Technology X Tomorrow's Technology Today!
In our time at CES we got to stop by Snail’s booth, where they showed off their Android powered game console, the OBox.
Snail Games is a Chinese game company that has their hands in just about everything, from game development to telecommunications, and now hardware. It really is amazing that most of us in North America have probably never heard of them, until now.
THE OBOX GAME CONSOLE
At CES this year, Snail unveiled their OBox, an Android powered game console, that has a fairly large size, and an even larger ambition.
It is powered by nVidia’s Tegra K1 SoC, so it definitely packs quite a punch in terms of graphical performance, and should give even current-generation consoles a pretty good run for their money. They’ve also expressed interest in allowing retailers to sell different hardware variations, including hard drive sizes, processors and even outputs.
No matter what the configuration is, the OBox will be able to output 4K resolutions and even 3D, which we got to see first hand.
However, what caught our attention most is that the OBox actually features a fully modular design, meaning you can expand and upgrade the box later, after the initial purchase. Making it vastly different from currently available consoles.
In fact, during our demo they even went as far as to point out that they plan on making the device upgrade-able to the recently announced nVidia X1 SoC. Which is a thought that would surely give Microsoft and Sony nightmares.
Software wise, the OBox is running Android 4.4 with (KitKat) with Snail’s own custom skin, however they did express that they’re working closely with Google and should be updating the device to 5.0 (Lollipop) and possibly even Android TV. It will also feature support for Google’s Play Store, as well as Snail’s own game hub, which will feature games that are normally only available in other countries such as China and Russia.
Speaking of games, Snail also told us that they’re currently working with Sega, to bring many of their classic titles to the OBox with full stereoscopic 3D support, which should be pretty interesting.
Currently, there’s no official word on price or North American release date, but Snail has told us that they will be launching in China soon, and then continuing to fine-tune the device for U.S. release.
For more information, check out Snail’s website.