MWC 2013: Up close with Project Shield

Announced to general surprise at CES, Nvidia does have its Project Shield game controller-come-cloud-connected unconsole at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, but it's keeping it safe behind plastic.

Instead, it's shifted its focus to more generally to its Tegra 4 architecture (also in Project Shield), with various reference tablets showing off games such as Vivid's Unreal-powered Real Boxing, which you can play with a connected Xbox controller.

But back to Project Shield...

It still looks as odd a piece of hardware as it did two months ago.

That screen. Those speakers. Isn't it just a screen with an Xbox controller bolted on? That's what it looks like, not to mention the indented face that the buttons and joypads are contained within, just so that screen can fold down flat.

A bit weird.

Still, as Nvidia admits, the current hardware isn't production quality. At some level, it's still a work-in-progress, with key aspects - not least the price - still to be determined (or at least announced).

Nevertheless, as it stands (behind plastic), Project Shield looks the part. You can see the high build quality of the device, while the games running in the demo loop are all cutting-edge 3D Android titles.

Basically, whatever your views on its longterm future, your palms do get a little itchy when you're nearby.