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One of the bigger announcements from the Xbox Games Showcase today was the reveal of an Xbox handheld device. It had been rumored for a while, though the final product might be a bit unexpected. Called the ROG Xbox Ally, the system is a variant of the already existing ROG Ally, with Xbox buttons and a more controller-type grip. It will run Windows 11, though it will have a more Xbox-themed UI for your games library. As it uses Windows, you'll be able to install Steam, Epic, and whichever launcher you prefer.

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There will be two variants of the handheld, in the form of the ROG Xbox Ally, and the ROG Xbox Ally X. The former will feature an AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor, with 16GB of DDR5X RAM, 512GB storage, and a 120Hz screen. The more powerful X will have impulse triggers, 24GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a USB4 Type C port. The full specs can be seen on the official Xbox website. They'll both be out later this holiday season. Pricing will also be announced later.

Source

 

[DragonMals]

Not a huge fan of this.. imagine that your first five to the handheld market is a modified form of an already existing device of another companies.

 

[Maximumbeans]

Not a huge fan of this.. imagine that your first five to the handheld market is a modified form of an already existing device of another companies.

Agreed, it feels token. Especially lazy choice considering Nintendo have just released the Switch 2, and the Switch 1 arguably helped stoke this building handheld competition in the first place.

 

[PatrickD85]

And price will be more then that of the Series X console most likely ...(and no not bashing I have both an Xbox Series X and S )

 

[guily6669]

Is this April's 1st???

Xbox presenting new Asus ROG ALLY???

 

[Robert Newbie]

Not a huge fan of this.. imagine that your first five to the handheld market is a modified form of an already existing device of another companies.

From the perspective of Microsoft, this makes sense. I mentioned this in another thread, but Microsoft went through quite a bit of research and development to end up with the Microsoft Kinect. In that case, Microsoft executives failed to understand what made the Wii work. They saw the Wii sales numbers and said, "do that for our console."

With this attempt at a handheld, they're looking at the Switch (and maybe the Steam Deck) and saying, "do that for our brand." The difference is that they're not starting from complete scratch like the Kinect, which is a smart move. If this attempt at a handheld sells, they can buy up ASUS or just continue the partnership for future iterations.

This is a more calculated attempt than the Kinect because they're not reinventing the wheel just to test market conditions.

 

[KingVamp]

Not a huge fan of this.. imagine that your first five to the handheld market is a modified form of an already existing device of another companies.

To be fair, the Switch was a modified Nvidia Shield, but Nintendo actually put effort in their modifications.

 

[Kioku]

From the perspective of Microsoft, this makes sense. I mentioned this in another thread, but Microsoft went through quite a bit of research and development to end up with the Microsoft Kinect. In that case, Microsoft executives failed to understand what made the Wii work. They saw the Wii sales numbers and said, "do that for our console."

With this attempt at a handheld, they're looking at the Switch (and maybe the Steam Deck) and saying, "do that for our brand." The difference is that they're not starting from complete scratch like the Kinect, which is a smart move. If this attempt at a handheld sells, they can buy up ASUS or just continue the partnership for future iterations.

This is a more calculated attempt than the Kinect because they're not reinventing the wheel just to test market conditions.

This is more of a “safe bet” rather than a “calculated attempt” as all they’re doing is putting the Xbox branding on a handheld PC… Which already exists in various forms as it is. In my honest opinion it’s lazy. Microsoft already has the OS on the ROG Ally/X. So what is this even for, if not to put their name on the group project?

ETA: I’m aware of their attempt to create a more streamlined operating system for gaming. However, that doesn’t mean much in this argument as it won’t be exclusive to this device.

 

[LoggerMan]

Thet railer says "it's an xbox", so will it play xbox exclusive games?

 

[Robert Newbie]

This is more of a “safe bet” rather than a “calculated attempt” as all they’re doing is putting the Xbox branding on a handheld PC… Which already exists in various forms as it is. In my honest opinion it’s lazy. Microsoft already has the OS on the ROG Ally/X. So what is this even for, if not to put their name on the group project?

ETA: I’m aware of their attempt to create a more streamlined operating system for gaming. However, that doesn’t mean much in this argument as it won’t be exclusive to this device.

My argument was: "calculated attempt" after the Kinect = "Safe bet" with the ROG Xbox Ally

It is simple branding on existing tech to test the market. It's intriguing in its simplicity. It eliminates the need for major research and development and gets a product to market in time to compete with the Switch 2 and whatever handheld Sony may or may not be cooking up.


I think it's funny that Microsoft keeps pushing for OS flexibility. In the 2010's, it was Windows 10 (or was it 8?) being compatible with both desktops and mobile devices. Now, is it all three?

The real question is if any of this helps anyone. Like, does it help the devs to program Windows to function in all three scenarios at once? Does it make users more comfortable with Windows, the OS that has been around for about 40 years? (Isn't Windows about 70% of the market anyway?)

 

[captainpringles]

This is the most interesting thing Xbox has done in over a decade and it's not even 100% them. They're just piggy-backing off of the ROG Ally.

 

[linuxares]

I'm personally just curious if its possible to get SteamOS on it :3

 

[DiscostewSM]

It feels like there really wasn't much thought put into these. The ROG Xbox Ally X presumably throws in an incredibly strong APU, but it doesn't do it much good when it then utilizes LPDDR5-8000 RAM (128GB/s). That thing is going to be so bandwidth-starved that it's basically a joke it exists. Then there's the weaker ROG Xbox Ally, which if anyone looks at the specs will realize the APU is literally a rebadged Steam Deck APU.

 

[NinStar]

Honestly, these pc-handled-consoles are as well nice on the one hand, but on the other
I noticed that often the real flaws are never shown, in my opinion: first of all they are really heavy, this one of Xbox weighs well over half a kg, legion go even over the 700g, after a while it becomes tiring to play with it; secondly, miserable battery, I with my old SteamDeck if I made 1h full from 100% with Fallout 4 at medium settings I was lucky (yes, I had also lowered the power consumption). Lastly, these consoles are huge, “portable” is really a figure of speech, not to mention the “time/price” ratio, not even time to buy one that after two years the updated version comes out, ayaneo style.

I bought the SteamDeck 2 years ago, I was glad I sold it after not even a year of use. But I am happy if those who buy it can appreciate its value

I mean, this is just an inevitable trade off of supporting legacy software made for x86-64, it will take a long time for RISC-V ARM to effectively replace it in this field so everything can become more power efficient.

 

[Deleted member 671446]

I mean, this is just an inevitable trade off of supporting legacy software made for x86-64, it will take a long time for RISC-V ARM to effectively replace it in this field so everything can become more power efficient.

Yes unfortunately it is true. I just hope that someday the box64+proton combo can be seriously considered (and that it does not consume excessively). Who knows, in the past there were rumors of a fork of proton designed specifically for ARM

 

[Lostbhoy]

So who's ROGGING the Ally X??

 

[Skv0ra]

I just did some more reading. It seems the most exciting announcement here is the gaming version of windows 11. If they follow through on what they're claiming, it could be seriously game changing

Real question will be how robust they'll still keep it - win defender, ability to run firefox, some streaming solution, etc. And mayhaps all of that could be modded back in to give an interesting alt to full, shitty 11 for full PC users.

 

[linuxares]

Real question will be how robust they'll still keep it - win defender, ability to run firefox, some streaming solution, etc. And mayhaps all of that could be modded back in to give an interesting alt to full, shitty 11 for full PC users.

I'm more... what kind of enshittifcations will they do after its been out a while?

 

[HarveyHouston]

Wasn't a huge fan of Xbox games, TBH. This is still cool-looking, though.

 

[Skv0ra]

Wasn't a huge fan of Xbox games, TBH. This is still cool-looking, though.

Halo (RIP}, Gears (RIP), and Forza (semi-RIP) were honestly the only reasons to own one, so yeeeeaaaaa....

 

[RHOPKINS13]

Not interested in getting one, I'm very happy with my Steam Deck, but I do think this is interesting. First time an "Xbox" console is released manufactured by a company other than Microsoft. They call it an Xbox, yet it has no backwards compatibility with Xbox One (X), Xbox 360, original Xbox, or any other Xbox games aside from game pass streaming.

If this handheld succeeds well enough, I could see it being the final nail in the coffin for Xbox exclusives.

I wonder whether this will be open to loading other operating systems like Bazzite on it, like the original ROG Ally.

I also wonder whether Microsoft is going to release this "gaming edition" of Windows 11 for other people to use.