The mobile gaming console with stereoscopic 3D
Tegra 3 is intended for both smartphones and tablest, but with the higher performance the circuit has to offer we will be entering a whole new world for these kind of devices. NVIDIA hasn’t just gone all in for games, but also made sure to support accessories that can turn a tablet, or even better, a smartphone into a mobile HTPC or video game console.
NVIDIA has been working on support for most game controller on the market, and has said that in principle all should work with Tegra 3 units no matter if they are wired or wireless with Bluetooth or IR – this is for Sony PlayStation 3 controller with Bluetooth. The wireless controller for Xbox 360 will not be supported since it uses proprietary technology from Microsoft, but with a wire it works well.
The controller can be used directly with the unit, or you can connect it to a larger TV “for a true console experience.” Both the support for game controllers, and larger monitors are supported by all titles in Tegra Zone.
Tegra 3 also supports stereoscopic 3D that is compatible with TVs with HDMI 1.4. The 3D technology consists of NVIDIA’s own 3D Vision technology, where you will need NVIDIA’s own accessories just like in the PC version. The 3D support are in some titles on Tegra Zone, but stretches to YouTube and its own 3D Vision Live website.
This makes one wonder about the video game consoles on the market. While we find it hard to believe that Tegra 3 can really challenge Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 visually, both Microsoft and Sony should be careful. By the looks of it more and more games will be developed for smartphones and tablets, which already has claimed a portion of the market for portable game consoles. Being able to connect a unit to a TV is probably not something that lures real gamers, but for the “casual gamer” this could be an option.
Speaking of YouTube and movies, we enter into HTPC territory that has been a favourite topic of ours for some time. Tegra 2 could do video playback at 1080p, which was true as long as the file format and codec was supported.
Tegra 3 will support MKV files in Full HD, or 1080p. The bit-rate will be 40 Mbps (with peaks around 60 Mbps), which means it should be powerful enough to play most videos available. Both when it comes to using Tegra 3 as a mobile video game and HTPC are things we whope to investigate further in the future.
