CES 2013: NVIDIA unveils Project SHIELD Android gaming platform

NVIDIA Project SHIELDAlong with its new Tegra 4 SoC, NVIDIA has unveiled the first device to use it. In a surprise move, it turns out to be one that has designed. Project SHIELD is a portable gaming platform that will play not only Android games but also PC titles by streaming them over a LAN from a PC equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 GPU or higher.

“Project SHIELD was created by NVIDIA engineers who love to game and imagined a new way to play,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer at NVIDIA. “We were inspired by a vision that the rise of mobile and cloud technologies will free us from our boxes, letting us game anywhere, on any screen. We imagined a device that would do for games what the iPod and Kindle have done for music and books, letting us play in a cool new way. We hope other gamers love SHIELD as much as we do.”

Project SHIELD is a clamshell device powered by the new Tegra 4 SoC. It comes with a built-in controller, a 5-inch HD (1280×720) touchscreen display, Wi-Fi, and built-in speakers. The 33Wh battery promises between five and ten hours of play time or 24 hours of HD video playback.

A future software update will also allow Project SHIELD to stream content from the device to televisions wirelessly so that you can use a larger display when one is available.

NVIDIA will launch Project SHIELD in both Canada and the U.S. in Q2. It did not reveal pricing.

Read more: NVIDIA