Nvidia has unveiled a streaming-focussed game console for the living room called the Shield Android TV Console.

Like the Shield portable and Shield tablet, the Shield TV’s primary focus is as a recipient for games streamed from Nvidia’s new cloud system at 1080p/60fps.

That cloud system, Nvidia Grid, will be a subscription service that offers top-tier PC titles for streaming at two price points: one for 720p and one for 1080p.

The service reportedly requires a 5 to 10Mbps download speed in order to render games in 720p, and 30Mbps of bandwidth to stream in 1080p.

Shield TV will also play a selection of controller-optimised Android games, about 50 of which will be available at launch. Other titles will be available from the Google Play store and via sideloading.

Shield TV is powered by a Tegra X1 processor, and has 16 GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, and supports 7.1 surround sound and up to four controllers (which retail at US$60 each).

Nvidia demoed the console’s streaming ability and grunt with Grid 2, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, and The Witcher 3, and said it is working with Crytek to port the full CryEngine to Android.

It already runs triple-A games like Doom 3 BFG Edition and Crysis 3 natively, and Gearbox said Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will be ported to the device.

Shield TV can also handle 4K video at 60 frames per second.

The console will be available in the US in early May for US$200, and comes with one controller.