The ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X are official and are coming this holiday season. Announced at Sunday’s Xbox Games Showcase 2025, this handheld device promises the “freedom of Windows” and the “power of Xbox,” and you’ll be able to stream titles directly from the cloud as well as download select games for offline play.
The ROG Xbox Ally looks a lot like if an Xbox controller had a baby with a Switch. With controls based on an Xbox controller (albeit positioned slightly differently for portability), it looks like it will feel natural for any long-time Xbox gamer. There are also a few addition buttons on either side of the screen, although their purpose isn’t clear yet.
It has the same Impulse Triggers as an Xbox One and Xbox Series controller, allowing for separate vibrations in both the left and right trigger buttons. At the heart of the Xbox Ally is a Ryzen processor, although specs vary between the two models.
The ROG Xbox Ally X runs on an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme and sports 24GB of RAM and 1TB of internal storage, while the ROG Xbox Ally has a slightly weaker AMD Ryzen Z2 A, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of internal storage.
Sarah Bond, President of Xbox, describes the Xbox Ally as “an Xbox you can hold in your hand.” The company seeks to create a unified experience that isn’t limited to a specific storefront or platform, continuing the “This is an Xbox” campaign.
However, what makes this device so exciting is that the Xbox Ally promises to allow players access to all PC game stores, too. That means it could potentially take the place of a Steam deck and let players load up games from Battle.Net, GOG, the Epic Games Store, and much more. The trailer even showed Discord running on the device.
To seal the deal, Xbox promises that Hollow Knight: Silksong will be available to play at launch when the Xbox Ally releases later this year.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.