Nvidia Shield shipping in June to retailers for $349

Shield, the now official name of Nvidia's Android-powered portable Project Shield, will arrive at multiple online and offline retailers for an MSRP of $349, according to a post on the company's official blog.

The units will begin shipping to stores in June, and interested parties can secure their purchase ahead of time once pre-orders for the Shield open up May 20. Anyone who signed up for the Project Shield newsletter on Nvidia's site can start pre-ordering today. Stores that will carry the Shield include GameStop, Newegg, Micro Center and Canada Computers.

The handheld will come bundled with two titles, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 and Expendable: Rearmed. Other titles on the Google Play store will be compatible with the device, and Nvidia announced new partnerships today to bring five other games to the Shield. Those titles are Costume Quest and Broken Age from Double Fine, Flyhunter: Origins from Steel Wool Games, Skiing Fred from Dedalord Games and Chuck's Challenge from developer Niffler.

For more information on the Shield, including its finalized technical specs, check out Nvidia's blog post announcement. For our thoughts on the system, check out our preview from CES 2013.