The NVIDIA GameStream has been officially unveiled this morning. This announcement is coming out of the NVIDIA Montreal event and GameStream basically means users will be able to stream gameplay out to a variety of other devices. Basically, this expands the PC game streaming of the SHIELD and uses other technology to include GeForce GTX graphics cards and the NVIDIA GRID.
Some of what we were seeing here this morning included a demo with a 4K television. This one had the stream coming from an NVIDIA GeForge GTX Titan graphics-card equipped PC to a SHIELD. There was also mention of streaming to a television using the software that is built-in on the NVIDIA SHIELD.
As well we saw the SHIELD being used with a third-party controller. This is called “Game Console Mode” and rather simply, will allow the user to connect the third-party controller using a Bluetooth connection. This could have the SHIELD competing with other setups to include Steam boxes and to some extent, an Xbox or Playstation.
That all being said, while the the Game Console Mode sounds exciting, it isn’t available just yet. NVIDIA said this would be arriving later in the month, on October 28th. Coincidentally, that is the same day the new GeForce GTX cards will be arriving.
Touching back on the Steam game support, while some may be looking towards a dedicated box for the living room, the SHIELD does have support for the entire collection of games. Not to mention, the SHIELD also makes a great portable console with plenty of Android game titles already available. Basically, it looks like the SHIELD is much more than just a handheld Android game system.
