NVIDIA SHIELD gaming device pre-orders open May 20th

NVIDIA have announced that their portable gaming device called SHIELD will start pre-orders in the US from May 20th.

A console-grade controller. A high-definition, 720p HD retinal display. The rich graphics and blazing performance of Tegra 4 – the world’s fastest mobile processor.

These pieces, put together by a company full of gaming fanatics, add up to an amazing new open platform gaming portable. It’s the best way to play Android games. And because it’s an Android device, it works with both Tegra-optimized and regular Android games – as well as Android apps.

Project SHIELD is now, officially, SHIELD. The price is $349. Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center and Canada Computers will all carry SHIELD. It ships in June.

SHIELD is a new kind of portable.

Pre-order will go live on May 20^th for the general public on shield.nvidia.com. Fans who have signed up to receive SHIELD updates by clicking “Notify Me” on the SHIELD website will have an exclusive opportunity to pre-order starting today.

If you’re an Android gamer, this will fit into your life the moment you open the box.

SHIELD is the one device that taps into the planet’s largest ecosystem of games — spanning NVIDIA TegraZone, Google Play and Steam. Rediscover your Android games with the mobility, control and performance of SHIELD. Connect to your Google Play account to enjoy your favorite movies, music and apps.

And 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.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• Tegra 4 – The world’s fastest mobile processor delivers rich graphics and unbeatable performance thanks to 72 GPU cores, four CPU cores and 2GB of RAM
• Console-grade controller – Precise control thanks to dual analog joysticks, a full-sized D-Pad, left and right analog triggers, full-sized bumpers and A/B/X/Y buttons
• Multi-touch display – 5-inch, 720p retinal multi-touch display for high-fidelity visuals
• Integrated speakers – Custom, bass reflex, tuned port audio system – we think this is SHIELD’s sleeper feature
• Wi-Fi – 802.11n 2X2 MIMO game-speed Wi-Fi for game streaming
• Pure Android – Latest Android Jelly Bean operating system from Google, for access to Android games and apps
• There’s more – We put into SHIELD everything we would want in a premium mobile gaming device: 16 GB memory, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, a mini-HDMI output, micro-USB 2.0, a microSD storage slot, a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack. See the full spec sheet, here.

Here is a short video of SHIELD in action that I took at CES back in January:

What do you think of Project SHIELD? Let us know by leaving a comment below.