Over the past few months, we've seen at least two Android-based gaming devices emerge. The OUYA and the GameStick. During Nvidia's CES press conference, they surprised everyone by announcing and showing off their upcoming handheld gaming device, the Nvidia Shield.
The Nvidia Shield is based on the Tegra 4 mobile chip that has 72 GPU cores and a quad-core A15 CPU. It's running on Android OS and features a micro USB, a microSD slot, and an HDMI output. It has a touchscreen on top of the console which can be folded closed, similar to the Nintendo DS but with only one screen. The size of the controller is no larger than that of the Xbox 360. It also has a 5-10 hour battery life and "console-grade" analogue sticks and buttons.
So what really makes the Nvidia Shield different from the OUYA and the GameStick is that it can actually stream games directly from your PC. Your PC games can be played on the small screen attached to the shield or to the TV your connected to. So they've basically brought PC gaming to the living room. The Nvidia Shield can also access apps like Facebook and Twitter.
The Nvidia Shield looks like an amazing handheld. Especially the fact that I can now play Chivalry: Medieval Warfare from the comfort of my own couch and big screen TV. This device could really change PC gaming. I wonder how this could affect Valve's upcoming console, it seems PC gaming has been brought into the living room with Nvidia's Shield.