A new device called Streamcard for Nintendo Switch owners showed off At the Tokyo Game Show. Created by a company called Tassei, a device with a built-in SD card slot makes it easy to stream PC games to your Switch screen over Wi-Fi. The device was shown with the surprise hit game Stray in action in a video demo.
The Nintendo Switch console has a great game library, but it’s not the most powerful handheld. So a game that looks great on a PC will look a little worse on a smaller screen. Then there’s the issue of game availability and pricing – tom’s hardware Readers know that the PC platform is king of choice and value. Finally, while some cloud versions of PC AAA games are available for Switch (most notably from Ubisoft and Capcom), no competitor’s products or services have ever opened up their PC game library to Nintendo’s handheld hybrids. .
An interesting gaming setup was on display at the Tokyo Game Show, from images and videos shared by the source.Inside the display case is what appears to be an Intel NUC 11 Phantom Canyon with an Intel Tiger Lake CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU. And there was a 15-inch portable monitor, a Nintendo Switch with a tassay stream card protruding fragilely. Outside the case, you can see the videographer playing his Stray using a Nintendo Pro controller.
Reports from 4Gamer’s show floor suggest that stream cards aren’t ready for mass consumption. In addition to the bare circuit board design ethic that adds vulnerable protrusions to sophisticated switch designs, responsiveness leaves room for improvement. When I watch the video, I see a lag between the display of the monitor game connected to the NUC and the display of the Switch. Reports from the show say there’s a bit of lag during play, not ideal for fast-paced competitive multiplayer, but probably acceptable for other genres.
A closer look at the hardware reveals that the attached SD slot device relies on the ESP8266 for Wi-Fi connectivity. The chip is limited to his 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, which could explain some of the latency, and Tassei says the streaming system isn’t as simple as a Wi-Fi-direct-connected display device. Also he needs a SoC for “processing”.
Tassey’s product information card at the Tokyo Game Show said it was looking for partners to bring this device to market. The tweak has some compelling potential, but as it stands, it doesn’t quite deliver the level of sophistication/performance needed to satisfy a PC. Gamers who want to stream to it.
In summary, this is an interesting product in its early stages and we will update it as it is improved and commercialized.
