NVIDIA’s SHIELD Drops on June 27th, Will Cost $50 Less than What we Expected

After months of waiting, NVIDIA finally gives us SHIELD information we’ve been waiting for: a release date. It’s slated to drop on June 27th, and it’s expected that it will become available in e-tailers all over, as well as select retailers. Even before its launch, the device has won a considerable number of awards and praise – NVIDIA even decided at one point to pull the pre-order date ahead, caving into the buzz.

In addition to the release date, NVIDIA also added a “final touch” that’s going to be appreciated by many: a lower price. Last month, SHIELD was announced to cost $349, but the Web was vocal enough to get NVIDIA’s attention, stating that $299 would be a much more comfortable price-point. The company listened.

Last week, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took us on a tour of his company and home, and also demonstrated how cool SHIELD is, and how well it works. I’m really intrigued to see if the device’s PC back-and-forth works as good as is seen in the video, because it looks to be a huge feature for gamers who might just want to chill out on a couch rather than sit at the PC.

NVIDIA SHIELD Specifications (as told by NVIDIA)

• 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.

At its new price-point, will you be picking SHIELD up?