Nvidia has announced a refresh of the Nvidia Shield TV, and it's intriguing because it seems that they're stepping a bit away from it as a gaming console, and more into the streamer and smart home hub market. Oh, they're still mentioning games, and they include native Android versions of Tomb Raider and The Witness (the mobile version lives!) as coming to the platform. And the in-home PC game streaming is getting expanded with support for Steam Big Picture, meaning this could actually serve as a replacement for the Steam Link, as well. But the processor is still the Tegra X1 with 3 GB of RAM, same as the original released in 2015. In fact, Nvidia's press release keeps calling this a streamer, and not a game console. It's certainly a capable device still ? more than capable of 4K HDR video, and it runs games quite well ? but the hardware upgrades are a bit more subtle, yet intriguing in terms of software.
Google Assistant support is coming to the Nvidia Shield TV, and you can use a hands-free, always-on microphone in the redesigne Shield controller to communicate your various voice requests. While the Shield TV is a TV device, USB soundcards and DACs are supported, so you could use this as a replacement for the Google Home speaker by providing a USB soundcard and your own powered speakers, potentially. Nvidia will sell a device called the Shield Spot that's similar to the Amazon Echo Dot for $49.99 that will interface with the Shield TV through your wi-fi network to extend ...