Does Shield have a place in our tech-absorbed homes?

Not even close. I'd be surprised if the Shield sells for less than $250. I don't know if there is a place for it but I'd love to play with one. Could be a big hit with teens.

 

The only thing that disappoints me is the design. It seems to be pushing the console side more than the actual handheld/tablet side, which is a huge waste of potential for Android and kind of alienates users who are used to playing mobile games... Well, while mobile.

The JXD and Yinlips devices feel so natural to play outside of the house and just as good on the big screen. On the other hand, I don't see people taking something like this outside of the house with them.

A lot of people see it as redundant, but I'm willing to give it a chance if it's cheap enough. Ouya can't really push the same kind of power, and the screen might come in handy. I guess I'm a bit biased since game systems are what got me into Android.

 

People need to stop thinking of this as a tablet. It runs the full OS yes. But it's target audience is SPECIFICALLY gamers, not tablet-toting Angry Birds players.

 

Here's the problem for Nvidia with the Shield..I think the cost is going to be high enough to rival most 7" tablets...maybe more. The joystick looks nice but would be in the way when trying to type or use it for basic tablet functions (so your point is valid omnius). But someone who can only afford (or justify) one device, they may be in between the shield and a 7 or 10 inch tablet.

If the shield costs more than a Nexus 7 which can be paired with PS3, Xbox, or bluetooth controller designed for Android...that may be a really tough choice. Video, web surfing, emailing, etc., would all be better on a true tablet.

Sure the shield looks nice but if it is ONLY for dedicated gamers, why not just pick up a PS Vita?

 

When I saw it runs steam pc games I thought "cool"
When I saw it streams steam pc games and you still need a really high end machine to get the graphics they were showing I went right off it.

 

I can think of a few reasons...

 

I will buy one of these to stream games to my TV and play. Done deal. I watched a demo of this live a PDXLan a few weeks ago in Portland and it was awesome!

 

Because the PS Vita sucks ass, and doesn't run emulators

 

before trading in my PS Vita for the shield, i really only used the vita to play PS1 games and watch netflix, as it turns out the shield can also do these, and with emulation the shield is a much better choice. at the moment, no game on the vita makes people go "huh, i wanna buy the vita JUST to play that game".

 

I'm quite disappointed in the Shield. It doesn't support Amazon Instant video... and unlike my years-old Google TV equipment, it doesn't have HDMI pass-through. I had to sacrifice another piece of equipment to free up a port on my TV. Hopefully Skipr TV will be out on time (Q3) with 4K UHD and HDMI pass-through. My 2¢

EDIT: Sending it back. I'll pick up a Vilso Ti4 XMBC streaming player instead. Let's see how THAT works out. If it does, I may not need Skipr or HDMI pass-through.