steam deck

the-rog-ally-x-leaks,-with-twice-the-battery-of-the-original-and-way-more-ram

The ROG Ally X leaks, with twice the battery of the original and way more RAM

ASUS, asus rog ally, gaming, gaming handheld, handheld pc, ROG Ally, steam deck / /

Handheld gaming PCs —

This handheld has more RAM than my gaming PC, though the chip stays the same.

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Heavily altered image of a ROG Ally X, with

Enlarge / VideoCardz’ leaked image of a ROG Ally X, seemingly having gone through the JPG blender a couple times.

Asus’ ROG Ally was the first major-brand attempt to compete with Valve’s Steam Deck. It was beefy and interesting, but it had three major flaws: It ran Windows on a little touchscreen, had unremarkable ergonomics, and its battery life was painful.

The Asus ROG (Republic of Gamers) Ally X, which has been announced and is due out June 2, seems to have had its specs leaked, and they indicate a fix for at least the battery life. Gaming site VideoCardz, starting its leak reveal with “No more rumors,” cites the ROG Ally X as having the same Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU as the prior ROG Ally, as well as the same 7-inch 1080p VRR screen with a 120 Hz refresh rate.

VideoCardz' leaked image, seemingly from Asus marketing materials, with the ROG Ally X's specifications.

VideoCardz’ leaked image, seemingly from Asus marketing materials, with the ROG Ally X’s specifications.

The battery and memory have changed substantially, though. An 80-watt-hour battery, up from 40, somehow adds just 70 grams of weight and about 5 mm of thickness to the sequel device. By increasing the RAM from 16GB to 24GB and making it LPDDR5, the ROG Ally X may be able to lend more of it to the GPU, upping performance somewhat without demanding a new chip or architecture. There is also a second USB-C port, with USB4 speeds, that should help quite a bit with docking, charging while playing with accessories, and, I would guess, Linux hackery.

How does it feel? Only Sean Hollister at The Verge knows, outside of ASUS employees. The sequel has lost the weirdly sharp angles on the back, and more of your hand fits around the back, without the rear buttons being accidentally triggered so easily. The triggers and buttons all seem to have received some feedback-based upgrades to durability and feel.

If Asus sticks close to the $800 price point (that was also leaked), it could compete with the Steam Deck OLED on features and flash, if not library and polish. But as I’ve said before, perhaps somewhat defensively, bring on the flashier handheld PCs.

Expanding the viability of handheld PC gaming means more developers targeting these systems, in specs or just accessibility. More demand for new types of handhelds makes the whole field more interesting and competitive. Microsoft, which is keenly aware of this developing market and is contemplating a more cloud-based and less Xbox-centered gaming future, can only make Windows better on handhelds because the bar is pretty low right now.

All of that gives me more games to play on the couch while the rice is cooking, whether or not the device I’m holding has more and faster RAM and better USB-C ports than my gaming PC.

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GeForce Now has made Steam Deck streaming much easier than it used to be

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Easy, but we’re talking Linux easy —

Ask someone who previously did it the DIY way.

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Fallout 4 running on a Steam Deck through GeForce Now

Enlarge / Streaming Fallout 4 from GeForce Now might seem unnecessary, unless you know how running it natively has been going.

Kevin Purdy

The Steam Deck is a Linux computer. There is, technically, very little you cannot get running on it, given enough knowledge, time, and patience. That said, it’s never a bad thing when someone has done all the work for you, leaving you to focus on what matters: sneaking game time on the couch.

GeForce Now, Nvidia’s game-streaming service that uses your own PC gaming libraries, has made it easier for Steam Deck owners to get its service set up on their Deck. On the service’s Download page, there is now a section for Gaming Handheld Devices. Most of the device links provide the service’s Windows installer, since devices like the ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go run Windows. Some note that GeForce Now is already installed on devices like the Razer Edge and Logitech G Cloud.

But Steam Deck types are special. We get a Unix-style executable script, a folder with all the necessary Steam icon image assets, and a README.md file.

It has technically been possible all this time, if a Deck owner was willing to fiddle about with installing Chrome in desktop mode, tweaking a half-dozen Steam settings, and then navigating the GeForce Now site with a trackpad. GeForce Now’s script, once you download it from a browser in the Deck’s desktop mode, does a few things:

  • Installs the Google Chrome browser through the Deck’s built-in Flatpak support
  • Adjusts Chrome’s settings to allow for gamepad support in the browser
  • Sets up GeForce Now in Steam with proper command line options and icons for every window.

That last bit about the icons may seem small, but it’s a pain in the butt to find properly sized images for the many different kinds of images Steam can show for a game in your library when selected, having recently played, and so on. As for the script itself, it worked fine, even with me having previously installed Chrome and created a different Steam shortcut. I got a notice on first launch that Chrome couldn’t update, so I was missing out on all its “new features,” but that could likely be unrelated.

I was almost disappointed that GeForce Now's script just quietly worked and then asked me to head back into Gaming Mode. Too easy!

I was almost disappointed that GeForce Now’s script just quietly worked and then asked me to head back into Gaming Mode. Too easy!

Kevin Purdy

GeForce Now isn’t for everyone, and certainly not for every Steam Deck owner. Because the standard Steam Deck LCD screen only goes to 800p and 60 Hz, paying for a rig running in a remote data center to power your high-resolution, impressive-looking game doesn’t always make sense. With the advent of the Steam Deck OLED, however, the games look a lot brighter and more colorful and run up to 90 Hz. You also get a lot more battery life from streaming than you do from local hardware, which is still pretty much the same as it was with the LCD model.

GeForce Now also offers a free membership option and $4 “day passes” to test if your Wi-Fi (or docked Ethernet) connection would make a $10/month Priority or $20/month Ultimate membership worthwhile (both with cheaper pre-paid prices). The service has in recent months been adding games from Game Pass subscriptions and Microsoft Store purchases, Blizzard (i.e., Battle.net), and a lot of same-day Steam launch titles.

If you’re already intrigued by GeForce Now for your other screens and were wondering if it could fly on a Steam Deck, now it does, and it’s only about 10 percent as painful. Whether that’s more or less painful than buying your own GPU and running your own Deck streaming is another matter.

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playtron’s-wildly-ambitious-gaming-os-aims-to-unite-stores,-lure-“core-casuals”

Playtron’s wildly ambitious gaming OS aims to unite stores, lure “core casuals”

AOSP, asus rog ally, Cyanogen, cyanogen inc., CyanogenMod, gaming, Handheld Gaming, handheld gaming pc, Linux, Portable gaming, steam deck / /

Core Casual Corps —

Headed by former Cyanogen CEO, it’s a Linux OS that might not be fully open.

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Mock-up of a potential Playtron device

Enlarge / This isn’t what the first PlaytronOS-powered device will look like. That could be your Steam Deck, a 5G device from your cell carrier, or maybe your car.

Playtron

The Steam Deck’s OS is purpose-built for handheld gaming, but it’s confined to one device, unless you’re willing to head out to the bleeding edge. Beyond SteamOS, there is Windows, which can let down ambitious Deck-likes, there is the Nintendo Switch, and there are Android-based devices that are a lot like Android phones. This setup has got at least one company saying, in infomercial tones, that there has got to be a better way.

That company is Playtron, a new software startup that aims to fix that setup with a Linux-based gaming OS that’s tied to no particular game store or platform. Playtron has $10 million, coders from open source projects like ChimeraOS and Heroic Games Launcher, and the former CEO of Cyanogen. With that, it aims to have “Playtron-native devices shipping worldwide in 2025,” and to capture the 1 billion “core casual” gamers they see as under-served.

Demo of Playtron running on a Lenovo Legion Go, uploaded by Playtron CEO Kirk McMaster.

What devices will Playtron use to serve them? Some of them might be Steam Decks, as you will “soon be able to install Playtron on your favorite handheld PC,” according to Playtron’s ambitious, somewhat scattershot single-page website. Some might be “Playtron-powered 5G devices coming soon to markets around the world.” Really, though, Playtron aims to provide a gaming platform to any device with a CPU and a screen, be it desktop or mobile, ARM or x86, TV or car.

  • I have looked at this Venn diagram for long stretches and have still not figured out if the target is someone who is deeply into gaming or turned off by having to choose a platform or both or neither.

    Playtron

  • Additional mock-ups of hypothetical Playtron devices from Playtron’s website or possibly just Playtron logos on existing devices.

    Playtron

Sean Hollister at The Verge spoke with Playtron CEO Kirk McMaster. He has also viewed internal planning documents and tried out an alpha of the OS. McMaster told Hollister that handheld-maker Ayaneo plans to ship a Playtron device in 2024, while “numerous OEMs and mobile operators” are looking at 2025. Playtron aims to compete with Windows on price ($10 instead of what McMaster cites as $80 per head), and against Steam with a non-Steam platform that, McMaster claims, will still prevent cheating with a Fedora-Silverblue-based immutable file system. There are also some mentions of AI tools for helping casual gamers or determining launch configurations for games. Also, there are crypto-focused investors and a mention of offering crypto-based game purchases, though Playtron may also not have a store at all.

Another notable thing Playtron has is McMaster, the former head of Cyanogen Inc. That project launched in 2013 with $7 million in venture funding and an ambition to turn the free and open source-minded Android ROM community, CyanogenMod, into a for-profit OS and apps vendor. Google reportedly tried to buy Cyanogen Inc. at some point in 2014 but was turned away, as the company saw itself as growing. By the end of 2016, Cyanogen Inc. was shut down, and the Android ROM community reorganized around LineageOS. Ars’ 2016 “Deathwatch” cited McMaster’s “delusions of grandeur,” noting his claimed desire to “put a bullet in Google’s head” while maintaining an OS that was almost entirely dependent on Google’s open source Android code.

McMaster told The Verge’s Hollister that, from his time at Cyanogen Inc., he “learned that you shouldn’t try to commercialize an open-source project with a significant history because it can lead to culture wars.” There are strong hints that Playtron will not be entirely open source, though it will encourage the Linux coders it has hired to continue contributing to projects like ChimeraOS.

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Valve is “still working on VR and still pushing forward on it”

PC VR News & Reviews, steam deck, steam deckard, steam standalone vr, steam vr, SteamVR, valve vr, valve vr headset, XR Industry News / /

Valve unveiled its Steam Deck OLED late last week, offering up a hardware refresh for the first time since the company launched the handheld gaming device last year. While the company has been full steam ahead on handhelds and developing Steam OS, Valve says it’s “still pushing forward” on VR.

Valve ostensibly has a standalone VR headset in the works, and although there wasn’t any big announcement (or acknowledgement) of what the company has in store just yet. Talking to Norman Chan of Tested though, it was revealed the company is still working on VR.

In an interview, Valve designer Lawrence Yang spoke about the overlap between Steam Deck’s design relative to its VR efforts:

“There’s a lot of things [informing hardware decisions]. Working with an APU, working with miniaturization of computers. We don’t have anything to announce today in terms of a VR other than we are still working on VR, and we’re still pushing forward on it. Just like Steam Deck is learning a bunch of stuff from controllers and VR, future products will continue to learn from everything we’ve done with Steam Deck.”

“Obviously there’s a lot of overlap, from technology pieces that we can use; wireless streaming is very applicable to VR. That benefitted Steam Deck as well in improving the wireless experience. But also from just establishing relationships with part suppliers, hardware partners, and that kind of stuff. The SteamVR team and the Steam Deck team work together. There’s a lot of inoculation of ideas, parts and technologies.”

At Steam Deck’s initial launch in February 2022, Valve chief Gabe Newell told Edge Magazine that Steam Deck represented a “steppingstone” to portable VR for the company thanks to its battery-capable, high-performance horsepower.

More recently, the company released its long-awaited SteamVR 2.0 which drastically upgraded the platform’s VR interface. Whether this is in preparation for an upcoming VR standalone headset remains to be seen; it’s certainly a knock-on effect of improvements made specifically for Steam Deck’s UI.

You can check out the full breakdown of Steam Deck OLED in the Tested video below:

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