Graphics manufacturer Nvidia isn’t the first company to come to mind when you consider trolling, but according to a photo posted to the official Nvidia GeForce page, it may just be winking and nudging us with Half Life 3. The image is a cover for PC Gamer, with Project Shield on the right. The caption indicates that yes indeed you you can play current favourite multiplayer first person shooter on it.

But if you look slightly upwards, near the top of the cover, you’ll notice a little tid-bit about Half Life 3 secrets being leaked. Now, we could just be over-reacting but of all the covers, Nvidia chooses the one with Half Life 3. Furthermore they then start trolling with some rather hilarious comments:

You can play that on SHIELD, also.

NVIDIA posts a picture of SHIELD on the 21st of November. 2 + 1 is 3 as in Half-Life 3. The Tegra 4 Processor in SHIELD features a 72 core GeForce GPU. 72 divided by 3 is 24. There are 24 hours in a day. Half-Life 3 confirmed to release in 24 hours.

If that isn’t a rib on fans – serving to grab their attention without overtly focusing on it – then we’re not sure what its purpose is. It could just be a cover that happened to have Shield and Half Life 3 on it. What are your thoughts on the same? Let us know below.

With powerful multi-core processors and tiny, yet potent GPU technology we’re starting to see hardware and software leap forward in ways that many people couldn’t imagine when we first got our hands on a Nokia cell phone that could play snake. Even after Apple and Android started their intense competition of one trying to beat out the other there was still a major gap between handhelds, consoles and mobile devices. Until recently most games we saw were 2D or a very simple 3D environment. Popular titles like Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds were fine if you were looking to kill some time, but unless you had a handheld like the DS or the PSP, in most cases mobile gaming was something that hardcore gamers just didn’t find as satisfying. With the leaps in technology that companies like Nvidia and Qualcomm are making recently they’ve really become the ones to watch out for .

As it stands, Nvidia’s Shield hardware has just been released. What looks basically like a modern console controller (not unlike the Xbox 360’s controller) with a screen sticking out of it, is actually a small and powerful hand held device that runs Android. It can play all your standard Android titles found in the Google Play online store. More than that though this device also has the ability pair with Nvidia’s latest video cards and wireless stream a few choice games from your desktop computer to the shield. Unfortunately the uptake for this kind of hardware is a bit slow. There aren’t that many games out that are compatible with it, but it’s a great idea and with Nvidia pushing it as hard as they are we can expect to see ever more from it in the future.

Nvidia definitely hasn’t stopped there though. To compliment their new desktop-based, Android handheld they are also working on some incredibly impressive next generation GPU asnd processing technology. This here is Ira, a detailed model of the human face. He is brought to us by Nvidia’s project Logan. The impressive thing about this is that it’s running off of the first, mobile Kepler GPU core. As good as it looks, this isn’t even as advanced as it can get! The card can actually look better when running on the desktop. What is the same in this case is things like Anti-aliasing, lighting, bloom and many other features. In fact, the mobile version of Kepler does most of what is currently being done with desktops. Ira is one of the most impressive facial renders that have ever been made and all of that is made even more amazing by the fact that it’s running on Nvidia’s next generation mobile GPU.

Ira’s facial features, skin texture and even the, moist, soft reflection of light off Ira’s eyes really helps to sell the player on realism. While this is quite obviously still a digitally rendered face, it’s an absolutely stunning breakthrough to realize this is no longer really the future of gaming. Project Logan definitely doesn’t stop here though. It’s certainly not a one-trick pony. Nvidia also has OpenGL 4.3-Tessellation in Project Logan. Now, I won’t get into the specifics of tessellation, plenty of gamers already know what it is and there are way better and in-depth explanations out on the web than I could possible give in this article.

In short though, it’s a way to render much more detail in games. It is also much more efficient in the way it works compared other forms of rendering. This kind of technology is a huge leap forward in mobile device gaming. With the Tegra 4 already available and looking wonderful for mobile gamers now we can look forward to Project Logan ,which most likely will be released as the Tegra 5. Nvidia is making some good time with it too, with rumors about it being released in the second or third quarter of 2014. All they have to do is continue releasing these captivating tech demos in the meantime to satisfy our curiosity. Nvidia looks like they’ve got a bright future in mobile gaming ahead of them as they continue to push forward in the mobile market.

While Nvidia’s up and coming processor is nice, Qualcomm’s SnapDragon series of processors is also looking quite pretty these days too. Their new SnapDragon 800 is a 2.2 GHz Quad-Core CPU that has all the great rendering capabilities that the previous 600 series has, but is now much better at rendering much larger environments with many more characters on-screen and is boasting a 75 percent jump in efficiency and power. With real-time reflection and an incredibly detailed environments SnapDragon 800 has a lot going for it in the very near future.

Their processor and GPU combinations allow them to have much more efficient load balancing. Saving on power and only using GPU processing when necessary. On the flip side if one processor is being a bit overloaded the other can help with all the processing that needs to be done. Qualcomm is certainly willing to take Nvidia head on in the mobile processor and GPU market with their new hardware and in some respects it definitely has a definitive edge over the competition.

There is virtually no wait left at this point for the SnapDragon 800 compared to Nvidia’s Project Logan. This is great news for people who are looking into new phones and mobile devices come the Holiday season. The Sony Xperia Z Ultra is on it’s way out and will have the new SnapDragon in it. The device itself is a pretty big smartphone but looks wonderful. While it’s not out yet we can expect this device to be available in mid-September, but that’s a pretty short wait. Qualcomm is also hedging their bets and putting this high-end mobile processor in other devices like tablets and smart televisions and is going to be in a whole new set of products. The chip manufacturer has actually started to pick up their marketing scheme too. They want some more brand recognition in the market and have started putting out some rather animated and quirky commercials instead of just relying on word of mouth, tech articles and the advertisements for the devices that actually use their hardware.

With all the interest they’ve taken in the high-end processor market Qualcomm has had to step up their game. Competing against companies like Nvidia and Samsung who are well-known in the market to your average consumer is certainly bringing out their more colorful and competitive side, for both the good and bad it seems. If you want to see something that is painfully entertaining then I would have to recommend watching the Qualcomm 2013 keynote speech. While it’s pretty hilarious in a Ben Stiller, “Meet the Parents,” socially awkward and painful sort of way, the technology speaks for itself.

Both Nvidia and Qulcomm are interested in keeping the competition fierce with the next hardware for both companies becoming available in either the immediate or very near future. Whatever technology you choose though there will be something to like about it. Both of these companies are making great strides in advancing the the mobile gaming market.

While both of these companies are making big waves, they have taken a decidedly different approach to it. Nvidia, being the high-end gaming GPU company that they are, is focusing more on the gaming market, while Qualcomm is working on their branding as well as getting their advanced processor lines in as many “smart” devices as they possibly can.  In a lot of ways, they are starting to bring some serious competition to the desktop gaming and console markets. It will be exciting to watch as they close the gap even more in the coming year. While there are other contenders like Apple, Samsung and also Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia are really working to push things forward. Both of these companies seem to be exceedingly well at it too.

I doubt we can expect anything from Qualcomm like Nvidia’s Project shield, however their approach to get themselves into as many tablets and Smartphones like the Sony Branded Xperia devices that focus on not only gaming but multimedia entertainment really makes it a contender because the processors are so well rounded.

As the hardware get’s smaller and more efficient the graphics are only going to be getting better. It will be interesting to see what this does to the handheld gaming market, since the PS Vita and the Nintendo 3DS are certainly going to have some real stiff competition coming up for them. Both of these handhelds are coming face-to-face with hardware that runs cross platform games. It will be tough to compete and in the coming generation the place to look for big mobile advancements may not be from the console developers, but smartphone and tablet companies like Samsung, HTC and maybe even Apple. We are going to be seeing mobile graphics that you wouldn’t believe if you didn’t see it with your own eyes.

Sommerville stated that, “Over the last couple of years we’ve been creating a 3D puzzle game based on my original design and over two decades of player feedback. Chuck’s Challenge 3D is nearly ready to be released, first for the Project SHIELD, taking advantage of both NVIDIA Tegra 4 and the controller.”

The game is certainly epic in concept, as it takes gamers through every facet of gameplay in history. This involves hitting switches, key collecting and much more. Of course, players will be able to create their own levels and share them via Cloud storage. It will be interesting to see how the different tenants of gaming.

Chuck’s Challenge 3D is set to release later this year.

This is significant since it marks the first time NVidia has turned to a third party engine for demos over its own internal technologies.

Tony Tamasi, senior vice president of content and technology at NVidia stated that, “As a long-established Unreal Engine partner, we understand the sheer power that Unreal Engine 4 puts into developers’ hands. We immediately took the opportunity to utilize UE4’s high-end graphics features and incredible workflow to showcase how our graphics hardware is pushing the industry forward.”

Vice president and Epic Games co-founder Mark Rein added that, “NVidia are always on the cutting edge, and we were thrilled to be a part of their awesome Project SHIELD introduction. The visuals their team are producing using Unreal Engine 4 in real time are fantastic, and they’re already exceeding some of the best pre-rendered visuals of only a few short years ago.”

NVidia has released a video showing the upcoming Android boxing sim, Real Boxing, running on its under development Tegra powered handheld, currently called Project Shield.

The video is pretty impressive, to be honest, showing off smooth animations, sharp textures and detailed graphics, and the touch controls and added option of complete button control certainly promises an experience that normal smartphones don’t. It remains to be seen whether the handheld can actually deliver on this promise.

The video mentions that Real Boxing will be out for all Tegra powered tablets and smartphones soon, but that it plays best on Project Shield due to the added option of analog sticks and all the buttons.

Nvidia will be releasing more Project Shield videos every Thursday as part of a series called Android Thursdays.

So stay tuned for more updates.

Ever since Nvidia announced the handheld system currently being called Project Shield, we’ve all been wondering just how it came out of nowhere, all of a sudden. Well, Nvidia has posted a blog that talks about just that.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang wanted to create a piece of hardware that was within the constraints of Nvidia, but their main goal was to find out just what these constraints were.

“We couldn’t prove that it couldn’t be done, so we decided it could be,” said Tony Tamasi, Nvidia’s senior vice president of content and strategy

Apparerntly, Project Shield was built in secret. The engineering team would work behind a door with their phones given tp the security, who were initially focussing on creating a controller primarily. Their first prototype was nothing more than “a game controller fastened to a smartphone with wood”.

It’s a very interesting and insightful blog, do you might want to give it a read through the link above.

[Polygon]

Nvidia recently announced their very own handheld gaming console, currently called Project Shield at CES, and it’s got plenty of people excited, thanks to the footage that was released.

Nvidia, surprisingly, wants to assure everyone that Project Shield will not be sold at a loss, which is a change up from how console manufacturers usually sell their consoles at a loss and hope to hope to earn their profit via licensing or software sales.

“We’ll make our money by selling the device to gamers,” said Nvidia in a blog update. “This time-honored approach isn’t one we’re taking with Project Shield… our goal with it is to design and sell a truly great piece of hardware, one that fits comfortably in your hand, delights your eyes and blows out your ears.”

Several major publishers such as Ubisoft and Epic are interested in Project Shield.

Stay tuned for more info.

[VG247]

Project Shield the new gaming platform from Nvidia that was unleashed yesterday at CES 2013, has been shown a lot of interest from Epic Games, Hawken developer and Ubisoft.

The presence of Epic Games and Ubisoft should not be a surprise since these companies put their wares on almost all new consoles, except the Vita, because it’s well.. yeah.

Mark Rein said that the Project Shield is “an uncompromising, high-performance console experience” for mobile devices, pinting out that Hawken and Real Boxing both utilise the Unreal Engine and “look fantastic” on the portable.

“This is just the beginning, and we’re truly excited to see what more Unreal Engine developers will do with so much horsepower in such a compact gaming device.”

“Ubisoft is always excited about new hardware developments, and Project Shield promises to bring both mobile and PC gamers a great new gaming experience. Seeing the PC version of Assassin’s Creed III run on the device is a great example of this, and further strengthens Ubisoft’s long-standing relationship with Nvdia,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said.

Check out the trailer below of Project Shield, it does look awesome.

Thanks, VG247.

Well they have released a new trailer for the same and it is sort of reminiscent of Iron Man. Why would they do that? Because they want your money that’s why.

Take your gaming anywhere with Project Shield, a gaming portable designed for gamers who yearn to play when, where and how they want. With the advanced processing power of Nvidia Tegra 4, a full-size game controller, breakthrough Wi-Fi technology, and stunning HD video and audio, Project Shield redefines what gaming can be.

The console can even stream PC games to a TV and Nvidia showed a demonstration of a game running on a 4k TV.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.