Nvidia has made another intelligent business move to boost the sales of its Shield console, by teaming with Google to make the gaming device available for purchase on the Google Play Store.
The latest set-top box version of the Shield seeks to compete with the likes of Chromecast and nips at the heels of mainstream gaming consoles with performance provided by the onboard Tegra X1 processor and Maxwell GPU. The Android TV-powered device is even capable of streaming 4K content to UHD TVs, something few (if any) set-top boxes can claim.
The Nvidia Shield console comes in two variants: a 16 GB version and a 500 GB "pro" edition. Both have 3 GB of RAM, an HDMI 2.0 port, two USB 3.0 ports, a micro-USB 2.0 jack and a micro SD card slot. A gigabit Ethernet port and dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi will get you online and streaming, and it also supports Bluetooth 4.1. Audio is provided by a 3.5" jack but also supports Dolby 7.1 and 5.1 audio with a surround sound pass-through over HDMI. The Shield includes the controller in the box. Essentially, only the amount of storage differs between each model.
The Shield was previously only available directly from Nvidia, Amazon or Best Buy. In an effort to make the product more accessible (and theoretically more profitable), the Nvidia Shield is available now on the Google Play Store for North American customers. The 16 GB version has an MSRP of $199, and the Nvidia Shield Pro is available for $299.
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