Nvidia "Shield" in action (Video)

Check out the handheld Android gaming controller in action, which promises powerful mobile processing graphics, teamed up with traditional gaming control functionality. Nvidia has also confirmed that the retail price will be $349 when it is released in June, 2013.

"Project SHIELD was created by NVIDIA engineers who love to game and imagined a new way to play," said Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer at NVIDIA said in a press release from January. "We were inspired by a vision that the rise of mobile and cloud technologies will free us from our boxes, letting us game anywhere, on any screen. We imagined a device that would do for games what the iPod and Kindle have done for music and books, letting us play in a cool new way. We hope other gamers love SHIELD as much as we do."

Android Central notes that Shield runs Android 4.2.1 at the moment. It's conceivable it could see Android 4.2.2 by the time it launches in June, but NVIDIA didn't seem to be too concerned about that. The major functionality -- gaming -- is all there. Shield runs "stock" Android, but NVIDIA's TegraZone curated app space is downright beautiful. Some thought was put into that UI. From there, you can play your Shield-optimized games, purchase new ones, and (if you have the proper NVIDIA graphics card on your PC), use Shield to control games being played on a PC gaming rig. The latter feature will launch in beta. We've used it twice now, and it's surprisingly lag-free, though it does have the occasional connection hiccup.

Below are several videos showcasing the capabilities of the device.