Nvidia Shield Priced and Dated, Pre-Orders Open this Month

Nvidia has announced that Project Shield, now simply called Shield, will be released before the end of June and will retail for $349.99.

Those on Shield's notification list can pre-order the system now while everyone else will be able to do so from May 20th. The Tegra 4-powered Android device can be purchased from select online and high street retailers. GameStop, New Egg, Micro Center and Canada Computers are the stores which currently offer the system.

Alongside the console's release date and pricing information Nvidia also revealed five new games for the system. Double Fine's Broken Age and Costume Quest, Steel Wool Games' Flyhunter Origins, Dedalord Games' Skiing Fred and Chuck Sommerville's Chuck's Challenge.

The Nvidia Shield boasts Android 4.2.1 and comes with a 5-inch retinal display with can output 720p. The system has 16GB of internal storage but this can be enhanced through an SD card slot. In addition, Shield sports a built-in microphone and GPS as well as a mini-HDMI out port.

The Shield will come with two free games; Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 and Expendable: Rearmed. As a portable games console Shield will likely struggle to gain traction given that both the PS Vita and 3DS cost substantially less although the system's open nature as an Android console may encourage at least some purchases.

The system was first announced in January.