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Ryuu96 on 11 May 2023

Asus ROG Ally review: an imperfect Steam Deck rival | PCGamesN

Pros

  • Phenomenal portable performance
  • Comfortable to hold
  • Full PC compatibility

Cons

  • Windows 11 quirks
  • Relatively pricey

Seems like the general consensus is the Hardware is great but the OS is shit. Typical of the Windows team to be the let-down

If you can suffer through Windows, it seems like it is a great handheld device for the videogames.



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Ryuu96 on 11 May 2023
Machiavellian said:
Ryuu96 said:

IGN Rated it 8/10: Asus ROG Ally Review - IGN

The Verge: Asus ROG Ally Review: Close But No Steam Deck - The Verge

Haven't read The Verge but they seem to take a large issue with Windows based on the title.

Both seem to mention poor UI/UX (Windows) and poor Battery Life.

But Quiet + Fast Performance + Fast Charging.

MS needs to come out with that mobile OS to fix the UI and batter life.  Running full windows is probably a big waste on this device especially how windows handle memory and resources.  Its not really designed for a device like this.

These dudes can't even fix the Windows Store so I'm not expecting much.

Windows Team is once again kneecapping Xbox's Gaming ambitions.



Ryuu96 on 11 May 2023

Asus ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: which to buy - Polygon

You should buy the Asus ROG Ally if: you want the absolute best — on paper

You should buy the Asus ROG Ally if: you have a huge collection of PC games outside of Steam

You should buy the Asus ROG Ally if: you want something a little more portable, or you just like the gamercore aesthetic

You should buy the Asus ROG Ally if: you want the entirety of tinkering freedom that comes with Windows

You should buy the Steam Deck if: you want a console-like experience

You should buy the Steam Deck if: you immediately want a helpful community

You should buy the Steam Deck if: comfortable ergonomics are a premium

You should buy the Steam Deck if: price matters



G2ThaUNiT on 11 May 2023

Valve looking mighty smart right now to have made a proper mobile UI/UX over SteamOS lol



You called down the thunder, now reap the whirlwind

Imaginedvl on 11 May 2023
Ryuu96 said:

Asus ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: which to buy - Polygon

You should buy the Asus ROG Ally if: you want the absolute best — on paper

You should buy the Asus ROG Ally if: you have a huge collection of PC games outside of Steam

You should buy the Asus ROG Ally if: you want something a little more portable, or you just like the gamercore aesthetic

You should buy the Asus ROG Ally if: you want the entirety of tinkering freedom that comes with Windows

You should buy the Steam Deck if: you want a console-like experience

You should buy the Steam Deck if: you immediately want a helpful community

You should buy the Steam Deck if: comfortable ergonomics are a premium

You should buy the Steam Deck if: price matters

I will give my deck to my boy and buy this baby for myself (Ally) I absolutly want the best :)



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EpicRandy on 11 May 2023
Ryuu96 said:

Pretty much what Randy said, a lot better than I can put it.

I think this is a bad angle to argue on, I'm about 99% sure that CAT won't give a damn about CMA trying to impose Worldwide remedies because it's perfectly legal. CAT only determines; Rationality, Legality or Procedure Breaking. What CMA demands is legal and likely considered rational too. Companies do all the time use Worldwide remedies based on demands of local regulators so I can't see how it would be deemed irrational.

Rationality is "so irrational that no rational person would come to the same conclusion"

Microsoft's best shot is trying to get CAT to deem Cloud Gaming as not a market on its own, thus that would throw out CMA's whole SLC.

If they deem Cloud Gaming as not a market then you can argue that CMA's decision was irrational, I suppose.

@bold, I think this path is close, the EU has found similar concerns over the same market de facto giving CMA credence to also define this as its own market.

I think MS's argument will be more in line with:

  • The evaluation the CMA did of the current significance of the size of Xcloud is irrational.
  • The evaluation of the CMA having defined Xcloud as a major selling point of GPU is irrational. 
  • The CMA did not sufficiently acquire information in regard to Xcloud usage which they could easily have requested and obtained therefore amounting to a breach of procedure.
  • Given the fact that CMA could have easily obtained more precise information from MS, using a speculative one is irrational.
  • The CMA did not give proper feedback to MS on their remedies proposal.
  • The CMA did not properly convey the seriousness of the Cloud SLC after dropping the Console SLC.
  • The CMA mention that remedies that would be hard to track is irrational.
  • The CMA mentions that MS could substantially raise the game pass subscription fee negating consumer benefits is irrational given our goal.
  • The CMA did not properly define the possibility of a rise in GamePass fee as a concern prior to their final conclusion amounting to a breach of procedure.
  • The CMA only weighs in the benefits of Game Pass vs the cons of the Cloud SLC is irrational as they should have also included the benefits to the much bigger console markets along with the subscription service one.
  • Giving the CMA found benefits to much bigger and more impactful markets (Consoles), refusing to consider behavioral remedies for a substantially lesser market goes against their own mandate for consumers of the UK and so is irrational.
  • etc...

They'll make as many such arguments as possible and every win will grant them specifics instruction from the CAT to the CMA. making it quite difficult for them to reach the same conclusion.

Also, I'm yet to find any independent expert claiming the CMA decision is sane or logical which should make it easier to portray irrationality in this case.

Last edited by EpicRandy - on 11 May 2023

EpicRandy on 11 May 2023
Machiavellian said:
EpicRandy said:

They can't block the deals outside of their own border but they can shut MS down from doing business within their border and they can put whatever condition with worldwide implications they want on MS to do business in the UK. The CMA's global stance is not that they want to act as a regulator for all countries but they want the remedies for their findings to not simply be addressed by specific carve out for the UK market.

However, if the condition required by the CMA is judged non-standing within the UK it'll for sure be quashed in appeal. Though In this case, the CMA can argue that even if MS were to leave the cloud gaming market in the UK specifically, their capacities will allow them to still cause an SLC for that market within the UK border.

I know that the UK can block the deal, I am saying that how can they block the deal because of something that does not exist in their boarder.  That would setup a war of attrition where each country can basically do the same and thus when a large UK company wants to purchase a company, in retaliation another country can impose world wide conditions to block the deal.  Also, I would believe that the CMA would need to prove that if cloud services outside of UK boarders has a effect on their own market with this particular deal.  Its one thing to make claims, its another to provide concrete proof which I would expect to be the bar if it goes to CAT.  Like I stated, I have no real clue how UK courts work but if that is not the bar than yeah, the CMA has way to much power and the domino effect may not be what they are looking for.

The second step that MS can do is just comply with all the conditions the CMA stated was lacking in their agreements.  The other thing I wonder but not sure is could MS just leave the console business in the UK.  I know the UK is a sizeable chunk of MS console business but it would be interesting if MS value this deal more than the UK market.  Not sure if that works but MS has expand to more regions then they have before and thus could see making up the difference.

Well yeah, it's a bit of a grey zone I think, like I said the CMA may argue the market is still impacted, but that doesn't mean they will or that this argument would not be greatly diminished as a result. MS can try and maybe they will succeed there, but I think that in this scenario the CMA will impose sanctions and fines on MS, and the burden to prove this remedy sufficiently addresses the CMA conclusion would be on MS's shoulders again. Also, MS would run the risk of being forced to divest Activision as a result which would shut down the possibility of simply leaving the cloud market worldwide to close the deals.

Leaving the UK for their console business as a whole is overkill and also would not address CMA cloud SLC anymore than carving out Xcloud out of the UK so it's a no-go.

Compared to this, and as highlighted in another post of mine, simply leaving the cloud market worldwide would definitely solve CMA concerns and they'd be 100% free to close the deals. Then they could re-enter the market in 4-5 years saying CMA then concerns don't apply anymore. I think it's only in this scenario that the uphill battle will be on CMA's side would they still want to fight MS.



G2ThaUNiT on 11 May 2023

Wow, warranted an Xbox Wire post



You called down the thunder, now reap the whirlwind

Zippy6 on 11 May 2023

I use windows on my steam deck so the OS doesn't bother me. Price to spec wise this destroys the two higher tier steam decks. Hard to justify paying $649 for a 512gb Steam Deck when you can get far more power for $50 more.



Machiavellian on 11 May 2023
Ryuu96 said:
Machiavellian said:

MS needs to come out with that mobile OS to fix the UI and batter life.  Running full windows is probably a big waste on this device especially how windows handle memory and resources.  Its not really designed for a device like this.

These dudes can't even fix the Windows Store so I'm not expecting much.

Windows Team is once again kneecapping Xbox's Gaming ambitions.

It would not be the same team. All developer teams are not made equal.  Hell in the company I work for there is probably more than 100 different development teams and we are no where near the size of MS who probably have 1000 development teams.  The OS part is definitely probably multiple different teams and I am sure MS can pump out a UI which would be useful in a mobile handheld device if they actually put development effort into it.  Basically all they need to do is a Xbox skin on top of Windows.  A fix hardware device like this really do not need full blown windows controls.  The thing is, outside of that demo a developer form MS did for a mobile handheld UI, I doubt the company has actually committed anything to the design so far.  Maybe Asus should have come to MS with that proposal before shipping this product.