Nvidia's Gamestream initiative to bring PC titles to the big screen

Piggybacking off the streaming feature of the Shield, Nvidia lays out its bid for living room gaming by combining its PC chips with its Android handheld.

(Credit: Nvidia) 

 

In the world of PC gaming, nearly everyone is gunning for the living room and the big screen. On the heels of Valve Software's Steam OS and Steam Machine announcements last month, Nvidia has now outlined its plans for bringing PC titles to televisions, branding it Gamestream and combining the performance of its GPUs with its handheld Shield device.
The announcement was made Friday at Nvidia's The Way It's Meant to be Played event in Montreal, where CEO Jen-Hsun Huang outlined his vision for the Nvidia ecosystem.
The effort is the official version of what the company was exploring with the Shield's streaming functionality. That was previously a beta program that introduced the use of the flip-screen handheld's wireless functionality and the company's line of GeForce GPUs to allow for low-latency streaming of console-grade titles from one's PC.
Gamestream is very much the same idea, though now with an official title and a release date slated for October 28. Simply put, GameStream will allow any PC with a GeForce GTX graphics card to send over titles to a living room television by way of the Shield's Wi-Fi, achieved through plugging in the handheld into any monitor with an HDMI-in.
The Shield can also be paired with Nyko PlayPad Pro Bluetooth controller for what Nvidia is calling Shield console mode.
Gamestream will support more than 50 PC games at launch, including highly anticipated releases like Batman: Arkham Origins and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and will also sync with Nvidia's GRID cloud service.