After initial delay, NVIDIA Shield now available for $299

Nvidia’s Shield is certainly an interesting proposition. An Android-powered gaming handheld with the ability to stream many of your favorite PC games over WiFi? Not exactly your typical device, that’s for sure.

Unfortunately, NVIDIA ran into several problems during its quest to bring the device to retail, including a last minute mechanical issue that led the company to delay the Shield’s launch. Luckily NVIDIA has finally overcome its problems with the Shield and it can now be yours for $299.

For those that already pre-ordered the device, NVIDIA should have already emailed you with shipping details. If you didn’t pre-order, you can get the NVIDIA Shield through Nvidia’s website, Newegg, Gamestop and several other partnering retailers.

The big question is whether you should bother or not. This will largely depend on your needs, but from a hardware/features point-of-view, the Shield is no slouch.

The console has a 5-inch flip-up display with a resolution of 1280 x 720, an Xbox-esque controller built-in, an NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor, 2GB RAM, Miracast-certified WiFi, 16GB storage and the power of Android Jelly Bean. Adding the ability to stream PC games (though it is still in ‘testing’) and NVIDIA could have a recipe for a winner – at least for a limited niche of PC gamers looking for a way to play their games anywhere around the house.

What do you think of the NVIDIA Shield, will it live up to the hype or not?