Posted Wed May 15, 2013 at 05:30 AM PDT by Brian Hoss
The Tegra 4-powered portable gaming system runs Android and streams PC Games.
Nvidia's Project Shield is readying to ship and is now officially titled the Nvidia Shield. The device is focused on gaming, video streaming, and media playback and is capable of a variety of functions. The Nvidia Shield will be priced at $350 when it launches at the end of June.
The main function of the device is to serve as a portable Android gaming platform. The 5 inch 720p multi-touch screen folds away for travel and pops up for use. In contrast to tablets and smartphones, the Shield uses a built-in dual analogue controller in addition to the touch screen, seemingly modeled after the Xbox 360 controller but with the left analogue stick and d-pad swapped, and Android specific buttons added. The device is built around Nvidia's Tegra 4 quad core mobile processor and is mated to 2GB of RAM.
The device will ship with 'Sonic 4 Episode II THD,' 'Expendable: Rearmed,' Hulu Plus, and Twitch as well as access to both the Google Play store and Nvidia's Tegra Zone. This is fitting for a device that will ship with Android 4.2.1. Nvidia also has mentioned several games that will be coming to TegraZone, including Double Fine's 'Broken Age' and 'Costume Quest.'
The Shield includes "better than tablet" speakers, a built-in microphone, 16GB of flash memory, a microSD expansion slot, GPS, and a gyro and accelerometer combo. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a Micro-USB port and a Mini-HDMI port. The Mini-HDMI port opens up the system's secondary function, to be a portable console by connecting to a large external display.
What may be the portable Android gaming system's most intriguing feature though, is its PC gaming streaming capability, which will be in beta at launch. A gaming PC with a GeForce GTX 650 or higher card can be set to wirelessly stream in playable form PC games to the Nvidia Shield. The concept involves the gaming PC in one room, with the player playing through the Shield in another room.
From Nvidia, "Featuring a new and innovative PC game streaming capability available in BETA at launch*, SHIELD gives you the power to wirelessly access your GeForce® GTX-powered computer from the comfort of your couch. Play your favorite PC games and access Steam Big Picture, on a full-size controller with ultra-low latency thanks to SHIELD's game-speed Wi-Fi and the fast performance of GeForce GTX GPUs."
Retailers are expected to begin accepting pre-orders for the Shield on May 20th.
Source: Joystiq
Author: Brian Hoss
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