Written by AndrewH
Nvidia is preparing for a big announcement at their pres event during the upcoming GDC 2015 and while no one truly knows what the company intends to unveil, besides Nvidia themselves, a lot of talk is happening by what the potential things the announcement could be. One of the more interesting ideas, and something mentioned within the comments within our previous article about the upcoming event, is really a set-top box. However, this idea we have been studying goes beyond that, making the set-top box be aimed at Nvidia’s GRID gaming when needed service.
The idea, which we originally read over at TechCrunch, is that Nvidia is getting prepared to really push their game streaming service GRID and something the best way to get this done is always to put a box on as many TVs as possible. Right now Nvidia’s GRID can be obtained to only those people who possess a Shiel brand device, whether that function as the tablet or even the portable gaming console, but to bring the plan to the masses, a set-top box running Android (we’re assuming it would run Android due to the amount of invites for that press event that went out to Android news websites like ours) that has a main purpose of running GRID towards the giant screen would be a logical way to go. TechCrunch raises a good thing, Nvidia is pushing their GRID service pretty hard already, adding games into it every Tuesday which we end up reporting on every week.
Nvidia has provided some hints about what the announcement will be at GDC 2015, stating in the invite this is 5 years in the making and may change the gaming industry in a way nothing you’ve seen prior seen. Previous services that offered on-demand game streaming, such as OnLive, stayed locked as a software-based service, never branching to have its very own hardware to offer consumers. Instead they trusted other hardware using their company companies and the hopes that people would install OnLive onto that hardware. This could essentially make Nvidia’s GRID set-top box a first. However it may be this “5 years within the making” hint that debunks the entire set-top box idea as we are pretty confident we’d often hear something in all of that time in regards to a device like this being developed.
Of course it may not be a set-top box at all but rather it could be Nvidia opening up GRID to non-Shield branded devices, that could be other Android phones / tablets or PCs or both. Something is definite though, the announcement will be more than only a new iteration of either the Shield Portable or the Shield Tablet. It will include the new Tegra K1 chipset, Android, and Nvidia services. How this translates within the announcement remains to be seen but we simply have a couple weeks left to wait.
What do you think? Is really a GRID-centric set-top box or micro-console an excellent possibility for Nvidia to announce at GDC 2015? Or are we still hoping it will be another thing like a new Shield Portable or tablet? It’s been about Four years since the Xperia Play was originally announced, could we end up visiting a new gaming Android phone but this time originating from Nvidia? Let us know within the comments below!
Website Referenced: TechCrunch
