Microsoft officially allies with ROG for handheld PC-Xbox gaming

 After a smattering of rumours, Microsoft and ASUS officially took the wraps off the Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X portables over the weekend, with a blended approach to gamers' PC and Xbox collections. The device is the first official Xbox portable, but the brand has promoted broader cloud and remote gaming as console sales have died off. 

The two editions create a level playing field for all of the major gaming ecosystems (if you count the Portal filling in the gap until PSP2 arrives), but no word on price which makes me rather nervous, and with six months to to launch, there's lots that could change.  

A 10-minute video shows off the details and the ins-and-outs of the devices, with an interesting detail in how it was designed around the muscle memory Xbox players have of their existing controllers. The Xbox button leaps players back to the Game Bar and widgets.

The ROG Xbox Ally ships with an AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor while the Ally X has an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor for top performance. These will likely end up in other handhelds soon.The AMD Z2 Extreme features an NPU for any AI applications that vendors might want to throw at gamers.  

All of which makes me wonder how successful the current generation of Xbox would be if they'd launched a 2020-powered equivalent alongside the Xbox Series X instead of dragging along the Series S as the skinny sidekick. 

ASUS press shots provide a look at the back of the unit, with stylish air vents and rainbow-ish ROG logo. And the Armoury Crate (really??) Special Edition software.