ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X Announced | Coming this holiday 2025

Can't wait to see what they cook up. Xbox has too many great games that aren't on PC. Sucks balls.



There's plenty of evidence that there's a plan and ongoing work to achieve "native" BC on future Xbox and PC hardware... but there are still people who tell you that the only BC they're working on for future Xbox products will be streaming. 🤷

Sometimes I think it's more of an attempt to belittle anything Xbox is than a desire to inform you about the real situation and the plan for preserving and upgrading past software.
 
I wonder how it compares to the Series S, Series X, Steam Deck and a 4080 laptop. I bet that Xbox model is going to be $1,000 or $1,000 because Xbox is going to cover some of the costs.

Also the weight on that, its pretty beefy. I got bad tennis elbow during my review of the Steam Deck and this is slightly heavier.
 
"Nintendo kid stuff"? That's how we're analyzing 152 million systems sold, eh? I don't think the "Nintendo kiddy market" you're referencing exists anymore, i think it's far larger and lots of diverse appetites across a large demographic of younger, middle-aged, and older gamers.

Sure. Kids and also neckbearded plus sized millenial Pokemon card collectors…
 
Could be a timing thing for AMD as well since Lenovo also isn't releasing their Z2E version until the fall.
Yeah and I am also wondering about the price. HX AI "9" chips (with beefier GPU) are quite pricey. AMD is probably trying to also optimize power envelope for handhelds vs laptops.
 
I wonder how it compares to the Series S, Series X, Steam Deck and a 4080 laptop. I bet that Xbox model is going to be $1,000 or $1,000 because Xbox is going to cover some of the costs.

Also the weight on that, its pretty beefy. I got bad tennis elbow during my review of the Steam Deck and this is slightly heavier.
30-40% over the deck? Maybe more in CPU heavy titles I would guess.

Not even anywhere in the same ballpark as a laptop 4080.
 



GHG GHG do you agree? I recall you have been on their case about fixing Win 11 for portables/gaming specific profiles for a bit.
 
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GHG GHG do you agree? I recall you have been on their case about fixing Win 11 for portables/gaming specific profiles for a bit.

"Magic", 😂. Show us some receipts first beyond plopping Xbox UI on top of windows. MS has been promising "magic" with Windows Store and UWP since Vista days and where did that get them?

That said, if they can have a "lite" game mode state on Windows (and not locked to just Asus handhelds), that would be pretty useful.

But really need more details, performance testing and pricing.
 
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Good to see an official xbox handheld given the years of speculation dating back to the psp 2006 era
 
Why would it matter? It's a PC handheld.
Because they like confusing things, never heard of KISS? it works for the tech market also, especially when it comes to consoles. WE know its just a handheld PC, to many others this is the first dedicated XBox handheld console. I don't give a shit either way, I wont be buying one BECAUSE its just a PC handheld and it's likely to be more expensive than more powerful rivals.
 
well, not so fast. this doesn't run normal Windows but a version altered by the Xbox branch.

in game mode basically all unnecessary Windows processes get stopped, that includes the entire Windows desktop environment even it seems. so performance should be way better than on default Windows.

this really sounds like Windows Steam OS edition. the game mode is an isolated mode like the game mode on Steam OS
He obviously just read the title of the thread and gave his opinion off of that without digging into it more.
 
MS can't even be bothered to make its own hardware anymore? Okay then... It might be a cool device. I kinda dig the handheld PC concept, but I don't see this as much different from any of the other available options.
This was done intentionally as there's less risk and decent rewards, also it allows for a Significant Loophole for them to claim they have Playstation games on "their" system, via Steam storefront. Of course this is still technically and (more importantly) legally a ROG Ally, but that won't stop them from calling it and advertising it as a "Xbox" device.
 



GHG GHG do you agree? I recall you have been on their case about fixing Win 11 for portables/gaming specific profiles for a bit.


It goes beyond just being "handheld" specific. They've needed a gaming centered build of windows for a very long time now.

They've already got a lot more windows gaming customers than they do Xbox customers. It shouldn't have needed some shitty Xbox rebranded ROG ally for this to happen.
 
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You gotta go with the black one...and by that Linus video we are looking at 900 smackaroos. Fuck it, I didn't like my kidney anyways
 
No touch-pad seems like a weird omission, I used them a lot in my Deck.
 
They've already got a lot more windows gaming customers than they do Xbox customers. It shouldn't have needed some shitty Xbox rebranded ROG ally for this to happen.

Going by what Sarah said, this is the start of a (hopefully) push to make it better for gaming on desktop and portable PC's across the board, not just for this Ally device.
 
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Really? Like for regular gameplay over the sticks and dpad? I tried it for a few FPS and it just doesn't feel right. I hear people love the things though...
No, not like that. If the game is in first person I'll use the stick or the gyro to look around. Thing is you can customize the track-pads and get like 9 extra buttons out of each one of them. For example, in Half-Life you could assign each section of the gamepad to a number from 1 to 9 and use it to quickly swap weapons.

This is how it looks while configuring it:

Zt5LBJ1.png


Once in game, the menu on the lower left corner will appear as an overlay in-game when you touch the touchpad, kinda like this:

virtual-menus-are-still-broken-and-useless-on-the-steamdeck-v0-mtt4v75xxf3b1.png


Shit's great, specially for older games that weren't designed with gamepads in mind or require a lot of different inputs. In most games it can be useful as a quick menu for quick save and loads, taking a screenshot or whatever.

 



GHG GHG do you agree? I recall you have been on their case about fixing Win 11 for portables/gaming specific profiles for a bit.

tumblr_lpze63cKTn1qadhe0.gif


its just a Rog with a modified Windows that boots in big picture, it can be done by any random hacker in Russia.

Microsoft just stamped their logo on Asus product and called the day
 
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No, not like that. If the game is in first person I'll use the stick or the gyro to look around. Thing is you can customize the track-pads and get like 9 extra buttons out of each one of them. For example, in Half-Life you could assign each section of the gamepad to a number from 1 to 9 and use it to quickly swap weapons.

This is how it looks while configuring it:

Zt5LBJ1.png


Once in game, the menu on the lower left corner will appear as an overlay in-game when you touch the touchpad, kinda like this:

virtual-menus-are-still-broken-and-useless-on-the-steamdeck-v0-mtt4v75xxf3b1.png


Shit's great, specially for older games that weren't designed with gamepads in mind or require a lot of different inputs. In most games it can be useful as a quick menu for quick save and loads, taking a screenshot or whatever.


That's actually very cool. Never thought to use them for extra inputs. The 1-9 weapon swap sounds brilliant.
 
More like PureDamageControl.



Sounds like straight up PR for Microsoft.
I went on the site they linked to and tried to find a new non-MS games that released in 2025:

Ass Creed Shadows: Nope
Elden Ring Nightreign: Nope
Monster Hunter Wilds: Nope
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2: Nope

You get the idea. This is not a replacement for native Xbox and if you invested heavily in Series X then this is not a viable option unless you want to rebuy everything.
 
I'll upgrade to this but then I hope they dont release these things every year. That's one thing they shouldn't bring over from the PC hardware side of things
 
All of this is just a smokescreen. MS is investing in portable "Xbox PC" devices with Windows just to try to migrate Xbox fans to the PC and prevent them from migrating to the PS5.

On the PC, it is easier for MS to establish a store and not have to pay 30% to Valve like it has to pay to Sony for the Playstation.

I would not under any circumstances invest in this "Xbox" hardware because it is just a bridge for those who play on the Xbox console to go play on the Windows PC.
 
There's plenty of evidence that there's a plan and ongoing work to achieve "native" BC on future Xbox and PC hardware... but there are still people who tell you that the only BC they're working on for future Xbox products will be streaming. 🤷

Sometimes I think it's more of an attempt to belittle anything Xbox is than a desire to inform you about the real situation and the plan for preserving and upgrading past software.
I just think no one believes them because they always have "plans" and big things coming but it never happens.
 
All of this is just a smokescreen. MS is investing in portable "Xbox PC" devices with Windows just to try to migrate Xbox fans to the PC and prevent them from migrating to the PS5.

On the PC, it is easier for MS to establish a store and not have to pay 30% to Valve like it has to pay to Sony for the Playstation.

I would not under any circumstances invest in this "Xbox" hardware because it is just a bridge for those who play on the Xbox console to go play on the Windows PC.

Conspiracy brained. It's not a smokescreen; it's an official strategy. We've already heard the next XBOX will be open source like PC and the handheld is the same. It's an actual evolution of the XBOX strategy to ensure their huge software portfolio is not reliant on a lower market share device. The market forced their hand, and Epic's wins over the apple store kind of cemented for MS that the closed ecosystem solution is on borrowed time. Sony is not dumb, they'll hold out as long as possible but they will have to pivot too eventually.
 
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