More Xbox Ally X and the rubbish surrounding it:

It was the ROG Xbox Ally and Ally Xs released today. Over the last few months since its announcement and subsequent release date announcement, there has been nonstop debate about the worth of this device and numerous people have commented on it, from tech and gaming journalists, through professional tech commentators to basic YouTube fanboys with Xbox or PlayStation. The discourse online has been, as with all discourse online, appallingly bad. I have been looking at various takes on the device to see if anyone had something useful to say and, if I am honest, there really has been very few people with a sensible, honest take on the device. I think my ‘Get off my lawn’ and ‘Back in my day’ old man syndrome has been strong with this one. I really want these types of devices to flourish. I know they are not for everyone but equally I am not so sure that they can be described as fringe or niche either.

Most of all it is my assertion that all the Steam deck comparisons are exceedingly dumb. The Steam Deck is almost 4yrs old and the OLED version is coming on 3yrs old. The device was designed with a very specific purpose in mind. The idea was to create a handheld device that would have broad appeal, be relatively inexpensive (as far as possible), create a demand for these styles of devices, create a demand and drive towards a non-Windows device with a Linux based OS that just worked as was user friendly and not to have huge sales expectations. I have written about this in an earlier post, but I do believe that the Steam Deck outsold Valves expectations by a long shot (I have no evidence but based on the fact that it was sold out and on a waiting list) and even though I was quite high up when it came to order it took me a while to get mine. I really did not think that they expected the demand to be as high, especially after the general way it was received and commented on by the media and others across the board.

The interesting thing I have found is the way people are speaking about the ROG Xbox Ally devices is pretty much the same as they were speaking about the Steam Deck at it’s release. It is a case of history repeating itself.  Review from certain sites is not worth the time to pay attention to. Linus tech Tips have been really bad of late at any reviews. I wouldn’t trust IGN. There are a few others that when I see their review, I feel they are intentionally or more possibly unintentionally are feeding into the misinformation. I remember when the Steam Deck came out people were having the exact same arguments. Who is it for? Why would you want it? £450 for a device that cannot even play all your Steam games? If you don’t have a Steam library, is it even worth it? As a console gamer you will have to put up with pc shenanigans and that is just too difficult. It was too heavy, too bulky, too much of an odd layout and just Valve being Valve as with their Steam Controller (another device that people suddenly changed their minds about just a little too late to save it). And yet now it is seen as though the Steam Deck is held up as the bastion of a good handheld. All these issues became nonissues. Valve has worked on the Seam OS and made it play more games. People learnt how to run it. They learnt that all the reasons people were giving to NOT buy the device were misleading and content farming fluff with no basis in reality. All these internet content creators and commentators are so misinformed, and they spread this either lack of information or straight up misinformation and people believe it.

I watched a video from a well-respected and well-known games journalist who openly admitted they disliked Windows. They gave no reason or basis for this dislike just followed what seems to be a common dislike for the ‘big guy’. Windows is in no way shape or form a great operating system and I am sure that people do have issues with it. I know people complain about constant updates (a weird complaint to me as updates to make the system better, mostly, seem a good thing) crashing and of course the bloatedness that is our well-known windows. But, complaining about windows is odd when Lunix isn’t perfect at all and certainly, until Steam OS, it was not user friendly. There are certainly benefits to Lunix as there is a plug and play nature to the OS. This is a personal choice, and I feel that until I have tried the new Xbox Ally OS, I really don’t have an opinion. The paired down less resource heavy version of windows developed specifically for this device (and hopefully for Xbox, Windows PCs and other devices in general one day) could turn out in time to be a great benefit. There is also the glaring point that many games still do not work on Steam OS, especially games with Anti-Cheat. Also, you cannot natively install Epic, EA, Xbox or any other store front on the Steam Deck without a bit of a workaround. Now these can be easy to install but generally do require a bit of tech savvy and goes against the complaint of ‘Plug and Play’ that everyone thinks the Xbox Ally devices should have.

There has also been some discussion about OLED vs LCD. Many people have mentioned that they are disappointed that the Xbox Ally systems don’t have an OLED screen. I imagine this was a cost decision especially as this is not the first device to make this choice even after the price of OLED screens have reduced in cost from what I have seen. I did see an article speaking about the OLED vs LCD screen when the Switch 2 was revealed not to have an OLED screen but rather that it had returned to the LCD. In this article they spoke about how the difference between the two is not black and white. The newer LCD screens are not as night and day different from the OLED as they used to be although they still don’t have the colour depth and contrast of the OLED. There is burn in on OLED screens but again that has been worked on, and it is not as bad as it was. The LCD is brighter and better in the sun. And so on. I figure choice is always good but there are already 2 varieties and people are already unsure why the base Xbox Ally exists, and they are suggesting people just buy the Steam Deck OLED instead as it is comparable for a similar price.

The biggest argument to this not being an Xbox is that it can’t play Xbox console games. Although I kind of get this argument it isn’t one I would use or think about if I was trying to argue that this is not an Xbox. Which actual games can it not play? I can’t find many at all besides a few games like Forza Horizon 3. I have seen Ori mentioned and I believe this is because it is not a Play Anywhere game so if you bought it on Xbox, you would not be able to play this on this device as it is a PC handheld console that runs on a PC operating System. I would like to think that Microsoft spent time trying to get these developers to join the ‘Play Anywhere’ catalogue. But mostly my issue with this argument is twofold. Firstly, I have not seen anyone come up with a list of games you can’t play on this if you own it on Xbox. There are a huge amount of games in the Play Anywhere category. I know they are adding more, and I figure if they want to continue to have people engaging with their platform, they will need to do this and try to make the older games compatible and Play Anywhere. The other argument is you cannot play PS1 PS2 or PS3 games on a PS5, so why is not being able to play Xbox 360 games on this device such a difference? Why is there a difference in standards across this conversation? Why do people expect an Xbox device to have Backwards Compatibility, but the same standard is not held to Sony or Nintendo, who offer little if anything at all in the way of backwards compatibility but who instead seem to charge people for a remaster, remake and so on?

Now I will move onto probably the biggest sticking point. The $1000 or £799 price tag for the Xbox Ally X is steep by anyone’s metric. $1000 price is purely due to tariffs in the US. The price in the UK is the same as the previous ROG Ally X. The ROG Ally X is $799 for the Z1 chip whereas the Xbox Ally X is the newer Z2 chip which has AI capabilities that are currently not in full use but will use AI to upscale things and make the device run better and smoother for it  at a later date. There are also the paired down version of windows and the Xbox app that runs similar to Steams Big Picture mode although this version of windows is coming to other devices including the Steam Deck you want as they are all in effect PC handhelds.

The arguments on the internet are a waste of time. There are pros and cons to this. $1000 is a lot of money. £800 is a lot of money that is a valid concern. But it is worth noting that when Xbox started working on this device there were no tariffs, and I imagine they would have kept it at $800 like they kept it at £800 in the UK if this was the case. This is a handheld and by definition more expensive as every other handheld has been in the past. The Steam Deck was cheap because Valve ensured it was, but the downside was an underpowered console with lower battery life. Valve stated this clearly in all their FAQ that I saw before buying my Steam Deck. I love my Steam Deck, and I think what Valve did for the price is phenomenal, but it was never meant to be a monster of a device. It was always cheap and cheerful.

Every review also seems to be contradictory to each other. The handheld is so much heavier, it’s not that much heavier, it’s lighter than I though and so on. Then, it is more comfortable than the Steam Deck, it’s not as comfortable. These devices, as with controllers for instance, are personal choices based on personal criteria.

Overall I am excited for this device as I have said before. If you are not, so be it. No one is forcing anyone to buy this and encouraging others not to buy the device on your say so and your personal criteria is beyond arrogant. I see that the Xbox Ally X has been out of stock since it was announced for preorder. The only retailer who has the Xbox Ally X for sale does not even have ot on their storefront and they cannot explain why this is.

I would strongly advise people to do your own research, don’t listen to one or two people listen to a few people and don’t take their personal review as fact but rather dissect what they say and have critical thought about their opinions and the facts they present. The discourse online about things needs to change as there is too much noise irrespective of your age. If you got this far I would love to hear your opinions on the device, especially if you have one or you have some fact I missed. There is a comment section or my BlueSky account is at the bottom of the page. Thanks for reading.