Hasta La Gadget!

After receiving a delay past its initial launch date (June 27), NVIDIA’s SHIELD handheld gaming device will officially begin shipping on July 31, barely meeting its delayed launch window of this month and arriving on the last possible day inside of that window. That makes it just over a week until gamers will be able to purchase the new handheld.

The SHIELD was initially initially expected to ship late last month, but due to mechanical issues with a third-party component, NVIDIA ended up having to delay the handheld gaming system for over a month. However, it seems that everything is straightened out now, and the only thing in NVIDIA’s way is hoping the SHIELD has a flawless launch.

The SHIELD is a handheld gaming system that can play Android games, as well as stream PC games from Steam. It’s essentially a game controller with a flip-out display that measures 5 inches diagonally with a 720p HD resolution. The device was first announced at CES 2013 back in January during NVIDIA’s press conference.

Since the announcement, we’ve gotten to know the SHIELD quite a bit in the last few months. We’ve given it a test spin a couple times already, using it to fly around an AR Drone in the backyard, and even getting to do a hands-on session with the final hardware version of the SHIELD last month.

The SHIELD will cost $299 when it launches on July 31, and this is even after a price drop from $349 after the company received feedback from potential buyers at E3 last month. The device is still up for pre-order, and units will begin shipping out starting on July 31. Happy gaming!

NVIDIA SHIELD officially arriving last day of July is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A fews days after discussing possible price points and business models for the Oculus Rift, the company is now thinking about what devices that the VR headset will integrate with besides PCs. CEO Brendan Iribe sees the Oculus Rift has working perfectly with smartphones, and he also noted that the headset would release at some point next year, most likely.

Speaking with Edge, Iribe said that consoles aren’t a huge focus for the company, and instead have a lot of interest in “next-gen cellphones.” He notes that it has mostly to do with innovation and the upgrade cycle of products, noting that smartphones advance much faster than consoles, and that could match up nicely with the Oculus Rift’s plans to innovate just as quickly.

Iribe notes that he loves consoles, but the company specifically is “a lot more excited about where mobile’s going to go, and being able to plug it right into a next-gen cellphone.” He points out that smartphone innovation is “almost doubling every year, compared to a console that’s just stuck it out for eight years.”

As for Oculus Rift competitors, Iribe says bring it on, as it’ll speed up development and innovation for virtual reality. He notes that Oculus Rift is just one year in, and there are a lot of problems that still need to be tackled. With other virtual reality developers out there, VR could see faster innovation, and Iribe wonders what we’ll see in eight to ten years.

As for the 2014 release window, Iribe says that the Oculus Rift definitely won’t launch this year, but 2014 seems more like a feasible deadline. Obviously, a specific release date isn’t set yet, but the company wants to get the headset right before they send it out the public, and a 2014 launch window would give them enough time to complete it.

SOURCE: Edge

Oculus Rift smartphone support may be on the way is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Rovio has outed a big update for its popular Angry Birds title. One of the most-downloaded games of all time now has a new gameplay mode, 15 new levels, and even 73 new “pig contraptions” taken straight from Rovio’s spinoff game Bad Piggies. If you’ve been finding yourself getting bored lately with the bird-flinging game, this could renew the lasting appeal for you.

The new gameplay mode is called Egg Defender, and it gives the Red Bird special powers to attack the pigs. Of course, Rovio doesn’t want to spoil anything, so your only hope to find out all about it is to play the new mode for yourself to see what’s new.

Rovio also teased moving targets, which we get to see a little bit in the video below. Rovio says that the Red Bird “faces wave after wave of Bad Piggies in their crazy contraptions.” However, the Red Bird “now has some magic feathers from the Mighty Eagle himself – giving Red incredible new powers as he darts toward those pesky pigs at incredible speed!”

So it seems we’ll get treated with an Angry Birds/Bad Piggies crossover, which isn’t too surprising, but gamers will now be able to fling birds at the green pigs in their flying vehicles, which should definitely make for a unique experience for Angry Birds fans, as well as provide players with a little bit of a challenge. As for us, we’re still trying to keep up with all the new updates and levels that we have yet to get through.

SOURCE: iTunes App Store, Google Play

Angry Birds updates with new game mode and 15 new levels is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The classic rally racing game Colin McRae Rally hit iOS today, which marks the second mobile game released by Codemasters. The game features the original cars and tracks from the 1998 hit, and Codemasters says that the game has been “re-imagined” for mobile, hitting iOS as a full game that compliments the original title that

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We’ve been waiting for a new Asphalt game to hit Android for a while now. Not to say that we were getting sick of Asphalt 7, but we sort of knew that Gameloft would eventually succumb to making yet another installment to the Asphalt racing series. As expected, Asphalt 8: Airborne includes new maps, a

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