Nvidia announces 'TegraZone' game store for Tegra-powered Android phones

By Kyle Gibb
last updated

Nvidia is really proud of the Tegra 2, and for good reason. It is the first dual-core processor to be powering mobile devices and had a huge coming out party at CES this year. It looks poised to become the default processor for Gingerbread tablets as well. The biggest benefactor of much of that power will be games, and Nvidia isn't going to let Google handle things on their own. As such, the company will be launching "TegraZone", an app store for games that require the increased graphical performance of the Tegra 2.

There are also a couple key advantages for game developers to use TegraZone over the Android Market including doing away with the 50MB app size limit and offering a more curated and premium catalogue -- game devs won't have to worry about competing with lower-quality games. Nvidia claims 5-10 launch titles and is actively courting Gameloft, whose refusal to list their games on the Android Market has become somewhat famous. As for release date, we only get a cruel "coming soon". [Nvidia (opens in new tab)] 

Kyle Gibb
Kyle Gibb
22 Comments
  • i was under the impression that tegrazone was an app that just showed you quality games but still linked to the market, has that changed?
  • You are 100% right. Not sure what kind of BS article AC just wrote http://www.intomobile.com/2011/01/05/nvidia-tegra-zone-android-applicati... "Tegra Zone will show case the apps that will utilize the CPU, and the redirect you to the Android Market to download it"
  • Sweet. So non-Tegra users may still be able to download it if it shows up in the Market, it just may not run well. I was worried that this would mean that I'd be unable to buy these premium games at all unless I upgraded.
  • There is still a lot of information about TegraZone that hasn't been put out there. It's one of those things that depending on who you ask, you could get a different answer about. Mainly because Nvidia is still working out the final details. Even Nvidias own content director has stated that if games go past the 50mb limit, that Nvidia will provide the infrastructure for delivery..which I'm guessing is one of those details that wasn't supposed to slip out but did.
  • Yea, for some reason a couple of sites are writing the same thing. Very confusing. I'm pretty sure it's just an app.
  • Nvidia will have more announcements about it coming up, it'll all get cleared away.. just waiting sucks but in the end, it should be well worth it no matter which road they take. We're getting some seriously high end gear to play some seriously high end mobile games.
  • Check out Tegra 2 phone demoed here and tell me you don't want a phone based on this chip.
    http://revision3.com/tzdaily/ces2011nvidia?hp
  • I need to get a Tegra-powered phone asap...but first a job.
  • Yeah really. Luckily I'm a Sprint Premier customer.
  • and now we thank Nvidia for making all of our phones feel inferior. Congrats.
  • no kidding. But hopefully when my 2 year contract is up in 18 months, Evo will have a successor with an Nvdia chip in it.
  • Or you could pick up one of those Viewsonic G-Tablets. I'm enjoying mine a lot. Thing is crazy fast, once I put the VEGAn ROM on it.
  • Now all I need is a Verizon LTE Tegra phone.
  • Droid Bionic?
  • No, I guess that it has a Dual TI Proc
  • Boo moto, I'm still pissed. About the crap ass phones. They showed at CES. Two thumbs down. Verizon. Better bring. So hot shit soon. Come on big red bring. On the tegra 2 phones. An fuck the ishit from apple. Sorry just mad, was ready to buy a phone
  • When's the first phone come out with Tegra 2 again? And when does the first Sprint powered tegra 2 phone come out? Until a lot of people have them there isn't going to be a whole lot available to take advantage of it. I am excited for the future though.
  • Yes, I didn't hear an announcement of Sprint carrying any Tegra 2 phone. I have no plans to leave Sprint and go to Verizon.
  • Tegra2 is very compelling, but as I just began my 2 year contract in December and have an EVO, I'm happy with what I've got. It will be interesting to see what happens next.
  • As much as everyone hates the viewsonic gtablet it's a nice feeling to get a 3058 score on quadrant!
  • Anybody bad-mouthing the G-Tablet, just tell them to get the VEGAn ROM for it. Very stable and insanely fast. I *love* my G-Tablet :)
  • Why is Gameloft holding out off Android Market? Maybe someone knows the answer, but these are my options: 1-They consider Google "the man" (stick it to the man...)
    2-They expect "better rates" from Google for their games
    3-They keep making good games in order for Google to eventually buy their company Obviously just guesses here, but if you know why, go ahead and let us know!