Comment on Microsoft and Asus announce two Xbox Ally handhelds with new Xbox full-screen experience

• LandedGentry@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I mean conservative estimates have over 20 million people using game pass and the steam deck is getting long in the tooth technology wise. Also, Ilove my steam deck so much, but it is not the most user-friendly for newbies sometimes. You have to be comfortable troubleshooting occasionally, especially if you ever plan on using desktop mode. Which is not required of course, but you are leaving a lot of the appeal of the device in the first place on the table if you don’t use that ever.

  I fucking hate Microsoft, I am over the Xbox ecosystem, but ultimately this will be a very pick up and play device. It will likely sell at least half decently (likely underperform their estimates as always). I think anybody saying it’s doomed to fail is honestly ignorant of the current state of gaming.

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  • malwieder@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    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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    • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      There is no way they are charging €900 for this. That’s absurd. If you’re right I’ll come back and praise you lol

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      • malwieder@feddit.org ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        The ROG Ally X’s MSRP is 899,-€ and that’s what it currently costs here in Germany at least. It was as low as 799,-€ though recently, but now it’s back up. Considering this “Xbox Ally X” is the successor to it, I don’t think it’s unrealistic.

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  • tonytins@pawb.social ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    the steam deck is getting long in the tooth technology wise

    lolwut? The Deck was released only two years ago.

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    • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      And how long do you think a $300-$400 handheld PC is supposed to stay on the cutting edge?

      You can already see its ability to play AAA games slipping. It’s an incredibly impressive machine but the days of BG3/cyberpunk/etc. dropping on it and being solid experiences are wrapping up. I’m sure it has several years of viability in store but come on.

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      • tonytins@pawb.social ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Nintendo wiped the floor with 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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  • ampersandrew@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    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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    • LandedGentry@lemmy.zip ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Sounds about right

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