Nvidia's Android handheld costs as much as a Wii U

The Nvidia Shield, an upcoming handheld game device that can both play Android games and stream games from your PC, will launch in June for $349. The price tag puts in the same range as home video game consoles like the deluxe Wii U, and is $50 more than a 3G PlayStation Vita handheld. The device was revealed at the start of the year as a 720p 5-inch, multi-touch display device, powered by the Tegra 4 processor. It has integrated speakers, and runs Jelly Bean, the latest Android operating system. Today, the company said that pre-orders will open on May 20, although those people who already signed up to Shield email notifications can pre-order from today. Apart from ordering the Shield directly from Nvidia, you'll also be able to find the device at Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center and Canada Computers. Notably, the Shield will not initially ship with the final GeForce game streaming in place -- rather, this functionality will launch as a beta feature. Nvidia says it is currently working on making sure titles available on Steam will stream correctly to the Shield. You'll find all the information you need about the upcoming launch on the Nvidia blog. Earlier this year, I reasoned that Nvidia's attempt at bringing together both Android gaming and PC game streaming has left the handheld a confused mishmash of current trends.