CES is always a time for companies to show off something a little crazy and for them to show off potential products they will ship at a later. For a lot of smaller companies it’s a chance to get a slice of the limelight that could help to set them up for the rest of the year. It’s difficult though, to stand out amongst the pack of all these other ideas and new products, with manufacturers bringing new smartphones, the latest in TV and the latest in gaming peripherals. This year, looks got a little different with a new player in the portable gaming, Nvidia, hoping to be the most desirable portable gaming console on the market.
However, CES is a show that will have others trying their best to muscle in on your press coverage and there will be more than a few attendees that will be happy to talk smack about your product. Gaming is one area that is filled with fierce competition and peripheral manufacturer, Snakebyte, have a new Android gaming “system” that they think is better than Nvidia’s Project Shield. The Unu Android console which is a sort of Lego kit of a gaming console will consist of a number of things. There’s going to be a bluetooth game controller, a specialized “gesture” remote and the main tablet that Unu say will replace your media streamer. However, there’s little to suggest that this will be a success considering the company has no working prototype to show off at CES. They’ve been using an Android tablet to show off their software layer. We’d love to tell you more about the Unu but it doesn’t look like there’s more information out there to give you.
What’s interesting is that the company behind Unu, had some interesting words to pass on when it comes to Nvidia’s Project Shield. While folks from Snakebyte express that they are very excited for Nvidia’s entry into the handheld world they feel that positioning it as a handheld console and not a tablet will hurt its appeal. Moreover, the biggest obstacle that Snakebyte feel Nvidia will have to overcome is pricing of the handheld and while I’m excited about Project Shield, its potential pricing does raise some concerns, indeed.
Perhaps this market of Android-powered gaming consoles is getting a little too crowded before it’s even gotten off the ground.
[Source: The Verge]