NVIDIA this morning announced that Shield -- its handheld, Android-based gaming system -- will ship on July 31, a little more than a month late. Shield originally was to ship June 27, but an unspecified "mechanical issue" with a "third-party component" pushed the launch into July.

Shield, which is one of the first devices to use NVIDIA's new Tegra 4 system on a chip, is a mashup of console-style controller with a 5-inch touchscreen, running a relatively stock version of Android. It's mostly targeted toward hardcore gamers, but the move from $349 to $299 may open up that market somewhat.