This release by ASUS and Xbox is the milking opportunity that the market had been craving with the ROG Xbox Ally Series. Gamers are literally curious about what feats this handheld monster might achieve. An official tweet from ASUS ROG teased the collaboration with Xbox and came down to trash, questioning everything it offered bare-faced between hype, skepticism, and a total weird confusion in the reply section.
Now, what is the ROG Xbox Ally? Well, on one hand, it is a handheld thing-and quite unlike anything that has been seen before. It is not another streaming device like the PlayStation Portal; this thing is actually a fully fledged PC and runs Xbox games natively and, say, Steam, Epic, and all other kinds of PC games. So it is more like-shaped like a Steam Deck with an Xbox twist.
After this, things start to go haywire. Some gamers merely wonder if it is just a renamed ROG Ally with fresh Xbox badging. Others beyond that ask, “Does it play Xbox games natively, without cloud streaming, or remote play?” Milkdawg67 came forth to clarify, PBX and Game Pass do run level, whereas Xbox does cloud-streaming, which is not for every single individual.
Enter in those DRAMAS on pricing. The ROG Ally was never inexpensive, and gamers are already speculated to describe the Xbox edition going anywhere between the magnanimous figure of $700 all the way upwards to $1,000. One user, LukeB4tt, scoffed at the announcement, lamenting his “future estimated $1.6-2k NZD” loss. Meanwhile, others like Joe Mama bickered that Microsoft should help ASUS subsidize the price so it would stand against the Steam Deck.
In terms of design, one can imagine some complaints about the absence of Xbox’s color-coded ABXY buttons, with one GhostSlay3r claiming that it would make the device “pop more.” Then comes the whole Windows 11 aspect; the groans are just beginning as some contemplate dealing with Microsoft’s OS on a handheld.
The common contention: will it be any good? The Steam Deck has a massive head start, with the Nintendo Switch still reigning. Some gamers believe, like theshitwebsite, that the ROG Xbox Ally is bound to hit the sack unless Microsoft makes it affordable. Others like Masta Drag are in: they would “spend whatever money on this shit” over anything from Nintendo.
That alone gives the ROG Xbox Ally Series tremendous standing among several promising ventures, whereas negatives include cost, performance, and perhaps even if the Xbox gamers do want a handheld-PC. One thing is for sure: the handheld wars just got a lot more interesting.
If nothing else, it is not another streaming-only device-wins for us!
