This month NVIDIA announced plans to launch its first video game console designed to live next to your TV. But the new $199 NVIDIA Shield game console might not be the company’s only new Shield device on the way.

The 2-year-old NVIDIA Shield handheld game console may be due for an update as well.

NVIDIA Shield portable (1st-gen)
NVIDIA Shield portable (1st-gen)

New listings for a device described as the NVIDIA Shield Portable P2523 appeared recently at the Bluetooth and WiFi certification websites.

Neither site offers a lot of details, but here’s are some things the listings tell us to expect from the new Shield Portable:

  • 802.11a/b/g/n/ac dual-band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi
  • Bluetooth 4.1
  • Android 5.0
  • Firmware version 3.10.61

That means the new device will support faster WiFi networks than its predecessor, it supports the latest Bluetooth standards, and it runs a newer version of NVIDIA’s firmware.

There’s no information about the processor, screen, or other hardware. But if the new Shield portable is anything like the original, it’ll probably consist of what looks like an Xbox-style game controller with an attached 5 inch display which you can fold up to play games on the go.

Update: Listings at import/export site Zuaba suggests the handheld gaming device will indeed have an NVIDIA Tegra X1 processor.

And if it’s anything like the new NVIDIA Shield console, it could have a shiny new NVIDIA Tegra X1 processor to replace the aging Tegra 4 chip found in the original Shield Portable.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it also had a higher-resolution display, more memory, or other improvements.

via Juggly

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40 replies on “Next-gen NVIDIA Shield portable game console coming soon”

  1. have the old shield portable and my only complaint about it is the internal storage and lack of 4gs. great speakers and the controller makes a great adjustable stand for the screen when watching videos. Will be handing my money over the moment preordering is possible.

  2. “For the new Shield device, Nvidia has partnered with some great developers. We’ve given them our source code and they’re bringing Borderlands 2 and Borderlands The Pre-Sequel natively to the Tegra X1 on the new Shield device and they look great. These games are also part of The Handsome Collection that is available on Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.”

    Source: https://www.shacknews.com/article/88752/borderlands-developer-randy-pitchford-talks-nvidia-shield

    1. Trade it in for a new like I’m about to do. They’re probably gonna a deal that you can trade in your shield for a newer model

    1. NVIDIA’s website refers to that as the Shield Tablet, while the handheld is called the Shield Portable.

      Both the WiFi and Bluetooth sites refer to this device as “Shield Portable” or “Portable Game Console.”

  3. I’ve always wanted a Shield, but the form-factor is too unusual. I found it too bulky to carry easily.

    I’d get one if it was more like the PS Vita, or a Neo Geo X

    1. I’m with you Grant…

      I had a PSP…that was a decent format for playing games etc. This shield looks ridiculous…

      1. It isn’t as slick as the psp but it’s still a power house of a machine

        It definitely delivers a better portable gaming experience than the psp.

    2. even worse when i just can stick my PS4-Controller to my smartphone (using sonys gcm10-adapter)

      so i’d need neither another tablet/phone.

      1. I’d like to see you play Portal or Half-Life 2 on that phone of yours 😉

        1. i’d like to see you play that on this shield-thingy

          won’t work, for exactly the same reasons as on my smartphone.

          Of course you could remote-control a PC and play on that one. That’d only leave you with PC-Games what are designed for keyboard/mouse-input and a gamepad in your hands. (BTW: current Sony Smartphones come with the ability to RC a PS4)

          Imho i don’t think thats worth the hassle. I don’t quite get why i should RC my PC while i’m at home right next to it. But that’s just me.

          1. You’re in luck because you Can watch me play it on shield. Well not me but there’s numerous videos of others.

            Nvidia completely ported these games as a Shield exclusive. Portal and Half-Life 2 came out on the Shield store in may of last year.

            Read this article:
            https://www.shacknews.com/article/88752/borderlands-developer-randy-pitchford-talks-nvidia-shield

            “For the new Shield device, Nvidia has partnered with some great developers. We’ve given them our source code and they’re bringing Borderlands 2 and Borderlands The Pre-Sequel natively to the Tegra X1 on the new Shield device and they look great. These games are also part of The Handsome Collection that is available on Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.”

            Again, I like to see you play these console quality games on your phone 🙂

  4. My prayers have been answered. I really thought this might not ever happen again. Please let this be true.

  5. If only Android or any mobile OS had games I actually wanted to dedicate time to play instead of just for killing time waiting in line somewhere, I’d get this. Too bad it doesn’t and I check all the time.

    1. Between Local PC streaming and nVidia’ GRID service the gaming options on this are far more then just Android. nVidia is also working hard to improve the games available on Android with their Shield TV box.. There are far more options on the Shield devices then just Google Play Android gaming .

      1. So I need to BUY a PC with a dedicated NVIDIA card to play good games? Pass.

        I’m not holding my breath for GRID either. Plus that makes you tied to your home unless you have money to throw on cellular data (at least in the US).

        1. Games are being ported to. As a platform standing on its own, I know you’ll dismiss it right now, sure. But at least someone is trying to bring real console quality titles to Android.

          1. Well… besides Crysis 3, they’re partnering with others to bring Doom 3: BFG Edition, Resident Evil 5, The Talos Principle, Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance and Limbo… Also already ported are some older PC games like Half Life 2 and Portal…

            Randy Pitchford, president of Borderlands studio Gearbox Software, also announced that Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel are also on their way to Shield…

            Mind, some of these games are clearly Nvidia exclusives and are mainly only being offered because Nvidia’s new X1 SoC pushes the upper limits of ARM based performance enough that it can actually run some of these games at decent quality… but the rest of the ARM market still has to catch up before such games offerings become more common but it’s slowly getting there…

          2. Not to mention, a lot of games these days are way more GPU focused. Maxwell architecture with full OpenGL support is definitely helping to make it easier for companies to port and optimize for mobile platforms. And NVIDIA currently is just about the only company on the market offering a chip with the latest OpenGL and DirectX support. Imaginations Technologies has new GPU’s for mobile that are apparently at least DX11.2 capable too, but NVIDIA’s name and performance are definitely helping a bit in adoption by developers.

            Imagination also has a MIPS design with a DX12 and OpenGL4.5(?, if I remember correctly from their blog recently) capable GPU. I hope Qualcomm comes out with something nice in the future since they seem to be a big needle mover given they are so widely adopted in smartphones that can at least have compatibility with those API’s, because Doom’s developers seemed open to the thought of other devices being able to run the same games in the future, given that they are just going to be linked to from the Play Store on the Shield TV. So it would be nice in the future if more chipsets get out there in a wide range of devices that can run these games just fine, and not just NVIDIA’s chips.

        2. Well, there’s also alternatives like OnLive… They’re still around… and depending where you live there is also public WiFi you can use, you really only need a broadband connection to stream games and there’s many ways to get that besides just your home, work, or phone services…

          Or you could just opt for the tablet version of this, you can still get the optional wireless game controller and play it like an actual console… Just make sure it’s running on the latest SoC, many of these game exclusives are only available to Nvidia’s latest X1 based devices… Besides, many people prefer the dedicated wireless game controllers as there’s less compromise on weight, hand comfort/ergonomics, and better button arrangement… and the tablet is easier to use for other things to make it more worth the investment…

          There’s also ports of WINE coming to Android that should let you run some Windows apps and not limit yourself just to the official ports or cloud services…

      1. Pass. I’d like to move on from emulators and playing old games that I’ve already played on their original console.

        1. Emulators are amazing for people that never got to have the console, can’t play the console anymore, once had the console, want it on the go, etc. Emulation was actually one of the reasons I stuck with Android at first, that’s just me though

    2. This will have games like crysis 3, half life 2, borderlands 2 and the pre sequel

  6. If they make it usable as something more than a overengineered gameboy, i may be interested.

    1. What’s wrong with engineering, or the GameBoy? Both are great. I really like my Shield as a do-everything retro emulation machine, plus it can stream PC games. What more would you want or need?

      1. I think the point is that it was pretty bad to use as a tablet or for watching videos, which is exactly why the successor was a tablet. There’s a market for pure gaming devices sure but a *much* bigger market for tablets, and tablets can pull double duty but pure devices can’t.

        1. Tablets aren’t as good at games that need controllers. I’ve never understood the idea that one device needs to do everything. It’s OK to have multiple toys.

          1. For some people, yes it is. For others, a smartphone has replaced their dumb phone, PDA, camera, MP3 player, MP4 player and handheld game console because while a smartphone may not be best for those tasks they’re pretty good at all of them, and for say a console, MP4 player and PDA you want a large screen so there’s crossover. Not saying this is the right way to go but generally, people who buy things don’t care if it’s best for the task, and I don’t mean one or two people I mean hundreds of millions of smartphone users. Nvidia would be foolish to force those people to care because they won’t, they’ll just not buy Shield devices, like what happened with the shield portable vs tablet 😛

          2. Nvidia is going after rather a niche market – plus it is a brand name, and has plenty of fans that will but the Shield because it’s an Nvidia (and has quite a bit to offer). But I have to say I agree with the ‘people want everything in their smartphone’, which is why we developed Remotr in the first place. It’s not just a matter of cost, it’s also a matter of convenience, and not wanting to having to deal with more than one device.

          3. Some people lack the funds, or if you’re like me, your parents will use the argument of “But X can already do Y, why do you want item Z?”

          4. I don’t mean this in a mean way, but if someone is a kid and/or doesn’t have any money to buy anything anyway, who cares what they think about new tech? I get that they can’t afford it.

          5. I can see where you’re coming from. I’m that rare high schooler that actually knows stuff about phones (I frequent quite a few tech sites), but got cursed with parents that think I use electronics too much/have too many electronics lel

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