From what I saw, it's more or less just a new app that starts when windows boots up. Plus some improvements like "the controller now works in UAC prompts" - which tells me that they didn't really learn anything.
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
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it's more or less just a new app
You know a reason why Linux with Steam runs just way better than win? Because they use game scope, therefore not needing to render and run all of the desktop.
So what does Microsoft do? They release a new app on top of the already bloated desktop.
Gamescope is a compositor. It has many useful gaming features, but it doesn’t have a major performance advantage over desktops like Gnome, KDE, or tilers.
The performance advantage comes from the fact that there isn't a full-fat desktop running concurrently with the game. You're booting directly into Steam.
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They thinned the os, ive just watched llt video, the appear to have debloated some of it
They thinned the os
X Doubt
Well according to information out there they did get permition to tweak Windows to make it much more sutible for gaming handhelds.
that sucks, make windows lightweight for all of us.
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This got me thinking that Valve is the best competitor to Xbox. Instead of getting to release some walled garden, single store handheld they have to open it up to other stores because otherwise people would just buy a SteamDeck.
But everyone who cares about handheld gaming already has a steam deck and this is going to be more expensive so I don't see the point anyway.
Moar power! More more more more!!!
boots up an indie roguelite
I guess they are trying to get people already paying for game pass to buy it, because you can play everything on it. But then people won't be able to cancel their subscription or they'll have a very expensive paperweight without games.
Players on either device will be able to tap into Gaming Copilot ...
...yeah
Oh dear god it is apparently serious.
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/06/08/xbox-handheld-rog-ally-x-games-showcase/
Any guesses for MSRP?
$1200 for the X variant?
$600?
Will MSFT bet the farm, take the upfront loss on the unit, and try to convince everyone this is both their next handheld and their next mainline living room console at the same time?
Nah. The ROG Ally X they already make with windows 11 and 1 TB is $800+tax. The ROG Ally that came before it was $700 and currently sells for like $400 or so.
The 2TB Rog Ally X is about $1k + tax. I honestly doubt they can get people to pay more than that for a handheld, regardless of the Z2 chip. They are having trouble selling the ones they currently make. Add to this that Lenovo just launched the steam os variant of their newest handheld and it's significantly cheaper.
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Who the fuck announces a product on a Sunday? They must not have much hope this will sell...
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Compared to Xbox OS, Windows is very free.
yea the full sentence makes more sense. "freedom of windows, power of xbox" implies it's trying to compare to previous xbox experience, not other OS.
Although still, never had a console, but I thought a gaming PC is usually more powerful than xbox though. Or I could get mad overthinking of what do they meam by power, what do they mean by freedom. This is why I often dont like marketing speak & just disregard it.
The one thing I took away from it was that the Xbox-button acts as alt tab. I WANT THE SAME FROM MY STEAM DECK IN DESKTOP MODE!
But in Desktop mode the Steam button does absolutely nothing while a game is running.
I guess you could remap them in desktop mode? I haven't tried but it should be possible.
No, you cannot change the mapping of the Steam and ... buttons. They are only available to the Steam client. You cannot remap the Steam+other button combinations either.
Funnily enough when no game is running the Steam button focuses the Steam window. But that functionality is gone as soon as a game is running. Really frustrating.
That's wierd, works well enough for me? It's called guide button chord layout.
No changes to that are saved.
And it still doesn't let you rebind the Steam or ... buttons themselves.
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Who is this for?
Everyone that is scared they can't play the most popular online games on their handheld. So theoretically a massive demographic according to research (most pc gamers play older live service titles) done but whether they would want a gaming handheld is a different question.
There's apparently a chunk of gamers who can't leave Windows because of GamePass. However, I don't know whether it's a significant portion.
I am more thinking of the Valorant, League, Call of Duty, Fortnite, etc... players. Which are a majority of pc gamers.
There are different clusters of users who don't/can't leave Windows.
- Don't want to learn another OS at all (They are content with the Windows experience)
- Gamepass users. They enjoy the Netflix model of getting free games
- Multiplayer (with anti-cheat) gamers
- Don't want to leave the Adobe suite/
- Uses programs which don't have Linux equivalent
The Linux community has to understand that some of these groups cannot be moved to Linux no matter how much you improve the Linux experience.
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34 million people are on all Xbox game pass versions. How much of that is on PC game pass, I have no idea.
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🧐
Are they about to do some kind of shitty silk song gamepass exclusive??