Nvidia's Project Logan Aims to Bring High-End Desktop Graphics to Mobile Devices

In recent years, mobile devices have come a long way in being able to pull off the kind of computing feats once reserved for desktops and laptops.

Further evidence will come on Wednesday as Nvidia starts showing off Project Logan, the company's first mobile chips that use the same graphics engine the chipmaker has used on the PC.

Nvidia said the effort, still in its early stages, will reach the product stage in the first half of next year as part of the company's next-generation Tegra chip.

"We've been working on this for years to get the convergence," Nvidia senior VP Dan Vivoli said in an interview. The company just got back the initial test chips running the new engine, and decided to show off a prototype at the graphics industry's Siggraph convention, which takes place this week.

Nvidia said the new mobile graphics engine is powerful enough to do one of the company's most intensive demos - real-time rendering of a detailed human face. The company previously showed a demo of "Ira" using its high-end workstation graphics chip.

Now it has done an updated version of Ira, using some of the early silicon for Project Logan. It's not quite the same demo, with the mobile version offering somewhat slower frame rate, with a lower resolution.

"Ira is the most impressive graphics I've ever seen in real time," Vivoli said. "The fact we can do a version of Ira that runs on a mobile platform blows me away."

Google Debuts The HTC-Made Nexus 9 Android Tablet

Mad Catz's M.O.J.O. Microconsole Costs $250, Opens for Preorders

The M.O.J.O., an Android-based but TV-connected microconsole developed by gaming-peripherals manufacturer Mad Catz, will cost $250 when it goes on sale in December, the company announced today. That puts it near the high end of competing Android gaming devices, closer to the portable $300 Nvidia Shield than the TV-connected $80 GameStick or $100 Ouya. The M.O.J.O.'s website is now accepting preorders ahead of its Dec. 10 launch date, although the company said in a press release that the microconsole will only be available "in limited quantities" at that time.

Dailly Round Up CES 2013 Pre-CES/Day 1

So CES has started and there will be a flood of electronics, gizmos and gadgets coming out of it. I am going to try to keep you up to date on the awesome, the likely and the you'll probably never see it. As always day one which is really pre-CES has shown off a lot of cameras, TV's and video streaming/smart boxes. UHD is a new term that'll start to become familiar just as OLED did last year however the hopes of the TV companies this go round is to make Ultra High Definition an affordable product we see in consumers' homes, something the OLED TV's haven't quite been able to do. Even Vizio has jumped on the Ultra HDTV train and if anybody can bring them to consumers it's going to be them, matching both quality and affordability as they always do. Keep reading to find out more.

The camera round-up is pretty standard; smaller form factor, more pixels and extra connectivity - whether it be Bluetooth or Wi-Fi everyone wants you connected. The big trend in the Point and Shoot category right now is the flip out screen making self-portraits capable without the creepy bathroom mirror. Video Streaming boxes are all offering about the same features right now with the big push being size and ability to play games on them but it's early in CES so I am sure we'll see even more features on those. One of the highlighted products of pre-CES is Nvidia's Project Shield. It's in short a XBOX style controller with a 5" 720p display attached to it running games natively on the device via an android OS. However one of the most talked about features of this new gaming device is its ability to stream games from your Nvidia based graphics PC over your local network including Steam titles. It's very Wii U like and will require your PC to be equipped with an Nvidia 600 series or higher graphics card along with the GeForce Experience software to be installed as well. Sources at IGN say the streaming was pretty flawless. Pricing has yet to be announced as well as other details. Stay tuned as we try to keep you up to date with daily round ups of all things CES.