The Transformer Prime hits Australian stores this week, loaded with Ice Cream Sandwich. But can it play Skyrim? Yes, apparently, via PC to tablet streaming using Splashtop THD — a new and improved (but not yet available) version that Asus and Nvidia teamed up to demo at CES.
Watch below as NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang and old-school pro gamer Fatal1ty do some schtick and show off Splashtop THD and Skyrim on the new Transformer Prime.
Once the app is installed and Splashtop finds your network, your PC compresses and streams the visuals to your tablet. Your tablet then streams your inputs to your PC. I asked NVIDIA exactly how that all works and I swear they said “auto-magically”.
Anyhow, what you get in the end is a very lovely 720p experience on your 10-inch screen. Better yet, you will suffer no frame rate loss and only have a minimal amount of delay. (Less than 15ms most of the time)
Nothing else is compromised, and what you get is practically a 1:1 gaming experience on your tablet. Nice.
However, there’s obviously a catch. A few in fact.
Exactly what do you need in order to make this happen?
1) A high end PC with an NVIDIA GPU — I asked NVIDIA what would happen if I tried to re-create this demo with an AMD RADEON 6750. They laughed.
2) A high end tablet powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor – I asked NVIDIA what would happen if I tried to re-create this demo on a Samsung Galaxy Tab. They laughed.
3) A very fast and reliable network connection — You know, that “good” internet your friends are always talking about.
So, if you meet the qualifications above, then congratulations, you’re ready to experience the wonders of high-end PC gaming on your tablet!
Sure, one could argue the practicality of an application like this, and Skyrim certainly isn’t the most practical game to be playing on a tablet, but it’s certainly hard to argue how cool this sort of technology will be once it’s much more affordable.
If you want to play around with the current version of Splashtop, you can get it here and for more on what ASUS has coming down the line (including the extremely sexy seven-inch Eee Pad tablet they just unveiled) be sure to like them on Facebook.
Image: Chad Lakkis.
Originally published on Kotaku Australia
light487
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 9:16 AMSo what they are ssaying is that streamed “video” (ie. remote access) from a non-nVidia PC to a non-Tegra 3 tablet is a waste of time? Sorry, I don’t buy that.
Splashtop already, before this, said you can play 3D games with their software.. even on a smartphone. The actual tablet is not doing the rendering of the game graphics, the PC is. The communication between PC and Tablet doesn’t need to rely on the graphics card’s “brand”.. and if they have forced it to do so, they are doing consumers and technology a disservice.
Even if this is all true, all it does is make me want to stick with my non-nVidia setup on my PC.
Kym Herbert
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 10:10 AMYep, its nothing to do with Nvidia specifically. Just the power of a tablet to un-encode the feed coming in from the remote PC at the required speed. So many other latency factors come into consideration. Better off just sticking to the hi-def remote desktop for everyday use. There are much better casual gaming alternatives for a tablet like this.
Steve
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 10:44 AMUm, that’s all well and good, but what about the controls for a game like skyrim (or any game in fact) that has NO support whatsoever for a touch screen.
It’s a cool idea to run a pc game on a tablet, but in practicality, at the moment, all you are doing is watching the game.
Jamie
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 11:16 AMUmm.. Did you not watch the video where he was playing with what looked like an Xbox controller? There are apps that allow you to use you BT controllers on tablets so that you don’t have to use touch.
Steve
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 1:11 PMSo i’m going to sit on the train (or any other public area) with a tablet in my lap and an xbox controller out ? yeah i can see that happening.
Useful for at home, if you like playing games on a tablet instead of your PC that’s right in front of you.
ss
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 5:58 PMYou probably wouldn’t, but I sure as hell would.
thatguy
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 5:23 AMOf course you wouldn’t. Uses wifi.
Paul
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 2:39 PMIt’s sad how setup that kill looked with the dragon, all prepped. It sounded if he was nervous, or that Fatality didn’t really know what he was talking about. I can’t pick, maybe I’m just being a douche.
If the tablet can power that I’d be coloured impressed. But I might as well move to the states and purchase Onlive and sit on my couch.
biofrog
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 4:06 PMWell I use Splashtop on my Tegra 2 transformer, and it most certainly doesn’t need Tegra 3.. of course that won’t hurt. Mostly I’ve used it for movie playback off the PC if for some reason my PVR hasn’t been able to play the video, and fortunately with VLC you can adjust the audio sync to match the latency from the WiFi signal.
More annoyingly however; I’m pretty damn sure he is using a *wired* xbox controller in the video, and there are no wires into the transformer other than the mini-HDMI cable.. Which means one thing – the xbox controller is plugged into the PC, not the tablet. Well hey you aren’t going to get a lot of latency doing that now!
Also Huang being ‘surprised’ that various apps work? Really? nVidia CEO not knowing what a remote video stream is? Perhaps he could explain why Aero is turned off instead when Splashtop connects…
paul
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 5:01 PMthis reminds me of the gaming on netbooks fad the industry went through, it is a waste of time in my opinion because the screen is too small