Microsoft and Asus announce two Xbox Ally handhelds with new Xbox full-screen experience
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Is it good enough for you? Is that why you will get it? Where are these people you speak of...?
I highly doubt there are enough people that want that super particular use case to make this particular handheld stand out at all, especially ones that didnt meet their needs with another handheld already.
I hate live service games and Windows, so no, this device is not for me, but those are also the most popular games on the market by a wide margin. Despite how awful the Windows experience is today, there's still one Windows handheld sold for every two Steam Decks. That situation can only improve with a version of Windows designed for handhelds.
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I hate live service games and Windows, so no, this device is not for me, but those are also the most popular games on the market by a wide margin. Despite how awful the Windows experience is today, there's still one Windows handheld sold for every two Steam Decks. That situation can only improve with a version of Windows designed for handhelds.
I see your point with the millions that play those specific games, maybe i am just disappointed by microsoft only doing the bare minimum when they are forced to.
This is at least progress
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I would be interested if it also supported quick resume from sleep like the Deck does. Imo that's the killer SteamOS feature that's keeping Windows alternatives from being even a consideration.
If they can't do that then this thing is kind of DOA. I've just assumed for some reason that this is what they're doing.
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:::Well, at least the base model Xbox Ally has essentially the same SoC as the Steam Deck. The Z2 A has 4 Zen 2 cores and 8 RDNA 2 CUs. It will be configurable up to 20 watts TDP instead of 15 on the Deck, but that's it. So much for "long in the tooth technology wise".
Sure, the Z2 Extreme variant will be more powerful, but it'll also be in a different price category (800-900,-€).
And in terms of user-friendliness: the Xbox Ally will run Windows. It won't launch into the regular desktop shell (by default), and it won't have as many services running in the background which might help with performance and battery life, and you'll probably be able to update drivers and Windows through it. Maybe it will have some preconfigured scripts/shortcuts to install Steam, Battle.net etc. But that's it. Expect to fall back to the desktop mode (or open a browser, terminal and Explorer window in the new gaming mode) for anything more advanced like installing emulators.
In terms of pick up and play this won't be much different to the Steam Deck, with the one exception being Game Pass - but even then don't expect any of the more demanding titles to run well.
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I believe I read somewhere else that idea/project was taken back to the workshop and this is something else but close to that.
Yeah, I also read that they stopped the project of building an official Xbox handheld to focus on 3rd party hardware. Because otherwise the delay would make them not launch at the same time than the home console.
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Is this the rumoured Xbox handheld that everyone has been going on about for months?
Only it doesn't run Xbox games.
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And the crowd went ...ok?
At least the internet crowd went :
Silksooooooooooong ! New images and half revealed date of "you will be able to play it on day one". So either same launch day or a bit before. 2nd time (after the switch 2 trailer) that they mention silksong for this year. So maaaaybe ?
Oh by the way, why are the image shown at an angle? Is it really only to showcase the console? Whatever.
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I believe I read somewhere else that idea/project was taken back to the workshop and this is something else but close to that.
I read that somewhere as well, it coincided with reports of SteamOS being more performant that Windows 11 for gaming. How related they both were I have no idea but it sounds like MS were already aware and are trying to resolve that here as it prevents resource intensive processes from launching (desktop, etc).
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I still think the real XBox handheld is another 2-5 years out. This is Microsoft dipping their toes in the water and the ROC is a great system to start that partnership
Steam Deck appreciator myself and this does seem like a good starting point for Xbox. I’m interested to see how it progresses over the years.
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Well, at least the base model Xbox Ally has essentially the same SoC as the Steam Deck. The Z2 A has 4 Zen 2 cores and 8 RDNA 2 CUs. It will be configurable up to 20 watts TDP instead of 15 on the Deck, but that's it. So much for "long in the tooth technology wise".
Sure, the Z2 Extreme variant will be more powerful, but it'll also be in a different price category (800-900,-€).
And in terms of user-friendliness: the Xbox Ally will run Windows. It won't launch into the regular desktop shell (by default), and it won't have as many services running in the background which might help with performance and battery life, and you'll probably be able to update drivers and Windows through it. Maybe it will have some preconfigured scripts/shortcuts to install Steam, Battle.net etc. But that's it. Expect to fall back to the desktop mode (or open a browser, terminal and Explorer window in the new gaming mode) for anything more advanced like installing emulators.
In terms of pick up and play this won't be much different to the Steam Deck, with the one exception being Game Pass - but even then don't expect any of the more demanding titles to run well.
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It probably should have released a could months ago, pre switch2 hype.
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This machine will be the same desktop-mode-not-required-but-allows-for-more-functionality thing that the Steam Deck is, but it will chew through battery faster in exchange for more compatibility.
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:::wrote on last edited by [email protected]the steam deck is getting long in the tooth technology wise
lolwut? The Deck was released only three years ago.
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the steam deck is getting long in the tooth technology wise
lolwut? The Deck was released only three years ago.
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Only it doesn't run Xbox games.
To Microsoft, everything is an Xbox.
At least that's their marketing atm.
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:::wrote on last edited by [email protected]Nintendo wiped the floor in the mobile gaming market for decades despite their competitors having beefier specs. The DS lasted for years before we ever got the Switch. Let the Steam Deck mature.
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I still think the real XBox handheld is another 2-5 years out. This is Microsoft dipping their toes in the water and the ROC is a great system to start that partnership
They seem to have dropped all plans to plans to make their own recently.
The ROG Xbox Ally will still release, but no microsoft Xbox handheld. -
To Microsoft, everything is an Xbox.
At least that's their marketing atm.
I'd say it'll backfire when people can't play those odd Xbox games that for some reason never came to PC, but there's so few people using Xboxes anyway, I doubt it's going to matter. They've well and truly dropped the ball since the Xbox 360, and don't really show any signs of being interested in picking it up again.
Everything just points to them making enough money from everything else to not really care. This is as token an effort as it's possible to make in the handheld space.
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Nintendo wiped the floor in the mobile gaming market for decades despite their competitors having beefier specs. The DS lasted for years before we ever got the Switch. Let the Steam Deck mature.
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:::Even if you're correct, it's still too early, anyway. That's my point.
The DS had a seven-year lifespan and the original Switch had eight. Even living room console have an average near decade long lifespan. So, of course Valve isn’t going to throw their money into a second generation.
