At the Xbox Games Showcase Sarah Bond took to stage to announce the new gaming handheld being developed in partnership with ASUS.

The Xbox ROG Ally comes in two variants, which Xbox has described as:

ROG Xbox Ally:

The essential handheld at a great value for everyone from the casual player to the avid enthusiast.

ROG Xbox Ally X:

The ultimate high-performance handheld, built for the most demanding players.

The base model comes in white with the X variant coming in black, this aligns with the first gen ROG Ally.

This device has monumental significance for a number of reasons but one of the most important parts is the modified version of Windows that will presumably become available to all handheld gaming PCs.  The Xbox Full Screen experience is what you boot into and from what we know so far, seems to operate a lot like SteamOS but is full fat Windows 11 underneath.

[The] Xbox full screen experience [is] a new feature optimized specifically for handheld gaming. With new modifications that minimize background activity and defer non-essential tasks, more system resources are dedicated specifically to gameplay. That means more memory, higher framerates, and a fully immersive experience for players—all made possible by the versatility and freedom of Windows.

Xbox has made it clear the device will run games from storefronts such as Steam, GOG and Ubisoft Connect and appear in a unified game library, as well as games from the Xbox PC storefront.

Xbox also highlighted that every game at the showcase will run on these handheld PC’s & every game shown supports Xbox Play Anywhere so games purchased via the Xbox Store can be played on any Xbox device be it console or PC. Xbox is putting massive amounts of effort in to make this portable run like a native Xbox, and it’s exactly what Windows has needed.

As for the meat and bones of the devices, nothing seems to be left on the table.

The ROG Xbox Ally unique specs:

• AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor
• 16 GB RAM (LPDDR5X-6400)
• 512 GB SSD (M.2 upgradable)
• 60 WH battery
• 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C with DisplayPort 2.1 / Power Delivery 3.0

The ROG Xbox Ally X unique specs:

• AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor
• 24 GB RAM (LPDDR5X-8000)
• 1 TB SSD (M.2 upgradable)
• Impulse triggers (like found in Xbox controllers)
• 80 WH battery
• 1x USB4 Type-C with DisplayPort 2.1 / Power Delivery 3.0, Thunderbolt™ 4 compatible
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C with DisplayPort 2.1 / Power Delivery 3.0

Shared specs:

• 7” FHD (1080p) IPS, 500 nits, 16:9
  120Hz refresh rate
  FreeSync Premium
  Corning Gorilla Glass Victus + DXC Anti-Reflection
• HD haptics / 6-Axis IMU
• Windows 11 Home
• 1x UHS-II microSD card reader
• 1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
• Wi-Fi 6E (2 x 2) + Bluetooth 5.4
• ROG Xbox Ally X 65W charger Stand

And, to be sure it’s clear how things will run on these handheld gaming PCs, Xbox is working on a compatability program to highlight the status of a game:

We are working closely with our game developer partners on a
brand-new program
designed to help players easily identify which games have been optimized for handhelds, including the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X. We will share more details soon.

Preorder, pricing and accessory information is coming soon.

At launch this holiday, the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X will be available in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with availability to follow for other markets where ROG Ally series products are sold today.

It appears that the true unification of PC and Xbox is here, and Microsoft might just make it work.