Half-Life 2 and Portal now on Nvidia Shield

Half-Life 2 and Portal are now available natively on Nvidia Shield, the company announced today.

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Nvidia is aiming to sell Project Shield to gamers with two highly-regarded classics. Half-Life 2 and Portal are now available natively on the device. In a short promotional video, Nvidia announced the pair of games and says it worked with Valve to bring them to Shield.

This follows a recent update that introduced remote streaming. The video also reiterates the temporary $199 price point, which a retail source told Shacknews will be available through June 1.

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  • reply
    May 12, 2014 5:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Half-Life 2 and Portal now on Nvidia Shield.

    Half-Life 2 and Portal are now available natively on Nvidia Shield, the company announced today.

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      May 12, 2014 5:21 PM

      Half-Life 2 + Portal 1 = Kinda cool, though I don't know how much of a system seller it will be? Neat from a tech perspective.

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      May 12, 2014 5:53 PM

      Every time I read news about the Shield I'm surprised at how many people like first-person games using gamepad controls. To me it always feels like trying to clean a bathtub with a toothbrush.

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        May 12, 2014 5:58 PM

        [deleted]

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        May 12, 2014 6:26 PM

        I hear you. M+KB will always be better, but like anything else gamepad fps controls benefit from practice. You'd be surprised how good people can get with it.

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          May 12, 2014 7:16 PM

          Oh I'll admit that. I'm not saying it's WRONG to play with a gamepad, just that it seems like a PC gamer would be far more likely to prefer Mouse+WASD instead of gamepad. And yet the Shield is a PC-oriented product incorporating a gamepad.

          Still, can't argue with the reviews or the sales figures. Maybe there's a large subset of PC gamers who cut their teeth on console FPSes? I dunno. Just a strange thing to me.

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            May 13, 2014 12:04 AM

            How else exactly would you control a portable pc-ish platform game?

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            May 13, 2014 12:08 AM

            This whole anti-gamepad thing is so PC neckbeardesque from 1997, this isn't the Quake 1 days anymore.
            The new Tomb Raider is on PC, Dark Souls, Mass Effect - all these games are not only good on a controller, they are in many ways superior.

            Sure, hardcore twitch FPS games, I get that key and mouse is better, SC2 - yep mouse is better, DOTA - mouse is better - but Diablo 3 is even on consoles and totally playable. PC gamers really need to get over this fear of controllers, they work really well in a heap of games.

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              May 13, 2014 12:34 AM

              The games you list as superior on controller are all third person games... IMO gamepads are better for third person games, and M+K better for first person games.

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                May 13, 2014 12:38 AM

                For the most part yeah pretty much - the thing is a lot of FPS games are more than playable and fun on a controller. If you prefer mouse and keyboard then obviously use them - but I mean a controller is better for third person games and it's better for several other types of games - so to totally deny the option of using a controller just seems odd to me. It's the kind of dumb thing I would have said over 10 years ago before I accepted console games are good too.

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                  May 13, 2014 3:07 AM

                  People keep saying this- controllers are better for third person. Why?! Where are you guys getting this? Nothing changes from first person! If you're going to use eg Dark Souls then understand that it's better with a controller because it's a fighting game, not because it's third person. Also, racing games are better with it because they're racing games, using the first person cockpit camera doesn't change that either.
                  Any third person game that is a shooter is still always better with a mouse.
                  Or just any game where you need to aim is better with a mouse. Even if it's just to rotate the camera, doing so with a controller is less immersive and so I prefer playing eg Batman with a mouse.

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                    May 13, 2014 3:11 AM

                    [deleted]

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                    May 13, 2014 7:13 AM

                    I prefer a gamepad for 3rd person melee, because precise aim is less important, and analog directional control is more important. For first person, or third person where you are primarily shooting people with guns, I prefer a mouse.

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                    May 13, 2014 8:14 AM

                    Sorry, I knew that was a fuckup as I posted it.
                    Controller isn't "best" for third person but it's really fucking adequate how's that? It's more than just adequate infact. Some games are ... easier perhaps with it? More relaxing? Lay back in a good PC chair or PC game on the couch.

                    There's a lot of games now on PC (Pixel Junk Games, third person games, fighting games, racing games) which all seem to control well with the controller. They are even made without having to fiddle, the Xbox 360 controller (or emulation) "just works"
                    I don't care for twitchy fps games anymore personally - so the majority of the games I play, on console - their PC adaptations also work well with a controller, obviously.

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              May 13, 2014 3:09 AM

              [deleted]

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              May 13, 2014 3:50 AM

              Fair point. Can't really have a micro keyboard and tiny mouse. A trackball maybe, but trackball gamers mostly died out in the 90s.

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                May 13, 2014 3:51 AM

                Uh, this was meant to respond to the other poster. No idea how shack screwed that up.

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              May 13, 2014 8:04 AM

              I have like 30 hours of Titanfall played on PC, only infront of my couch on an xbox controller. It really does just fit certain games.

              PC's strength isn't M+KB. Its the option to use the best tool for the job.

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        May 12, 2014 11:12 PM

        Like trying to wipe your bum with dental floss.

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        May 13, 2014 7:07 AM

        I've had a ton of fun with halo over the years, it's just another skill set, it takes a lot of practice to get better and it's rewarding when you do. It's not much different in that respect.

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        May 13, 2014 8:36 AM

        You can use KB+M with the Shield

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      May 12, 2014 6:22 PM

      You can pick up a Shield right now for $199 from nVidia. Good deal, still not sure why I'd use it though.

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        May 12, 2014 11:31 PM

        Just got a GTX 780. Waiting for Shield Revision. Why not make it like a vita or wii u gamepad shape. Looks uglier than a X-box 360.

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      May 13, 2014 12:01 AM

      How does it compare to the xbox original classic?

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      May 13, 2014 6:54 AM

      How about portal 2? And why Half Life 2 and not the episodes?

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