超越索尼任天堂 英偉達有望催生遊戲業下一個大事件

Nvidia wants to do for gaming what Spotify did for music.

英偉達打算像音樂界的Spotify一樣，在遊戲界掀起波瀾。

Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO and co-founder of the chipset and graphic card maker, says gaming on TV right now is focused on the console. However, he believes Nvidia can expand the reach of gaming 10 to 100 times if it can make gaming more accessible by simplifying delivery of titles to a single click.

這家芯片和顯卡製造商的首席執行官兼聯合創始人黃仁勳表示，目前的電視遊戲基本上都是通過遊戲機操作的。但他相信，如果英偉達能簡化遊戲的交付過程，讓玩家只需輕輕一點就能獲得各種遊戲，該公司就能使玩家羣體擴大10倍到100倍。

Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, Calif., is launching its new Shield console, which is a high-powered Android TV device combined with the Nvidia Grid game streaming service, in May for $200. Unlike other consoles currently on the market, the Shield streams all of its content—no downloads or discs required.

總部位於加州聖克拉拉市的英偉達公司，即將於5月份推出全新的“盾”（Shield）遊戲機，這是一臺高性能的安卓電視設備，將搭載英偉達Grid遊戲流媒體服務，售價爲200美元。與市面上其他遊戲機不同，“盾”所有的遊戲都是通過流媒體來推送的，也就是說，無需下載或使用光盤。

“We don’t see Shield Console competing with PS4 or Xbox One consumers,” says Matt Wuebbling, director of Shield and GeForce marketing at Nvidia. “We see this as a streaming device that delivers both entertainment and gaming in 4K. We look at it as a paradigm shift, rather than a head-to-head competition.” According to Wuebbling, Shield is the only Android TV device and only gaming device that supports 4K (Ultra HD) content on the market.

英偉達“盾”與GeForce顯卡事業部營銷總監馬特o維布林表示：“我們並不認爲‘盾’是在和PS4或Xbox One爭搶用戶。在我們眼裏，這是一臺流媒體設備，它能推送4K格式的娛樂節目和遊戲。我們認爲這是一種模式的改變，而不是一場勢均力敵的較量。”據他介紹，“盾”是市面上唯一一臺支持4K格式內容的安卓電視設備和遊戲機。

Peter Warman, CEO of video game research firm Newzoo, says Nvidia has an opportunity to succeed with Shield in regions where traditional consoles have not, particularly in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Even in the larger markets where Sony and Microsoft have a large foothold, the lower price point and collection of 200 digital games at launch could lure gamers.

遊戲研究公司Newzoo的首席執行官彼得o沃爾曼稱，憑藉“盾”這一利器，在那些傳統遊戲機還未大行其道的地方，尤其是東歐、拉美和亞洲地區，英偉達有望大獲成功。就算在那些規模較大，早已被索尼和微軟瓜分掉大部分份額的市場，“盾”的低廉售價及其攜帶的200款數字遊戲也能吸引大批玩家。

“Nvidia sees first-hand how the traditional consoles are in a gridlock because of their traditional tie-in with retail,” Warman says. “By launching a high-end, completely digital solution, developers will have a lot more freedom in launching and monetizing their content, comparable to what they are used to on PC. As others are investing billions of dollars in acquiring streaming technology, patents and companies, Nvidia might just have the best solution.”

沃爾曼表示：“由於跟傳統的零售渠道捆綁在一起，傳統遊戲機往往會遭遇發展瓶頸，英偉達對此深有體會。通過推出高端純數字化解決方案，遊戲開發者推出遊戲並設法賺錢時，就有了更大的自由度，這與他們在PC時代所習慣的模式有天壤之別。就在其他廠商紛紛投入巨資收購流媒體技術、專利和公司時，英偉達可能早已利器在手，勝券在握。”

This expansion into manufacturing and marketing branded gaming hardware is quite a change for Nvidia. The company is primarily known as the maker of Tegra chipsets, which power everything from smartphones to the entertainment systems in cars, and GeForce graphics cards. Nvidia shipped the Shield portable in July 2013 and the Shield tablet in July 2014. Both of those devices remain on the market today, with prices starting at $200 and $300, respectively.

對英偉達來說，拓展到生產領域並直接營銷品牌遊戲機，是一次重大轉變。這家公司早年以生產圖睿芯片和GeForce顯卡而享譽業界。從智能手機到車載影音系統，都離不開圖睿芯片。2013年7月，英偉達推出了便攜式“盾”遊戲機，2014年7月，它又推出了“盾”平板電腦。這兩款產品至今在售，售價分別是200美元和300美元起。

Lewis Ward, gaming research manager at IDC, believes Nvidia entered the games hardware space because Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all decided to use technology from Nvidia’s competitor AMD for their latest consoles (Sony and Microsoft previously used Nvidia technology for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.)

國際數據公司遊戲業研究經理路易斯o沃德認爲，英偉達之所以進入遊戲硬件領域，是因爲索尼、微軟和任天堂公司紛紛決定在其最新遊戲機上使用英偉達的死對頭——AMD公司的技術（而索尼PlayStation 3和微軟Xbox 360使用的皆是英偉達的技術）。

“Nvidia has the chipsets and it’s not a massive R&D investment to transition to a fully commercialized hardware service,” Ward says. “Nvidia is not going to win this console battle, but it’ll carve out a niche of the HD TV gaming experience that will make investors happy and please the rabid gaming fan base.”

沃德稱：“英偉達本來就自產芯片，要轉向完全商業化的硬件服務並不需要鉅額研發投入。英偉達並不打算贏得這場遊戲機大戰，但它會開拓出一片高清電視遊戲體驗的細分市場，這會讓投資者滿意，也會讓遊戲迷們大呼過癮。”

Ward sees the Shield console as an innovative product that also serves as an example of what can be done with Nvidia’s Tegra chips and Grid streaming technology. It’s a proof-of-concept that Ward believes Nvidia would ultimately sell to an original equipment manufacturer for the right price.

沃德認爲“盾”是一款創新產品，也是用來證明英偉達圖睿芯片和Grid流媒體技術實力的絕佳例證。這也是一款帶有概念驗證性質的產品。沃德相信，英偉達最終會以合適的價格把它賣給一家原始設備生產商。