NVIDIA Announces Shield: Android Gaming Handheld, Portable Console
Well we weren’t expecting this: with the Android-based OUYA console rocking NVIDIA processors set to launch in March, we felt the Android gaming market was about to see a first mover advantage. That might not be the case: at their CES 2013 press conference, NVIDIA announced a pure Android handheld gaming device that they call “Shield”.
They accidentally announced it as the project’s codename, first calling it “Project Thor”, then revising it to “Project Shield”, and finally unveiling it as simply “Shield”. The name comes due to the pop up screens shape and the shield it self is customizable- because they’re hoping you have several devices under one roof.
Referring to it as “a set top box that can travel with you wherever you want to go”, it seems NVIDIA is really trying to shake things up. Until now, NVIDIA has largely relied on supplying the processors for the final product of other OEM’s. With Shield, that tried and true model could change dramatically, and for the huge benefit of NVIDIA.
Check out some screencaps of the livestream:
The Shield offers a full Android experience and you can get all of your owned content purchased from the Play Store, but they also offer their own Tegra Zone experience as well. Shield comes with 4k streaming support and many other ass kicking specs like Tegra 4 processor and multi-player action, which we’ll dig up and share as soon as we have our hands on them.
This is a developing story and we’ll be following it closely to bring you all the content we possibly can. Until then, visit our NVIDIA Shield Forums on AndroidForums.com to discuss amongst yourselves!