’m convinced long-term investors can rest assured knowing that, regardless of whether any given product is deemed a successful in its own right, each of them has a place as part of NVIDIA‘s ambitious plans to “build on its gaming roots to be come a one-stop shop for all things graphics and image processing.”

Foolish final thoughts
I’ve held my shares of NVIDIA for nearly three years now and have no plans of selling anytime soon — especially given its 2.4% dividend yield with the stock trading at less than 14 times trailing earnings. When you back out NVIDIA‘s more than $6 per share in cash (as of the end of last quarter), that multiple drops to a mouthwatering 7.1 times trailing earnings.

If you ask me, that’s cheap by any measure, especially for a company with as much long-term potential as NVIDIA.

NVIDIA was ahead of the curve launching its mobile Tegra processor, but investing gains haven’t …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

News, Politics, Government

This Is Tegra 4-Powered Zombie Survival on NVIDIA's Project SHIELD

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By Jason Evangelho, Contributor

Nvidia has pulled the trigger on the Project Shield marketing machine. Twice weekly they’re taking to YouTube with extended looks at both traditional PC games streaming to the portable, and upcoming Android releases optimized for Tegra 4. Yesterday the team highlighted top-down zombie survival shooter Dead on Arrival 2 and the enhanced graphical capabilities the new chipset brings to the table. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Science & Technology

Watch Project Shield Stream Borderlands 2 from a PC

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Nvidia’s Project Shield turned some heads during this year’s CES. The promise of lag-free streaming of PC games to an all-in-one controller is definitely enough to get anyone’s attention. But we’re still left wondering about important details like the price or even the device’s final name. While the wait continues on those fronts, today Nvidia has posted a video featuring Project Shield streaming Borderlands 2.

All in all, the results are fairly impressive. According to the video, Borderlands 2 is streaming to the device at 60fps with no discernible latency from a Falcon Tiki PC using a GeForce GTX 680 card. Granted, this is a promotional video produced by Nvidia, but the performance seems on par with IGN‘s own hands-on impressions from CES.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Tech

Science & Technology

Nvidia's Project Shield was Still Being Worked on Days Before CES

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According to Nvidia, its streaming all-in-one game device Project Shield started its life less than a year ago as “little more than a game controller fastened to a smartphone with wood.” The company has written a detailed blog, outlining how Project Shield made its way to a CES announcement this year. Apparently, the controller and screen combo was considered for quite some time.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Tech

Computers

Arma Tactics coming to Project Shield

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There’s no denying that turn-based games are fun; XCOM: Enemy Unknown was one of the most exciting, terrifying and exhilarating games I played last year. Now the guys at Bohemia Interactive, creators of Arma II (which spawned the popular mod DayZ) are looking to give that experience to you on the go with Arma Tactics.

We heard a lot about Nvidia’s handheld gaming system, Project Shield, during CES 2013 but the announcement lacked any information about possible launch titles. Arma Tactics is one of the games used to show off the hardware, and now we know the game is targeted to release later in the year (during Bohemia’s second financial quarter of 2013), possibly an effort to help Project Shield attract hardcore PC gamers (though we don’t know for sure when Project Shield itself will debut.)

Bohemia Interactive
Sweet dynamic setting
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The player will control a four-member Special Forces team through story-driven missions or ones with randomized objectives. Bohemia Interactive boasts that there are no set paths, strategies or rails that you must move on; all decisions will be up to the player on the best way to succeed. The game can be controlled with Project Shield‘s console-like controller or the touchscreen, and it will offer unlockable weapons and campaigns, character leveling and achievements for a little extra replayability.

Bohemia Interactive
Different perspective and some dynamic lighting.

Arma Tactics‘ setting looks good from the few screenshots provided. Not only is it pretty, but it looks complex enough to warrant many different play styles. Ladders and stairs look like an interesting way to change up the flow of combat, while a plethora of objects could provide cover and areas to regroup. If the developers bring the careful attention to detail and authenticity that Arma II is (in)famous for, this could be a killer launch title.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Video Gaming

Arma Tactics Announced for Nvidia Shield

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Bohemia Interactive has announced Arma Tactics, a new turn-based entry in the company’s long-running Arma franchise. The title is in development for Android, with support for Nvidia’s unique Project Shield specifically announced. 

Bohemia’s announcement specifically cites X-COM and Jagged Alliance as influences. Players will take control of a four-person squad through both story-driven scripted missions and randomly generated stages. 

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Video Games

News, Politics, Government

Nvidia Updates Tegra Chip, Announces Its Own Android Game Device

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By Connie Guglielmo, Forbes Staff Nvidia, moving beyond chips, announced its first-ever game console, codenamed Project Shield. Nvidia, which has made its name providing high-powered graphics chips, introduced the new generation of its Tegra processor and also announced its own Android-based gaming device and said it will sell it direct to consumers. Codenamed Project Shield, the hand-held […]
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest