Presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the Nvidia SHIELD remains a powerful mobile console with buttons, joysticks and Android features and the ability to stream spectacular PC games remains an ambitious challenge with the proliferation of entertainment devices with equivalent capacity of phones, tablets, laptops and other PC consoles.

Nvidia has put up for sale on Wednesday its new handheld with Nvidia Android Shield. The device, which incorporates the NVIDIA Tegra 4 and 720p HD graphics, is now available in USA and Canada market at $299.

The console features the Nvidia Tegra mobile processor 4 720p HD graphics and high quality stereo sound. In addition, the new Nvidia Shield allows the user to transfer the image of their favorite games from the PC to the console via Wi-Fi and play in it. The gaming console has a screen 5-inch touchscreen (720p) connected to what looks like an Xbox controller. Under the hood is installed an Nvidia processor and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system. It also has 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage (expandable with microSD). Moreover, it has the usual smart specs like integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, mic and the works.

PC users looking for a solution to streaming games may find that Shield keeps its promises–if they have already invested in an Nvidia graphics card and a router worthy of the name.

So far, early reviews for the Nvidia Shield have been generally positive. Technology-savvy sites such as AnandTech, Engadget, Laptopmag, Slashgear, Tom’s Hardware and The Verge give Shield a pretty good reviews due to the hardware used with Tegra 4 processor.

Google Play Compatible

Nvidia Shield seeks to provide a gaming experience closer to that of portable consoles but taking full advantage of a system like Android. With 35 SHIELD games optimized for Tegra and over 65 additional Android games with built-in controller support, a host of talented development studios have delivered big time with their games for Tegra devices. The games include OneQ Soft’s Blood Sword: Sword of Ruin, inXile’s Choplifter HD, Niffler’s Chuck’s Challenge 3D, Strawdog Studios’s Space Ark, and Ravn Studios’s Tainted Keep.

Those who purchase Shield will receive a free gift of two games: Sonic 5 Episode II THD and Expendable Rearmed. You can also download and run virtually any application available on the Google Play Store, including almost 130 games optimized for the buttons and controllers of Nvidia Shield.

While pretty much every game on Tegra Zone will play very nicely on Nvidia’s Shield, there are plenty of games outside of the Tegra Zone that will work with the Shield. Nvidia posted a list of games currently available that play well on their new handheld gaming device that are not on Tegra Zone or Tegra exclusive including Alpha Wave Demo, Andor’s Trail, Another World, Avenger, Bike Mania Moto Free – Racing, Dark Incursion, Drag Racing, Gachinko Tennis, Legends of Yore Full, Monster Madness: Grave Danger, Zenonia and others.

In addition, Bitsquid launched a game engine for NVIDIA SHIELD to enable game developers to target the new Tegra 4-powered gaming and entertainment portable. The flexibility of the engine makes it usable for a large variety of games targeting a wide variety of platforms.