Absolute agreement. They may not be in the best market position, but if anything this is just showing their determination to change that. Dropping the price of something to make it acceptable to the market isn't giving up, it's accepting the reality of your situation.
It would seem so as the Shield has been in the market for some time. But one would think a re-design might be in order to improve the console. Maybe slight cosmetic touch-ups and button improvements etc. The K1 chip would be a main attractor to this console if they can push it out by May/June time frame.
Ironically, they are the first I can think of that matches the AppleTV in concept. Stream from iPad or iPhone to AppleTV, either full screen, app, or game, controlled with a BT controller and keyboard, or even from a Mac controlled by a BT keyboard and mouse.
They ought to make a Shield set-top box so it is more like an AppleTV. Also, they really ought to fix the d-pad on the Shield. I'm pretty sure it's worse than the 360 controller, and that level of badness takes talent!
I would love a set top box that could talk wirelessly to the desktop (or hell, notebook) and then had a number of wireless input options; gamepad or keyboard+mouse. Then I could have a high performance PC in a different room then my big plasma HDTV but also get cutting edge geforce graphics powered games on the HDTV without any of the fan noise. Is nVidia's hardware compression engine fast enough for high quality 1080p h264 encoding at say 60fps? That would reduce the required wireless bandwidth for the video link at least and also allow the STB to need very light weight graphic processing power which would keep the power and heat down...
well considering it has the fastest mobile gpu in a consumer device, beating iphone 5S Rouge gpu, despite being a year older, on top of a 5" 720p Touchscreen LCD, 16GB nand, superb build quality, 8 hour battery life, and great software (stream pc games, and game library (shield optimized games have increased 10 fold), Steam integration, etc.......its pretty damn impressive.
This thing runs emulators better than a tricked out desktop gaming machine. N64, PSP, Gameboys (all of em)
Heck, I would like to see Ubuntu Touch running on it if someone would port it. That would be a great attractor if there is a dual-boot option to do Android or Ubuntu Touch.
"if I’m in my home, I’m usually happier sitting at a PC with a keyboard and mouse (though admittedly gaming on an HDTV is one potential use case that’s still appealing)"
So, plug your computer into a HDTV??? My computer is on my TV always, wireless keyboard/mouse with an Xbox360 controller. I don't understand why people still use computer screens so much, I mean, don't you WANT to have the biggest screen possible?
As you said, don't people WANT to use their computer in the living room? With HDTV's there's no reason not to anymore.
Larger screens are not always better. In most cases I find a larger screen to be a hindrance when playing PC games because I have to move my head and eyes around a lot more to focus on objects or people in games. The closer you are to the screen the more strain you put on yourself than with a smaller screen. It's not as big an issue with console games because they are now built for large TVs.
That's more a function of angular width (field of view?) than of size. Using a particular cross-section of the most comfortable visual cone in front of your eyes means that there should be no difference in eye or head movement as screens get further away and bigger; the only difference would be in the focus of your eyes, and at what distance they're the least strained.
I have a day one shield that I've been using alongside a vita, 3ds, and my gaming PC. I originally got it to stream PC games while in bed but honestly the screen is too small.. I can barely make out text and markers on a map wotht the 5" screen. I think the next version could easily fit a 5.7 or 6" screen by reducing bezel. I'm uusingmy shield mostly as an htpc actually as the tegra4 chip powers through pretty much every video file I have thrown at it. Its basically what the ouya should have been
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Anders CT - Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - link
Price drop to clear the remaining stock before the K1 version comes out?nathanddrews - Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - link
Probably... or it's a reaction to Steam In-Home Streaming (which is fantastic BTW)... or it's just cheaper for them to make them, who knows.Flunk - Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - link
They could also be dumping stock because the product isn't doing well so they're giving up.michael2k - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
Adding features and updating the OS doesn't sound like giving up to me.Dropping the price, as an example, is what Nintendo did on the 3DS as well as keep updating the software stack until it, you know, succeeded.
Spunjji - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Absolute agreement. They may not be in the best market position, but if anything this is just showing their determination to change that. Dropping the price of something to make it acceptable to the market isn't giving up, it's accepting the reality of your situation.fteoath64 - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
It would seem so as the Shield has been in the market for some time. But one would think a re-design might be in order to improve the console. Maybe slight cosmetic touch-ups and button improvements etc. The K1 chip would be a main attractor to this console if they can push it out by May/June time frame.michael2k - Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - link
Ironically, they are the first I can think of that matches the AppleTV in concept. Stream from iPad or iPhone to AppleTV, either full screen, app, or game, controlled with a BT controller and keyboard, or even from a Mac controlled by a BT keyboard and mouse.Aikouka - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
They ought to make a Shield set-top box so it is more like an AppleTV. Also, they really ought to fix the d-pad on the Shield. I'm pretty sure it's worse than the 360 controller, and that level of badness takes talent!Acarney - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
I would love a set top box that could talk wirelessly to the desktop (or hell, notebook) and then had a number of wireless input options; gamepad or keyboard+mouse. Then I could have a high performance PC in a different room then my big plasma HDTV but also get cutting edge geforce graphics powered games on the HDTV without any of the fan noise. Is nVidia's hardware compression engine fast enough for high quality 1080p h264 encoding at say 60fps? That would reduce the required wireless bandwidth for the video link at least and also allow the STB to need very light weight graphic processing power which would keep the power and heat down...Wolfpup - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
Wow, $200 is amazing...the hardware still seems amazing, but...ugh, I still can't get past the fact it's running Android.JeffFlanagan - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
How is $200 or this hardware amazing? Why would running Android be something to get past? Are you on drugs?darkich - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
I guess he would be happier with the Vita/3DS kind of OS.Or maybe a windows 8 on that 5" screen
jasonelmore - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
well considering it has the fastest mobile gpu in a consumer device, beating iphone 5S Rouge gpu, despite being a year older, on top of a 5" 720p Touchscreen LCD, 16GB nand, superb build quality, 8 hour battery life, and great software (stream pc games, and game library (shield optimized games have increased 10 fold), Steam integration, etc.......its pretty damn impressive.This thing runs emulators better than a tricked out desktop gaming machine. N64, PSP, Gameboys (all of em)
fteoath64 - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
Heck, I would like to see Ubuntu Touch running on it if someone would port it. That would be a great attractor if there is a dual-boot option to do Android or Ubuntu Touch.skavi - Sunday, March 30, 2014 - link
What's wrong with Android?mkozakewich - Sunday, March 30, 2014 - link
Android isn't a very good OS. That usually doesn't matter on a system like this, though, so there's not much to complain about.Anything that contains a keyboard (like convertible tablets) needs something better, though.
Hrel - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
"if I’m in my home, I’m usually happier sitting at a PC with a keyboard and mouse (though admittedly gaming on an HDTV is one potential use case that’s still appealing)"So, plug your computer into a HDTV??? My computer is on my TV always, wireless keyboard/mouse with an Xbox360 controller. I don't understand why people still use computer screens so much, I mean, don't you WANT to have the biggest screen possible?
As you said, don't people WANT to use their computer in the living room? With HDTV's there's no reason not to anymore.
ThIrD-EyE - Friday, March 28, 2014 - link
Larger screens are not always better. In most cases I find a larger screen to be a hindrance when playing PC games because I have to move my head and eyes around a lot more to focus on objects or people in games. The closer you are to the screen the more strain you put on yourself than with a smaller screen. It's not as big an issue with console games because they are now built for large TVs.mkozakewich - Sunday, March 30, 2014 - link
That's more a function of angular width (field of view?) than of size. Using a particular cross-section of the most comfortable visual cone in front of your eyes means that there should be no difference in eye or head movement as screens get further away and bigger; the only difference would be in the focus of your eyes, and at what distance they're the least strained.kpxgq - Monday, March 31, 2014 - link
I have a day one shield that I've been using alongside a vita, 3ds, and my gaming PC. I originally got it to stream PC games while in bed but honestly the screen is too small.. I can barely make out text and markers on a map wotht the 5" screen. I think the next version could easily fit a 5.7 or 6" screen by reducing bezel. I'm uusingmy shield mostly as an htpc actually as the tegra4 chip powers through pretty much every video file I have thrown at it. Its basically what the ouya should have been