Imagine a future where your handheld system can play any game, where every 2 years you pick up a new upgraded device that your library will travel with.  That’s the promise of android handheld gaming, but sadly, it’s just the future.  So long as a device has access to the Google play store, you’ll be able to take your games to any new piece of android hardware, which in theory is a beautiful thing, but in practice isn’t quiet stellar yet.  Though an open system for handheld games seems promising, its worthless if there isn’t a robust game library to support it and to date, support for android games with controllers is still very sketchy and lackluster.  So, with android being a great fit for future handheld gaming, just how good of a value is the Nvidia Shield, the controller, screen hybrid with a powerful Tegra 4.  First off, I don’t own one, so this is simply an opinion piece.   It seems amazing, like the future.  In fact, it makes my 3dS look pretty shabby with its super low res screen, antiquated graphics prowess.  The Nvidia Shield seems the better deal at first glance, at just $100 more it offers a superior screen (vice 3d which i dont use anyway), much faster processor, huge library of andorid games, and proper 360 style controller.  Sadly, due to game librairy, nintendo/sony still have the advantage in my mind.  I guess android and steam games are cheaper, but using it to steam your pc library seems to be a void that a steam machine could be filling in the near future.   SO for me personally, is it worth $300 for an android library, I’m not so sure, not yet.  At the end of the day, on the 3DS I can play super mario 3d land, mario kart, smash bors, and pokemon while on the shield I can play a handful of shooters that don’t really live up to those found on my pc or consoles, the android library will come but for now I’m hedging my bets with a proper handheld.