NVIDIA SHIELD dropped to $299 ahead of June 27 launch

That's a drop of $50 off the original $349 price tag. If you've already pre-ordered SHIELD, you'll be charged the new, lower price, NVIDIA assured those who jumped on it early.

The handheld will be available from Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center and Canada Computers on Thursday, June 27.

"We want to get SHIELD into the hands of as many gamers as possible," an NVIDIA press release said.

The unveiling of the SHIELD (then Project SHIELD) at CES, and prior rumours, came as something of a surprise since the SHIELD enters a space already occupied by Nintendo, Sony and now every modern smartphone and tablet PC too.

NVIDIA SHIELD's specifications:

• Tegra 4 – The world's fastest mobile processor delivers rich graphics and unbeatable performance thanks to 72 GPU cores, four CPU cores and 2GB of RAM
• Console-grade controller – Precise control thanks to dual analog joysticks, a full-sized D-Pad, left and right analog triggers, full-sized bumpers and A/B/X/Y buttons
• Multi-touch display – 5-inch, 720p retinal multi-touch display for high-fidelity visuals
• Integrated speakers – Custom, bass reflex, tuned port audio system – we think this is SHIELD's sleeper feature
• Wi-Fi – 802.11n 2X2 MIMO game-speed Wi-Fi for game streaming
• Pure Android – Latest Android Jelly Bean operating system from Google, for access to Android games and apps
• There's more – NVIDIA put into SHIELD everything we would want in a premium mobile gaming device: 16 GB memory, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, a mini-HDMI output, micro-USB 2.0, a microSD storage slot, a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack

View a complete spec sheet here.