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Playing Skyrim on the ASUS Transformer Prime [CES 2012]

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The NVIDIA Powered ASUS Transformer Prime is a quad-core Tegra 3 beast and we just found out last night it’s getting the Android 4.0 update. While that’s certainly a reason to rejoice, gamers might find the following even more exciting: at CES 2012 we played Skyrim on the Transformer Prime.

NVIDIA has a new application called Splashtop THD which enables the magic you see in the video above. It only works when you combine an NVIDIA GeForce powered desktop computer with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 tablet, but the combination is impressive to say the least. Splashtop packetizes the video and delivers it via Wi-Fi to the Transformer Prime’s screen with minimal loss in video quality. With an XBOX remote connected directly to the Transformer Prime, we were playing Skyrim on our Android tablet as if it were no big deal.

There was obviously some loss in frame rate and the video wasn’t perfect. All the buttons didn’t map properly either, which we found out when unable to change perspective, causing a dragon to totally toasted our skulls. But don’t worry, we hacked up some villagers to make up for it.

At any rate, the fact that this is Skyrim running on an Android Tablet is generally cool. It’s no surprise NVIDIA is the company showing it off, either… these guys are gaming gurus. We also played several other games on the Transformer Prime, including GTA3 and multi-player Shadowgun, using an XBOX controller as input. Can’t wait to see what else NVIDIA has in 2012!

Rob Jackson
I'm an Android and Tech lover, but first and foremost I consider myself a creative thinker and entrepreneurial spirit with a passion for ideas of all sizes. I'm a sports lover who cheers for the Orange (College), Ravens (NFL), (Orioles), and Yankees (long story). I live in Baltimore and wear it on my sleeve, with an Under Armour logo. I also love traveling... where do you want to go?

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26 Comments

  1. Awesome!

    For a moment I tough skyrim was actual playing on the tablet.

    And what is the xbox controller. Is it wired or does the dongle also work?

    1. You can use the wired Xbox controller straight out of the box without any extra apps or tweaks, if the game supports it. I have read that the dongle and wireless Xbox controller works as well but I can’t confirm that. I can however confirm that the Gamestop Bluetooth tablet controller works very well.

  2. Definitely not what what I was hoping for.  Call me when you can ACTUALLY play Skyrim on a tablet.

    1. Yeah, basically you have the game running on your PC and the video and controls fed to the tablet. Much simpler to just use the controller on the computer and skip the small-screen tablet. (Actually, Skyrim plays alot better when you do away with controllers and revert to the good old mouse+keyboard combo)

      1. Yeah I imagine this wouldn’t be as useful for games as it would be for working. Using MS Office on my computer, but from my Transformer is nice a idea…except I have a full laptop, so there isn’t really a need for me. It could be nice for others.

        1. I can already do that with either RDP or VNC. No need for a specific nVidia-only piece of software.

  3. Isn’t this more or less like onLive?

    1. More or less. OnLive has the disadvantage of a very limited game catalogue though, whereas Splashtop would allow you to run almost any pc game as long as you have the right hardware.

    2. onLive lets you use games on any connection. Splashtop requires both devices to be on the same network if I remember correctly, but is essentially streaming video as a monitor, so you can use the full potential of your computer via a tablet or phone.

      1. You don’t need to be on the same network technically, just if you are not you likely won’t have smooth video and some pretty decent input lag

        1. Ah, thank you for the correctiom

  4. SICK SICK SICK

  5. It’s not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction!  Some day, fellow gamers!  Some day!

  6. Bah, GeForce only?!

  7. Amazon had Slashtop free not that long ago

  8. That video proved that it is easier to play on your pc!
    I mean, ya gots ta get the dock and a wired controller
    and what, sit all this in my lap??
    LOL

  9. I rather play skyrim on my high end pc @1600p with all the hd mods!

  10. Call me cynical, but I can’t really see the point in this. Kinda cool but if you have to have the PC and tab on the same network then I can’t really see why you wouldn’t just play it on your PC…

    1. My computer is in my man cave.  There are times where it would be nice to be with the wife elsewhere in the house and still get some game time in.

  11. Splash top’s marketplace page says it will work across the internet.  I don’t know how well Skyrim would perform across the internet but it would be nice to get a Skyrim addiction fix while visiting my parents or anywhere with a good wifi signal.

    1. I loved it. It was much better than Cats. I’m going to see it again and again.

  12. Splash top’s marketplace page says it will work across the internet.  I don’t know how well Skyrim would perform across the internet but it would be nice to get a Skyrim addiction fix while visiting my parents or anywhere with a good wifi signal.

  13. I can see this being useful.  I was thinking the other day how nice it would be to be able to remote desktop into my PC via my laptop and play high end games anywhere in the house instead of being locked in a room.

  14. There is absolutely no purpose to this

  15. turn-based games would work, and PC gaming has no shortage of that.

  16. no love for ATI users? :(

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