In case you weren’t already a bit skint thanks to saving for the inevitable Sony/Microsoft console war that looks like might go down this holiday season, Nvidia‘s hoping you might want an Android-powered handheld. The Shield, previous Project Shield, is set to ship in June for price of $349. If that seems a bit much to you, you’re not alone. We like to see new handhelds as much as the next person, but this seems like poor timing.
For those that might have missed it, Shield’s a handheld Android-powered game console, screen and all, that’s built into what looks a lot like a skewed version of the Xbox 360 controller. It seems a little unwieldy to me, but then again I still marvel at the fact that Microsoft got people to use the original Xbox controller.
Dropping something with this kind of MSRP in a year where the console manufacturers are also planning on releasing new installments just seems like a bad strategy, but then I don’t work for Nvidia. Maybe they know something I don’t, or have some kind of grand plan for the device that’s yet to be revealed.
You can check out the Shield’s full technical specifications here, but the Tegra 4 processor is definitely what ties the whole thing together. It doesn’t hurt that Nvidia wants you to play games from your computer with the handheld, either:
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.
You can pre-order Nvidia’s baby starting May 20th at various online retailers, but if you signed up for their special newsletter then you can do so today. That’s assuming you actually want to drop over $300 on it, and there surely will be more than few people willing to do so.
- Nvidia and Linux have a history of not playing nice
- Linus Torvalds even gave Nvidia the finger
- Which got a response from their PR, but nothing else
