It had been rumoured for so long, that Xbox was working behind the scenes on a handheld console, and yesterday, during their summer showcase, it was finally unveiled.
It might not be an Xbox console from the ground up, as Microsoft has partnered with ASUS and their ROG Ally handheld PCs, however, the hardware is looking pretty special.
The folks over at Game Informer got their hands on the console and reported that the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, as the hardware is called, will be able to access your Steam library, launching games directly from the interface.
This means that the Xbox games dashboard has become a hub for all the storefronts you use to buy PC games, not just including Steam, but also GOG, Windows Store, and Epic Games Store.
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The library can be accessed at any time by pressing a dedicated Xbox button on the unit, which displays your entire library.
Each game will feature artwork, with only a small note below to display which storefront the game belongs to.
Players will also be able to stream games directly from the cloud, or use remote play to access other hardware in their homes - which has us wondering if you’ll still be able to use this ROG Ally to remote play PlayStation games, too.
Roanne Sones, head of Xbox devices, noted, “Our new aggregated library lets you quickly access all of your games. Because this is Windows, you can launch and play, natively, both your games from Xbox and other leading PC storefronts.”
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With this feature, it should bring down the clutter that faces many PC players who spread out their purchases over many different places, which can lead to forgetting what games you own and where.
All we need to know now is the price of the system, which is likely to be higher than the home consoles.