Nvidia Shield to start shipping on July 31

After numerous delays, Nvidia seems to have finally settled down on a release date for the Shield. The company has announced that the Shield will start shipping to those who had pre-ordered the handheld gaming device on July 31. The company has stated that the delay was mostly because of the "rigorous" mechanical testing that the company had put it through.

Finally a solid release date!

Shield seems pretty much capable of running most new games. Nvidia released a video in February that showcased the device’s game-streaming capabilities. The video showed someone playing Borderlands 2 on the handheld. Judging by the video, Shield seems very capable of running games, especially with real-time physics through Nvidia PhysX and all the graphics at the highest possible setting. According to the video, a lot of development time went into tweaking the handheld device's audio.

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Shield uses the Tegra 4 processor to offer what the company claims is a console-grade controller. It can be used to play on its own integrated screen or on large screens, such as TVs. Its 5-inch screen has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, giving it a pixel density of 294 ppi. The screen also uses the Tegra 4's Direct Touch technology for touch input. For its wireless streaming capabilties, users will need to have a PC with an Nvidia GPU that uses the Kepler architecture. This means only cards from last year's 600-series and this year's 700-series will be compatible.