NVIDIA’s Project Shield Shipping in June for $349

Updated: May 14, 2013

For those who love portable gaming, the game is about to change in a really cool way. What I am talking about is NVIDIA’s Project Shield, nope it’s not about a bunch of secret agents who save the world, but it may just be the coolest little gaming device yet seen. So what is this all about, well first off the SHIELD is a console grade gaming controller with a 720p HD retinal display all powered by NVIDIA’s very own Tegra 4 processor. NVIDIA is a company that is almost cult like with its gaming enthusiasts employees that live, eat and play the latest titles in an effort to rule the ring and understand the gamers mind.

This is supposed to be an open platform that should allow developers to more easily integrate games onto the Tegra 4 platform, and the fact that it is Android based it will be able to play both TEGRA and Android optimized games as well as Android apps. SHIELD is the one device that taps into the planet’s largest ecosystem of games — spanning NVIDIA TegraZone, Google Play and Steam. Rediscover your Android games with the mobility, control and performance of SHIELD. Connect to your Google Play account to enjoy your favorite movies, music and of course apps. If this thing takes off it will bring gaming to a whole new level never before experienced by the travelling gamer.

Project SHIELD is now just officially SHEILD and its availability is right around the corner as the product ships in June. It will be available on Newegg, Micro Center and Game Stop for the price of $349.99 making it a cool albeit pricey little device. The thing is for the Android gamer you will be up and going the moment you open the box and have features that draw the gamer in. With the SHIELD launch we will see GeForce game streaming, launching as a beta feature, will give SHIELD the power to access your NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU-powered computer from the comfort of your couch. We’re working on streaming your favorite PC games to SHIELD, including great titles from Steam. That alone will make things very interesting as many a gamer has a ton of titles loaded up on their STEAM account. All in all this is going to be one of the coolest releases of the year and it will be here just in time for summer so those on the go gamers will have a new toy to play with.

Here Is What You Will Receive In The Box.

Tegra 4 – The world’s fastest mobile processor delivers rich graphics and unbeatable performance thanks to 72 GPU cores, four CPU cores and 2GB of RAM
Console-grade controller – Precise control thanks to dual analog joysticks, a full-sized D-Pad, left and right analog triggers, full-sized bumpers and A/B/X/Y buttons
Multi-touch display – 5-inch, 720p retinal multi-touch display for high-fidelity visuals
Integrated speakers – Custom, bass reflex, tuned port audio system – we think this is SHIELD’s sleeper feature
Wi-Fi – 802.11n 2X2 MIMO game-speed Wi-Fi for game streaming
Pure Android – Latest Android Jelly Bean operating system from Google, for access to Android games and apps
There’s more – We put into SHIELD everything we would want in a premium mobile gaming device: 16 GB memory, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, a mini-HDMI output, micro-USB 2.0, a microSD storage slot, a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack. See the full spec sheet, here.

Overall this seems to be new territory and that usually ends up being a great thing for the end user in the long run, and at least NVIDIA is trying out new waters to see how the world embraces this new technology. If it does pan out the options are pretty limitless as to how this technology gets integrated and used by gamers around the globe. So what do you think? Are you a gamer who is totally looking forward to this product or do you feel it is more gimmick than real fun? I think that if done right this could really explode for NVIDIA and bring a whole new arena of gaming to the masses. My only concern is how smooth the graphics will be and will I actually be able to see the games as they were meant to be seen, not a watered down version of some game I really enjoy. Thanks for reading Tech Of Tomorrow where your opinions matter and we love your interaction with the site. Tell us how you feel and why you think NVIDIA’s SHIELD will kick a field goal or get a technical foul in the comments section below. Have great gaming day, peace.

Source: NVIDIA