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CyanogenMod 13, based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, first arrived in November 2015. It was soon switched to Android 6.0.1, and continued to be the main branch of CyanogenMod until version 14.1 was released one year later. After the CyanogenMod community re-organized into LineageOS, the distribution was renamed to LineageOS 13.
The original NVIDIA Shield Portable (just called 'NVIDIA Shield' at first) was released back in 2013, and is still a very unique device. It had the form factor of a flip handheld console, like a Nintendo DS, but was much beefier and used NVIDIA's own Tegra 4 chipset. The result was a beast of a gaming system that ran stock Android, and could stream games from your PC (as long as you had an NVIDIA GPU).
NVIDIA seems committed to a set-top box format and Android TV platform for its SHIELD brand, revealing a slightly tweaked model of the device at CES as the first major hardware revision in a year and a half. But fans of the original SHIELD, the somewhat goofy and crazy-powerful Android portable console, have been clamoring for a new device for even longer than that. The last we heard about follow-up from NVIDIA was almost two years ago, but it looks like someone at the company has been busy between now and then.
NVIDIA has released an update for its Shield Portable console device today, namely update version 110. The OTA doesn't add anything new, but it resolves some long-standing bugs and gives the device some much-needed security patches. You can see what's changed (rather, been fixed) in the official changelog from NVIDIA's forums, below.
Space Hulk is not some Jason X-style reinterpretation of Marvel's not-so-jolly green giant, fun as that might be. Nope, it's a tabletop tactical RPG set in the vaunted Warhammer 40,000 setting. The setting, which features a bunch of strapping space marines stomping around a gigantic derelict spaceship, is kind of like Aliens, except you get to kill things instead of run away. The latest video game version of the Space Hulk setup was released in 2013, and today it's been made available on the SHIELD, SHIELD Tablet, and SHIELD Portable.
Devolver Digital has consistently brought some of its published titles to Android, so long as you're lucky enough to own a SHIELD-branded machine. Their latest port is Not A Hero, a 2D shooter that has a very old-school style of gameplay mixed with a somewhat modern approach to everything else. The game absolutely revels in its stylized, Guy Ritchie-esque British ultra-violence mixed with the kind of humor you might expect to see on any given Internet forum.
The Galaxy S III, first released back in 2012, only has official software support up to Android 4.3. No matter: the folks at the CyanogenMod development team are keeping the device alive long after Samsung threw in the towel. Today the AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint variants of the GSIII all get their very first nightly ROM builds for CyanogenMod 13, which is based on Android 6.0. You can find them at the d2att, d2tmo, and d2spr listings on the CM download page, respectively.
NVIDIA continues to hog some of the most distinctive games on Android for itself with the release of Parallax for SHIELD devices. It's a little like Portal, but when you go through a "portal" you're in a different dimension where black is white (literally). There are 32 levels of this, and it looks very neat.
GeForce NOW has been available for a few months, long enough for your free trial to run out. If you dropped NOW after that, it might be time to give it another look. The service is getting an infusion of fresh games from publishing juggernaut Square Enix. There will be five games coming to NOW soon, starting today with Tomb Raider (the 2013 one).
The CyanogenMod team continues to expand its selection of builds for its aftermarket ROM, and today no less than four new devices are being added. Those would be HTC's 2015 flagship One M9, Lenovo's budget-oriented ZUK Z1, NVIDIA's SHIELD Portable (the original one with the attached controller), and the SHIELD Tablet.
It's no secret that NVIDIA has been working on a game streaming service for quite a while — it's called GRID, and anyone with a SHIELD device has been able to test it out for the past several months. Today, the company is announcing the result of all that testing: GeForce Now.
The original Hotline Miami is a love letter to top-down action game excess, marrying tight and lightning-fast controls to neon-soaked, pixelated 80s aesthetics. (Oh, and that movie Drive.) It's a game that everyone should try at least once, if only to prove that you can make a modern game with old-school aesthetics, but keep enough innovation to make the whole experience seem fresh. On Android Hotline Miami is exclusive to the SHIELD, SHIELD Tablet, and SHIELD TV, and so it is with the sequel, Wrong Number.
If there's one thing to say about NVIDIA's support of SHIELD devices, it's that they're doing a pretty dang good job of constantly pushing enhancements to all three devices - SHIELD Portable, SHIELD Tablet, and SHIELD Android TV.
Green Arrow is a mamma's boy. Hawkeye is overrated. Katniss is a pushover. All of those archer-themed heroes should try saving the world with just one arrow - maybe then they'd approach the sheer brass-balled awesomeness of the protagonist in Titan Souls. As he wanders in a twilight world between the living and the dead, he slays gigantic monsters with a single hit from his arrow... though he does get a little help, since it's magical and he can easily retrieve it after every shot.
NVIDIA's GRID gaming service, which streams high-end PC games to the company's Android-powered hardware at extremely low latency, has been promoted as one of its best exclusive features. Unfortunately, NVIDIA seems to be having a lot of trouble getting over the last few hurdles to actually launch the thing. GRID has been in beta since late 2013, and was scheduled to launch its paid service in July as of the SHIELD Android TV announcement. Now it looks like the full launch has been pushed back again.
The original Shield Portable is finally getting the bump to Android 5.1 from 4.4, but don't rush right out and download the OTA just yet. There are a few caveats with this one. Yes, you get the latest version of Android, but it will remove several games and features that are bundled with the old KitKat software.
NVIDIA changed the landscape of Android gaming with the original SHIELD. And with that, came top-tier titles of recent years, like Valve favorites Portal and Half-Life 2. Since then, the company has released a slew of killer games specifically for SHIELD devices, including Half-Life 2: Episode One. Today, the saga continues with the third Half-Life game available for Android, Half-Life 2: Episode Two.
NVIDIA's cloud-based game streaming service has been available on SHIELD devices as a free beta for a long time now, but the subscription version of the service was supposed to be arriving around now. According to NVIDIA, that won't be happening for another month, so GRID continues to be free until July 31st. This applies to all three SHIELD devices.
This one's been waiting in the wings for quite a while. NVIDIA teased The Talos Principle, a puzzle game played out primarily in full first-person 3D, way back at the reveal of the SHIELD Tablet in July of 2014. After nearly a year of waiting (and the game's full release on the PC), it's now available exclusively for newer high-end Tegra-powered devices. According to the game's Play Store description, it's intended for the SHIELD Tablet, the Nexus 9 (equipped with a Tegra K1), and the upcoming SHIELD Android TV set-top box only. It uses either touchscreen controls or external controllers.