Nvidia’s new tablet/controller/PC streamer, the Shield, comes out June 27 for $299. Revealed at CES 2013 in January, the Shield is an Android-based console and game controller with its own 5-inch touchscreen display that can play Android games, as well as stream games from your PC (as long as you have an Nvidia graphics card).
The Shield is basically a tablet with a 720p touchscreen, a Tegra 4 chip, a 1.9 GHz quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU, 2 gigs of RAM, and a 72-core GPU. It runs on Android 4.2.1, though that can change with updates.
Some of the notable Android games available for it are Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2, GTA III and Vice City, and the Dead Trigger games. Arguably more exciting are the games available for streaming, like Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, Skyrim, and Borderlands 2. In addition to Nvidia’s TegraZone store, the Shield supports Google Play and Steam.
With Sony’s Remote Play, the Wii U tablet acting like a portable screen, and now the Shield, taking your big-budget console and PC games away from your TV or monitor seems like all the rage. It’s useful to free up the flatscreen or get some Dovahkiining in before bed, but will the PC gaming crowd find much utility with such a device?