Solid information about the NVIDIA Shield (no longer called Project Shield) is finally becoming available with a blog post written up today on NVIDIA's website. The company will begin accepting pre-orders from users that have previously signed up for the Shield mailing list while the rest of you will have to wait until May 20th to plop down your money.
The cost? $349. Newegg, Gamestop, Micro Center and Canada Computer will carry it.
If you want to sign up for official June release schedule of the Tegra 4 powered mobile Android gaming device, you'll have to head over to shield.nvidia.com.
NVIDIA does point out in the blog that the PC game streaming feature that I truly believe is the one thing that makes Shield a compelling gaming device, will be launching as BETA feature.
And 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.
High level features of the device, for those of you that are unaware, include:
- 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 seamless 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.
We took a look at the NVIDIA Shield device at CES this year and posted a video of our experiences, so check it out below.
NVIDIA has also posted a separate blog that talks about some of the upcoming Android games that will highlight the power of the Tegra 4 mobile processor including Broken Age and Costume Quest from Double Fine, Chuck's Challenge from Niffler and more.
I think many people at NVIDIA as well as in the media are very curious to see what the reaction of Shield will actully be upon its release. I am very excited to test it out in real-world, long term usage models but I definitely have doubts about the market's desire for another mobile gaming platform.
Leave me your thoughts in the comments below!!
Hmm… because the Vita did
Hmm… because the Vita did so well at just $250?
It does sound a bit pricey to
It does sound a bit pricey to me. Are they enabling some new level of mobile gaming at that price? That’s all that’s going to matter to gamers.
I said a year ago the Shield
I said a year ago the Shield was going to bomb, and I still think that’s the case.
Perhaps nVidia sees something I don’t in the type of person who would be interested in a product like this. I really don’t know who this is going to appeal to. A big thing they’re missing is that they’re spending so much time jerking off over the hardware they’ve forgotten that it’s a games centric device and they need to show the games. A port of Hawken is no where near special or unique enough gain interest.
Shield was announced THIS
Shield was announced THIS year (less than five months ago) not A YEAR AGO. Idiot.
This is one of the main
This is one of the main problems with the internet. No civility… Engaging in a debate and pointing out that someone has their facts wrong is perfectly possible without resorting to insults.
What Nvidia sees is a x86
What Nvidia sees is a x86 gaming future dominated by AMD and Shield is a desperation move to try and eke out some relevancy in the gaming space (and with game developers) into the future – on it’s own it has no chance of success.
OR it’s will be an ‘official’ controller for Steam Box streaming, in which case it, and Nvidia GPUs, might have a future, depending on the success of Steam Box.
That last seems more likely since without Steam Box Nvidia must know it’s money down the drain.
On the other hand, per Gabe, developer support is critical to Steam Box and nothing beats an AMD HSA APU (Kaveri) in that department.
Has there been any word yet
Has there been any word yet on whether nVidia will allow use of its ‘GPU streaming over the LAN’ outside of the shield? I’d love to be able to make use of my GTX 670 on my HTPC when I just want to lay on the couch instead of sitting at a desk.
Preordered. Can’t wait for
Preordered. Can’t wait for this device – PC gaming on a handheld!
I think they have priced
I think they have priced themselves into oblivion from the start. No way would I pay console prices for a system that plays android games, and the streaming feature is BETA.
This has epic failure written all over it. THey have also alienated AMD users as they will not be able to stream at all.
For those of you complaining
For those of you complaining about pricing and how it’s not justified or that the PC streaming feature is in beta. Welcome to the world of PC gaming. Where the best things in the industry are always overpriced and still in beta. The Device itself looks awesome, if the PC game streaming feature works well, that’s almost enough to sell the device on it’s own. However, what makes any good handheld device are the games that you can take with you and game on the go. If there are not enough entertaining titles with decent replay value that come out for the device early on, it will stall like the Vita did and just never gain the momentum it needs to succeed. I’d like one, but there needs to be more addicting and entertaining games for it first.
$349 is pretty much dead-on
$349 is pretty much dead-on what I expected this to be priced at. They did say up front that they weren’t going to take losses on hardware sales and with all of the decidedly not-cheap hardware they’re packing into this thing it seemed pretty obvious (to me at least) that it was gonna be somewhere in the $300-400 range. Compare it to what an Android tablet with similar hardware under the hood might go for and hey whadaya know $350 doesn’t exactly look too far off the mark.
Nvidia are positioning this as a niche product. As much as they’d like to sell millions of these things they know that won’t happen and that’s not really the point. They’re hoping this will have an impact acting as a catalyst promoting development of more and better games on Android, and specifically for devices running their Tegra chips. Chicken-and-egg, well Nvidia’s gone and put out the chicken hoping game developers will now lay a few quality eggs using their hardware.
Note the decision to go pure-play Google Android, complete with Google Play store and easy installation of anything you damned well please rather than to try and lock it down or even just obfuscate the ability to run anything other than what the manufacturer wants you running (I’m looking at you, Ouya, that which while technically not locked down still isn’t exactly going out of its way to make it easy for people to side-load software without jumping through hoops to do so).
$350 for android device. No
$350 for android device. No thanks. If I want PC quality games I have to stream from my PC? Which requires a 660Ti or Higher, WTF!!!
So let me get this straight i’m paying $350 for a 5inch display with a game pad with a 6-7hour up time at best. Also if I want to experiance PC quality games I have to have a $200 Cuda card at minimal on my PC. Oh and I have to leave my PC on while streaming to my shield to get PC quality games so my electric bill will still be the same as if I was using my PC.
Think i’m better off just updating my phone for $99 and buying a $30 game-pad for it. Easier on the electric bill plus on the pocket-book not to mention actual pockets.
For $350 I rather spend it on a PS4 or the new X-Box.
Good luck getting your PS4 or
Good luck getting your PS4 or new X-Box for $350 (more likely $500) or playing games on your underpowered phone SOC.
stevie got a pain in the arse
stevie got a pain in the arse or elsewhere?
Last time I checked those
Last time I checked those underpowered phone SoCs can play android games at a higher resolution then this thing can.
This thing is only 720p. You can get a tablet under $200 that is more useful with higher definition. They new Google Nexus tablet is ditching Tegra for Snapdragon.
Heck a iPod touch 5th gen is more versatile at $189.
It may only have a 720p, but
It may only have a 720p, but that’s 720p crammed into a 5″ display which makes for a a pixel density up around 300ppi. That’s as dense as Apple’s retina display. It would only make sense to up any higher if they wer using a larger screen, which would have been hell from an ergonomics point of view and pushed the price that much higher.
Also, just because the screen on the unit itself is 720p they do have that HDMI port… which if you recall back at CES when they unveiled Shield for the first time they had it driving one of those shiny new 4K TVs at full 4K resolution.
You mean it was streaming 4k
You mean it was streaming 4k from a PC to the shield that was connected to a 4k monitor.
So you have to have a PC and a 4k TV/Monitor to do it.
Qualcomm showed a tablet doing true 4k video output without the need of a PC to do it at CES.
If this were an android phone
If this were an android phone with detachable controller, I would be all over it. As is, I really just don’t need yet another android device in my life and the shield doesn’t have enough going for it to stand on its own.