Nvidia have pulled back the release of their Tegra 4 powered gaming handheld – known as the Shield. According to an email they sent out, the reason is an ‘unspecified mechanical defect found in the final hardware'.

The general feeling is that Nvidia are right to delay the launch, especially if there are some problems with the hardware. Treating customers as beta testers is a sure way to cause ill feeling so the move can only be seen as a good one.

They recently announced a price cut to $299 and the pre-orders were said to be strong. We think the product will sell well for the company, especially as there is nothing else out there quite like it.

The Nvidia press release said “We’re grateful for all the enthusiasm that’s been expressed for SHIELD, our new portable gaming device.  And we’re eager to get it into your hands.

But we won’t do that until it’s fully up to the exacting standards that NVIDIA’s known for. And some final quality-assurance testing has just turned up a mechanical issue that we’re not happy with.

So, while we announced last week that SHIELD will go on sale this Thursday, we’ve taken the hard decision to delay shipping until next month.

The issue relates to a third-party mechanical component, and we’re working around the clock with the supplier to get it up to our expectations.

We apologize to those who have preordered SHIELDs and to all those who are waiting for them to go on sale. But we want every SHIELD to be perfect.”

Kitguru says: Worth waiting for? We hope so.

Become a Patron!