NVIDIA Launches Tegra Zone App to Highlight the Best Games for your Beast Tablet or Phone

Recently purchased a Motorola XOOM, but aren’t exactly sure which games you want to start crushing on with that ridiculously powerful Tegra 2 chip?  Don’t worry, NVIDIA has you covered with their new app called, TEGRA ZONE.  The app has one purpose, and that’s to  get you in touch with not only the best games on the Android Market, but the ones that can fully utilize all that the Tegra 2 has to offer.  When you think of a market that highlights only the best stuff in an amazingly clear way, this is exactly what you probably envisioned.

The app is free to download, brings you reviews and comments, highlights news related to Tegra 2 gaming and most importantly, redirects you back to the original market to finalize your purchases.  This is the way app markets should be implemented.

Download TEGRA ZONE.

Full release, list of games and a bunch of pics after the break.  

New Tegra Zone App Is Your Destination for the Best Mobile Games Optimized for Tegra

Free App Ties Into Google Android Market, Provides Quick Access to Richest Games for Tegra-Powered Super Phones and Tablets

SANTA CLARA, CA — (Marketwire) — 03/01/2011 — NVIDIAannounced today that the Tegra Zone™ app is now live on the Android Market, providing a one-stop destination for consumers seeking the richest games for their super phone or tablet powered by the NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 mobile super chip.

The free app delivers a curated selection of Tegra processor-optimized games, as well as professional game reviews, high-res screenshots, HD video trailers, gameplay videos and behind-the-scenes featurettes. Sale and delivery of users’ selected games are completed using Google’s Android Market.

Games on Tegra Zone apps are especially enhanced for Tegra 2 super chip-powered devices, and are more realistic and interactive. Among those selected as launch titles are Dungeon Defenders: First Wave Deluxe HD, the first game available for Android that’s built on Unreal Engine 3; Samurai II: Vengeance; and Galaxy on Fire 2 THD. A complete list is provided below.

Introduced over the past several months in a variety of super phones and tablets, the Tegra 2 super chip is finding a growing market, particularly among those interested in console-quality gaming on their mobile device. It is built with the world’s first mobile dual-core CPU — which unleashes the best Web experience, with up two-times faster browsing and support for full Adobe® Flash® Player hardware GPU acceleration, plus unprecedented multitasking capabilities. It also includes an NVIDIA GeForce® GPU — which provides stunningly rich visual experiences and console-quality gaming.

Tegra Zone Highlights:
The first Tegra super chip-enhanced games include:

• Samurai II: Vengeance, by MADFINGER Games: A hack-and-slash action game with stylized manga graphics and quick, bloody gameplay. On par with console 3D brawlers,Samurai II: Vengeance takes advantage of the raw processing power of Tegra 2 with four times more texture resolution on characters, increased geometry for more realism, and completely redesigned knockdown moves.

• Dungeon Defenders: First Wave Deluxe HD, by Trendy Entertainment: Combines the depth of strategic gaming with the satisfying action of RPG character building, in a beautifully stylized cartoon fantasy setting. The Tegra-enhanced version includes dynamic lighting schemes and advanced post-processing effects, as well as the same number of maps and game play levels on PC and Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) versions. Due to the graphics capabilities of the Tegra 2 processor, players can join in multiplayer, cross-platform games across super phones, tablets, PCs and the PS3.

• Galaxy on Fire 2 THD, by Fishlabs: Epic sci-fi adventure with spectacular action, compelling story and a free gameplay unparalleled in depth and complexity, available for the first time on Android. The Tegra super chip-enhanced version renders the action at a consistently smooth frame rate, and includes more detailed spaceships with much higher quality textures.

• Backbreaker THD, by Natural Motion: An intense, arcade football experience that looks even better and is more interactive when enhanced on a Tegra 2 processor. This version features high-quality textures on the characters, field and stadium and more rendered content, such as real-time action replay on the “Jumbotron” scoreboard. Also look for realistic shadow effects and dynamic lighting effects such as lens flares.

• Fruit Ninja THD, by Halfbrick Studios: A juicy action game with squishy, splatty and satisfying fruit carnage. The Tegra 2 super chip-enhanced version is the definitive version of the best-selling game and adds special graphic detail and effects, including smoother edges on the fruit models, more geometry and realistic shading and lighting.

• Vendetta Online, by Guild Software: 3D space combat, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that permits thousands of players to interact as the pilots of spaceships in a vast universe, available for the first time on a mobile device. The Tegra super chip-enhanced version is the first cross-platform space MMO and allows gamers to play against PC players and other mobile players in the same universe.

• Monster Madness, by SouthPeak Games: A top-down action/shooting game where players fight off the monster invasion in four-player melee action. This game takes advantage of NVIDIA PhysX® technology for realistic in-game physics effects. The Tegra processor-enhanced version is graphically identical to the console version in every way.

• Hardwood Solitaire IV, by Silver Creek Entertainment: A beautiful rendition of 10 classic solitaire games. Ported from the PC and Xbox 360 versions, the Tegra 2 super chip version incorporates real-time lighting and shadows in their game environments and adds new 1080p high-resolution textures for the card faces and backs.

NVIDIA has worked closely with game developers to enhance games for the Tegra 2 super chip, bringing such features as:

• More realism: Increased geometry detail, higher resolution textures and complex shaders, lighting, and shadows
• More interactivity: Larger number of characters on screen and more instances of independent animations
• Extra challenging: Advanced artificial intelligence processing , complex world and player management
• Improved game play: More levels to tackle and more equipment for gaming characters to use
• Better game play and an enhanced shopping experience

Quotes:

• “We’re working with game developers and publishers to turbocharge mobile gaming for Android super phones and tablets. Our goal is to bring a console- class gaming experience to super phones and tablets and bring the generation of gaming to the future of mobile devices. Tegra Zone is a free app we’ve built so gamers can find great games for Tegra in one easy place.”
  – Tony Tamasi, Senior Vice President, Content and Technology at NVIDIA
• “Tegra Zone is great for the mobile ecosystem. It’s enabling new, optimized software and providing opportunities for developers to create premium content for Android devices.”
  – Ben Barjarin, Principal at Creative Strategies Inc.
• “Tegra Zone brings the best Android games to the palm of your hand. Working with NVIDIA, we’ve broughtSamurai II: Vengeance to Tegra devices, which make its stylized manga graphics, quick, realistic gameplay and screen-popping action come to life.”
  – Marek Rabas, CEO at MADFINGER Games
• “Gamers don’t have to look any further than Tegra Zone for the best in mobile gaming. The only way to experience the complete Dungeon Defenders adventure is on Tegra-powered devices, which deliver full-blown high-def, Unreal Engine 3-powered graphics and a real-time cross platform online multiplayer experience.”
  – Jeremy Stieglitz, Co-Founder of Trendy Entertainment
• “Take one look at Tegra Zone, and you’ll see how Android games are stepping it up visually. The Tegra-optimized version of Galaxy on Fire 2 is the ultimate sci-fi gaming benchmark. Plus, it matches the experience on a gaming PC or console.”
  – Michael Schade, CEO of Fishlabs
• “Backbreaker Football looks amazing on Tegra super phones and tablets, and it will rock on Tegra Zone. We’ve pushed the boundaries for visual fidelity, including full self-shadowing on characters — a first on a mobile device.”
  – Torsten Reil, CEO at Natural Motion Games
• “By utilizing the power and finesse of Tegra 2, Fruit Ninja has been developed and polished to an incredible standard of quality. It’s allowing us to debut a brand-new version — Fruit Ninja THD, for Tegra Zone.”
  – Shainiel Deo, CEO at Halfbrick Studios
• We’ve been waiting years for a mobile chip to bring this type of graphics horsepower and potential to mobile gaming. Vendetta Online brings a fast-paced, 3D MMORPG experience to your favorite Tegra-powered device through Tegra Zone.”
  – John Bergman, CEO at Guild Software
• “Monster Madness absolutely comes alive on Tegra-powered devices. To get an idea of why Tegra 2 is the new force to be reckoned with in digital gaming, check out the faster frame rate, intuitive touchscreen interface and amazing 3D graphics powered by Unreal Engine 3.”
  – Melanie Mroz, CEO and President at SouthPeak Games
• “NVIDIA’s put a huge effort into bringing games that look and play better on Tegra 2. All of the flagship versions of our Hardwood games look fantastic and provide a fabulous experience on Tegra 2 devices.”
  – Rich Stewart, CEO at Silver Creek Entertainment

About NVIDIA

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) awakened the world to the power of computer graphics when it invented the GPU in 1999. Since then, it has consistently set new standards in visual computing with breathtaking, interactive graphics available on devices ranging from tablets and portable media players to notebooks and workstations. NVIDIA’s expertise in programmable GPUs has led to breakthroughs in parallel processing which make supercomputing inexpensive and widely accessible. The Company holds more than 1,700 patents worldwide, including ones covering designs and insights that are essential to modern computing. For more information, see www.nvidia.com.

Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to statements as to: the benefits, features and impact of the Tegra processor, Tegra Zone and NVIDIA GPUs; the market for Tegra 2 super chips; and the effects of the company’s patents on modern computing are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of faster or more efficient technology; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including its Form 10-Q for the fiscal period ended October 31, 2010. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

© 2011 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA and the NVIDIA logo, GeForce, PhysX and Tegra are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability, and specifications are subject to change without notice.