Mark Rein, one of the co-founders of Cary-based Epic Games, likes what he sees in a surprising new entry into the video game device business.

Nvidia, best known as a high-end chip maker for games and other high-end graphics uses, unveiled a portable videogame player under the name Project Shield at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday night. It runs on the new Tegra 4 Nvidia chip, which the company says is the first quad-core processor for mobile devices.

“With Project Shield, Nvidia brings an uncompromising, high-performance console experience to mobile devices,” Rein told The Examiner.com. “Amazing games including Real Boxing and Hawken, which utilize the latest Unreal Engine technology, look fantastic on Project Shield. This is just the beginning, and we’re truly excited to see what more Unreal Engine developers will do with so much horsepower in such a compact gaming device.”

The Examiner notes that Project Shield “looks like a longer version of the Xbox controller attached to a 5-inch multi-touch display, which displays 720p resolution.”

UbiSoft, which runs red Storm Entertainment in Morrisville, also likes the console.

“Ubisoft is always excited about new hardware developments, and Project Shield promises to bring both mobile and PC gamers a great new gaming experience,” the company’s Yves Guillemot said, according to The Examiner.

Unfortunately for gamers, no game titles have been announced for Project Shield.

Nvidia also didn’t disclose a launch date – or price.

[EPIC ARCHIVE: Check out a decade of Epic stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire.]