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You may have read other reviews about the Nvidia Shield before making it here to mine. What you'll see other reviewer's saying is that the Nvidia Shield is a nitch item. I'd have to agree with this claim. Its primarily a device to play your PC games on, and you have to own a lot of high-end hardware to use it properly. Let's talk about the requirements and about how it performs outside of the requirements. So the Shield requires a modern gaming PC with at least a GTX 650 Video Card. If you have a lower 6 series or a 5/4 series, this will not work for you. And even if you have the bare minimum GTX 650, keep in mind that this card is not powerful enough to run many modern games on maxed out settings. So this will have an impact on how things look on the Shield (from a quality perspective). I am personally using a 4 GB GDDR5 GTX 680 in my rig, so keep in mind that what I'm saying is based on my experiences with that card. So having a very powerful PC is one half of the Shield equation. The other half is having a very high-end robust network. Nvidia recommends that you use a dual-band router capable of 5 Ghz. They also have a list of routers that are directly supported for PC Game Streaming (of which the Apple Airport Express 2nd Gen is the cheapest). I have personally tested the shield on several routers. It is possible to stream your PC games over a 2.4 Ghz frequency. However, there are a lot of considerations that will impact that sort of performance. If you live out in the middle of nowhere with no other nearby networks and paper-thin walls, then 2.4 Ghz may be enough for you. For me, I experienced about a 30 foot radius from my router where 2.4 Ghz was doable. Going farther way than that disconnected my session. I also get a noticeable amount of artifacting on the Shield's screen when streaming over 2.4 Ghz. So the short answer is that it may be possible to use the Shield for PC gaming without a 5 Ghz router. Just realize that you'll be taking a risk if you buy it without the right kind of network to back it up. For me performance over 5 Ghz has been flawless. I'm using a Western Digital My Net N900 Router and I haven't had a single issue (other than range). 5 Ghz has a much lower range compared to 2.4 Ghz, so keep in mind that you may have to install repeaters or access points in your house to maintain game-level performance in all areas of the house. So as far as PC Streaming goes, the question will be whether it is worth it. There is also not a direct answer to this. There are some unofficial things that you can do with the Shield such as connecting it to a VPN for gaming outside of your network. Nvidia is also working on adding functionality to play any PC game on the Shield. Right now the Shield only supports games that have included controller support. They will be adding the option to use programs like Xpadder or Pinnacle Game Profiler so that you can setup any game to work on the Shield's controller. So depending on your existing game library or your budget for buying games, this may be a serious thing to think about (The Shield's only good if you can play your favorite stuff on it, right?). When you do have the correct equipment, playing PC games on the Shield is amazing! I love having the ability to take my PC gaming to any room of the house (we just converted our garage to a lounge for my wife, and now I can sit there and play games with her). The controls feel solid, the sound is amazing, and the built-in microphone allows you to chat with people while you play. So if you're someone that already has the computer hardware and network to use the Shield, this may be an easier question to answer. However, if your computer is not up to spec, or if your network is not fast enough, then this becomes a deeper question. It takes a considerable investment to have the hardware to play PC games on the Shield. You'll have to REALLY want to play games on the Shield to spend the average $750 that it costs to get a computer and network upgraded to use it. For me it was definitely worth it, but I already had the computer and network to use the Shield, so my only cost was the $299 that the Shield goes for. I also already have 60+ games in my Steam Library that have built-in controller support. That's a pretty good launch list of titles. So with the PC part clarified, let's talk about the other stuff that the Shield can do. One of the big things right off the bat is the ability to play emulators on it. I've personally played N64, PSX, SNES, NES, GBA, and Genesis on mine. This has been a really awesome experience. One cool thing that you may not know about the Shield is that the micro-usb port on the back can do a lot of stuff. I plugged in a micro-to-usb adapter and then connected a 4-port usb hub. I have 2 PS3 controllers, a wireless 360 controller, and a USB SNES gamepad all plugged in at the same time. And yes, they all show up as separate controllers for split screen gaming. And I finish this off by plugging my Shield via mini-HDMI to HDMI to my TV. It's like playing the original consoles, but better! Everything is very smooth and the graphics look great on the big screen. You can map the controls individually to each controller. So that's pretty awesome. The third side of the Shield is the Android part. For me, this is probably the most disappointing side of the Shield. It's not that the Shield doesn't have the power to play any Android game out there, its that hardly anything supports the Shield's controller. There are a select group of "enhanced" titles in the Shield store, but many core titles are not available. One big thing that is missing is support for the majority of Gameloft's games. Certain titles sort of work like Modern Combat 4 and NOVA 3, but not all controls work. The only Gameloft title to date that works flawlessly with the Shield's controller is Asphalt 8. So Android gaming tends to be a bit underwhelming. Hopefully this will be something that gets dramatically better as developers become more aware of the Shield, but as of now there isn't much there for it. So as a standalone device, the only really good thing about the Shield is emulators. There are several people on the Nvidia forums that bought it strictly as an emulator device. If you're looking at it as the next big Android platform, that's not happening as of yet. Anyway, hopefully that gives you a bit of information to go off of. Feel free to ask me any questions that you may have about the Shield. I'll do my best to answer them for you. [UPDATE 03/2014] The Nvidia Shield continues to impress me, and I wanted to update my review with some information on new features that have been added since launch. Android gaming is still the most limiting factor for the Shield, but it has gotten dramatically better. The Android Library for the Shield now contains a respectable number of titles. Mount & Blade Warband was also just released as a Nvidia Shield exclusive. In addition to these titles, Nvidia has also added a Game Mapper feature that allows you to map your own physical controls to touchscreen games that don't support the controller natively. This means that you can potentially play any Shield-compatible Android game with your Shield controller. The ability to officially map the controls of PC games is still potentially in the works. As of right now it hasn't been released, but a work-around has been developed by the community in the Nvidia forums. The community also developed a Shield Proxy App that makes remote gaming a lot easier to setup. So as of right now, it is unofficially possible to take your Shield with you and play your PC games when you're on other networks. Nvidia also added a special Console-Mode that allows you to connect your Shield to your TV, close the lid, and play in full 1080p. You have to purchase an ethernet adapter to use this feature, but it works flawlessly and is one of the better experiences on the Shield. The community has also figured out how to stream Xbox 360 and PS3 to the Shield by using a Capture Card and a CronusMax USB Adapter. This is also a very unofficial feature, but works very very well. The Shield is one of the most diverse gaming devices that I have ever used and is still an item that I use on a daily basis.