At a recent event Nvidia were expected to just announce Tegra 4, but instead the focus was placed on a new handheld console they are calling Project Shield.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said that the Shield comes with its own controller and has a 5 inch ‘Retinal' display with 720p resolution. It is powered by the Tegra 4 processor and runs Android in a basic configuration. Nvidia showcased features such as 4k playback on a Ultra HD LG Television set and connected it up to a PC to run games which support the ‘Steam Big Picture' function.

He said that the company has wanted for the ‘last five years, to create the pieces necessary for video games'.

Nvidia also placed a focus on game support from the TEGRA ZONE – a store location with visibility on other devices such as Microsoft's Surface tablet.

The Shield console also has an HDMI connector and MicroSD support, for expansion.

The Shield name is not the final shipping product name, Nvidia will announce that later close to launch time. They have confirmed a Q2 launch time frame which means it might get a showcase at Computex in Taiwan.

Kitguru says: A good move for the company and if priced effectively, should sell well.

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