PROJECT SHIELD. NVIDIA's new device could pave the way for cloud gaming to become even more popular. Screen shot from http://shield.nvidia.com/

MANILA, Philippines - NVIDIA is branching out from graphics card manufacturing into providing gamers with a new device to play on.

At a recently concluded press conference on January 7 (January 6 US time), the company has revealed Project SHIELD, a portable gaming device for open platforms.

SHIELD DEMO. NVIDIA's Project SHIELD gets tested during their press conference. Screen shot from NVIDIA press conference livestream.

NVIDIA's SHIELD device allows for the streaming play of both Android and PC titles that gamers can purchase from TegraZone, a dedicated subsection of the Google Play store, as well as from a user's Steam game library on PCs powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics cards. Users can also play music or movies through the device, according to demonstrations during their press conference.

The secret of the SHIELD lies in a number of systems the company has revealed across the day, which include earlier announcements of the GeForce Experience and the GRID system, which tie into it from the PC side of things.

GAMING IN YOUR HANDS. Stream your PC games using a handheld device onto your TV or anywhere else with an HDMI port. Screen shot from press conference livestream.

The SHIELD device itself runs on a new Tegra 4 processor, which their SHIELD press release states is the "world's fastest mobile processor" as a result of the implementation of a "custom 72-core GeForce GPU and the first quad-core application of ARM's most advanced CPU core, the Cortex-A15."

The actual product comes with a USB port and a microSD slot, as well as a port for speakers or a headset. Most notably, it has an HDMI port to enable users to stream games from their PC to the device, and have it output on high-definition televisions.

While no price has been made available as of yet, NVIDIA has an official website up for the SHIELD with some of the details available, including an expected ship date during the second quarter of 2013. - Rappler.com