Nvidia is taking pre-orders for (Project) SHIELD starting today!
Nvidia’s Project SHIELD is now, officially, SHIELD. ABT readers have been following its progress since it was announced this January at CES 2013. SHIELD is a hand-held game console with a five-inch display using the fastest available Tegra 4 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage with further expansion available through microSD. The price is $349. Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center and Canada Computers will all carry SHIELD. It ships in June.
SHIELD is a console-grade controller coupled with a five-inch high-definition, 720p multi-touch HD retinal display using Tegra 4, featuring 4 ARM Cortex-A15 processor cores and 72 graphics cores. It uses Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and supports 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS, together with a HDMI output so you can also play games on your TV.
SHIELD works with Nvidia’s GeForce game streaming service which is currently in beta. This allows streaming PC games from your Nvidia video card-equipped PC to your SHIELD mobile device over your home network so you can play games anywhere in the house.
SHIELD is an amazing new open platform gaming portable which is the best way to play Android games, working with both Tegra-optimized and regular Android games – as well as with Android apps. Nvidia has several recommended titles which have been optimized for the Shield controller to make 720p handheld gaming a reality. Steam games are also available to the SHIELD gamer.
SHIELD comes with Sonic 4 Episode II, and Expendable: Rearmed preloaded. Gamers will be able to immediately access Google Play available, including Tegra 4 optimized titles. In addition, Nvidia has five new titles lined up to showcase SHIELD’s gaming abilities: Broken Age, Costume Quest, Flyhunter: Origins, Skiing Fred, and Chuck’s Challenge.
Pre-order will go live on May 20th for the general public on shield.nvidia.com. Fans who have already signed up to receive SHIELD updates by clicking “Notify Me” on the SHIELD website will have an exclusive opportunity to pre-order starting today.
From Nvidia’s press release. Here’s what you’ll get:
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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
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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
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Multi-touch display – 5-inch, 720p retinal multi-touch display for high-fidelity visuals
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Integrated speakers – Custom, bass reflex, tuned port audio system – we think this is SHIELD’s sleeper feature
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Wi-Fi – 802.11n 2X2 MIMO game-speed Wi-Fi for game streaming
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Pure Android – Latest Android Jelly Bean operating system from Google, for access to Android games and apps
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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.
SHIELD at $349 is priced more than the other handheld devices, as the failed Sony Vita or the successful Ninetendo DS but it arguably does much more. SHIELD may signal the real beginning of Android gaming. We are looking to get our hands on a unit to evaluate for ABT readers.
Mark Poppin
ABT Senior Editor
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