Grand Conde
Superstar
Pay 1k to beta test x-box's newest bullshyt breh.
www.polygon.com
As a harbinger of Microsoft's wider gaming strategy, the Xbox Ally is thrilling in theory, deeply frustrating in practice. The promise of seamless, borderless access to all your games and all your progress across multiple platforms in a single place is enthralling — even half-realized like this. It is arguably just what this fragmented industry needs. But the practical result is compromised, confusing, annoying to use, and prohibitively priced. The Xbox Ally X is emblematic of everything Microsoft's gaming initiative has become, from its corporate acquisition strategy to the increasingly unaffordable boondoggle that is Xbox Game Pass: an incredibly costly attempt to hedge every bet and be all things to all people that is nominally successful in its goals, but that has, along the way, defeated its own purpose.
This is not an Xbox
The Verge doesn't review gadgets on potential. We review what we can see and touch, and the devices we've touched aren't ready, shipping with software that's being finalized at the very last minute, which doesn't remotely live up to the lofty expectations that Microsoft set.
And unlike the original $399-and-up Steam Deck, this beta will cost you a serious chunk of change. At $599 and $999 respectively, the white Xbox Ally and black Xbox Ally X are the priciest "Xboxes" ever made. Yes, everything is more expensive these days, and it's hard to even find the MSI Claw 8 that I'd otherwise recommend over the Xbox Ally X. But I'd personally wait until the dust has settled here — unless you're willing to pay $1,000 to beta test what could be Microsoft's vision for the future of consoles.
If the Xbox Ally is the future of Xbox, Microsoft is in trouble
The new handheld makes a compelling case for Microsoft’s platform-agnostic vision, but Windows still sucks for gaming
www.polygon.com
As a harbinger of Microsoft's wider gaming strategy, the Xbox Ally is thrilling in theory, deeply frustrating in practice. The promise of seamless, borderless access to all your games and all your progress across multiple platforms in a single place is enthralling — even half-realized like this. It is arguably just what this fragmented industry needs. But the practical result is compromised, confusing, annoying to use, and prohibitively priced. The Xbox Ally X is emblematic of everything Microsoft's gaming initiative has become, from its corporate acquisition strategy to the increasingly unaffordable boondoggle that is Xbox Game Pass: an incredibly costly attempt to hedge every bet and be all things to all people that is nominally successful in its goals, but that has, along the way, defeated its own purpose.
This is not an Xbox
The Verge doesn't review gadgets on potential. We review what we can see and touch, and the devices we've touched aren't ready, shipping with software that's being finalized at the very last minute, which doesn't remotely live up to the lofty expectations that Microsoft set.
And unlike the original $399-and-up Steam Deck, this beta will cost you a serious chunk of change. At $599 and $999 respectively, the white Xbox Ally and black Xbox Ally X are the priciest "Xboxes" ever made. Yes, everything is more expensive these days, and it's hard to even find the MSI Claw 8 that I'd otherwise recommend over the Xbox Ally X. But I'd personally wait until the dust has settled here — unless you're willing to pay $1,000 to beta test what could be Microsoft's vision for the future of consoles.
There’s way more positive reviews than negative
