Technologies

The Xbox Ally’s Biggest Specs Upgrade Could Just Be Better Windows 11 for Handhelds

The hardware is willing, but the software is weak.

The same thing that makes Windows gaming handhelds desirable also holds them back.

It’s never been the hardware. The designs aren’t perfect in a lot of the devices — even the best of the lot, the Asus ROG Ally and ROG Ally X, which are the basis of the forthcoming ROG Xbox Ally — but they’re generally playable.

The culprit has always been Windows. It simply isn’t an operating system designed for a dedicated gaming handheld, and that needs to change.

Of course, we’d all love the Xbox Ally to be cheap, somewhere in the range of the Nintendo Switch 2‘s $450. But while we don’t yet know the real pricing, $600-plus seems more likely given the specs. With the exception of the processor, which is designed with handhelds in mind, the specs are the same as what you may find in a full Windows laptop.

Specifications

	ROG Xbox Ally	ROG Xbox Ally X
Operating system	Windows 11 Home	Windows 11 Home
Processor	AMD Ryzen Z2A	AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme
Memory	16GB LPDDR5X-6400	24GB LPDDR5X-8000
Storage	512GB M.2 2280 SSD for easier upgrade	1TB M.2 2280 SSD
Display	7 in. FHD (1080p) IPS, 500 nits, 16:9; 120Hz FreeSync Premium	7 in. FHD (1080p) IPS, 500 nits, 16:9; 120Hz FreeSync Premium
I/O Ports	2x USB-C (2 x DP 2.1, PD 3.0), 1 x microSD, 1 x analog audio	2x USB-C (1 x USB4, 1 x USB 3.2 both w/ DP 2.1, PD 3.0), 1 x microSD, 1 x analog audio
Network and communication	Wi-Fi 6E (2 x 2) + Bluetooth 5.4	Wi-Fi 6E (2 x 2) + Bluetooth 5.4
Dimensions	29.1×12.2×5.1 cm	29.1×12.2×5.1 cm
Weight	670g	715g
Battery	60Wh	80Wh

I can’t vouch for the lower-end model of the Ally — I’ve only tested the higher-end one — but on the last-gen hardware, many games run well, at least at 1080p, and people have been known to output as high as 4K with an optional docking station.

But Windows has a lot more to overcome.

Windows annoyances, writ small

There are a lot of chunks of the operating system that serve as a useful base — many of which it shares with the Xbox — and which make it possible to run games from any game store on Windows, one of the big reasons we want the handheld. Those parts also make connections to peripherals and communications possible, as well as supply an architecture for incorporating AI (where it makes sense) for games.

But layered atop that scaffolding are the millions of lines of code (if not more) necessary for an OS that tries to be all things to all people, along with an interface intended to serve a multiplicity of uses. It can make just getting to play a game a misery. Microsoft has the opportunity — really the necessity — to strip Windows down to its gaming essentials in order to make the Xbox Ally the gaming handheld people want to love.

Things need to change for gaming handhelds, and many of those things would make Windows an operating system we could hate a little less.

Windows Update: Frequent updates have become a fact of life, and gaming devices are no exception. And if an update brings gaming-related bug fixes or feature enhancements, that’s fine. But when I’m ready to game and have to sit through 10 minutes (or more) of updates for parts of the OS that have nothing to do with gaming, I get pissed. You can postpone for a while, but at a certain point, it gets angry and things begin to stop working. Then there are times when updates insist on happening even though you’ve postponed it. As I write this, I’ve gotten a pop-up notification on the Ally X that it needs to restart, and the update is estimated to take 30 minutes. «NO. THANK. YOU.»
Windows sign-on: By default, Windows 11 forces you to sign in to a Microsoft account; that’s an annoying but common practice on a lot of devices, including consoles. But it should be much easier to do on a handheld, such as with a barcode scanned by a phone, the way you can log in to Steam, as well as an easy way to tell it to bypass authentication if you don’t need it. The on-screen keyboard isn’t bad, and a PIN code can be short, but it’s still a pain and not accessibility friendly. Face ID doesn’t work for these, and adding an IR camera on the long edge for Windows Hello would elevate what’s already a high price. I could go on, but I’ll spare you the rant I reexperience for every system I test.
Windows desktop: On a gaming-only device, you should never, ever have to see the Windows desktop unless you choose to, the same way you can use a Steam Deck (or SteamOS handheld like the Lenovo Legion Go S) without ever having to know the Linux desktop even exists. Every one of these I’ve used has, at best, an app to consolidate the game launchers and some other game-related perks. But they’re rarely persistent enough, and you always end up in the standard Windows interface at some point. Imagine you’ve only used Macs and are confronted by this experience. Yuck. The interface for a handheld like the Xbox Ally has to be more than skin deep — a lot more.
Crapware: I have a fairly broad definition of crapware: Anything installed that I didn’t ask for and that’s not essential to a device’s operation. Seriously, Microsoft — the standard trial versions of Microsoft Office, Teams, LinkedIn, and more are an even bigger waste of space on a gaming handheld than on a laptop. Games are huge, storage tends to be too small for cost reasons, and every byte of storage should be dedicated to things required to play them.
Controller navigation throughout: On a screen so small, touch alone doesn’t cut it for an operating system and applications designed for use with a mouse, and it can throw you out of the gaming experience.
HDR: You shouldn’t have to remember to go to the display settings and turn HDR on; it should be able to autodetect it when you turn it on within a game. You generally can’t leave HDR enabled on screens this dim — usually only as high as 500 nits — without messing up the display of the non-HDR elements. But as far as I can tell, the only Windows handheld with HDR is the OLED Zotac Zone.

And those are just the things that stand out in my memory. There are a lot of places that could use some interface streamlining as well, like Wi-Fi (have you ever tried to find your own network listed when you live in an apartment building with at least 50 different SSIDs within range?).

And most of these would significantly improve the experience for PC Windows users as well.

Technologies

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Endless Gaming Crossovers

In navigating my own love-hate relationship with this phenomenon, I talked to some of the devs behind them to get a better sense of how these crossovers work and why companies pursue them.

When my friends want to play Magic: The Gathering, I wade through my two-dozen or so decks built for Commander — the card game’s casual, multiplayer format. I might choose the deck built around Elenda, the Dusk Rose, a vampire saint who can create legions of vampires. Maybe I’ll take my Narset, Enlightened master deck, which lets me cast powerful spells for free when she attacks. Both Elenda and Narset are original characters from Magic: The Gathering.

Or maybe I’ll grab my Lightning, Army of One deck, constructed around the Final Fantasy 13 character, so I can attack people for absurdly high amounts of damage. Maybe my Godzilla deck will engage in glorious combat against my friends’ decks led by characters from Dracula or Warhammer 40K. Would Eowyn from Lord of the Rings be a better match-up against the forces of the Imperium?

It’s a double-edged sword, this impulse toward crossovers. And it’s happening in games far beyond Magic: The Gathering.

Overwatch featured skins from Persona 5 in September, Halo armor and weapons showed up in Helldivers 2, and edgy looter shooter Borderlands 4 is showing up in… golf game PGA Tour 2K25. The crossover crown lies eternally with Fortnite, thanks to its never-ending influx of skins from games, movies, comics and real-life celebrities — leading players using the Sabrina Carpenter skin to stop shooting each other and, say, hold impromptu concerts instead.

When the elements fit each other are handled with care, it’s a fun way for fans to engage with multiple interests simultaneously. But when it feels carelessly thrown-together or when the elements don’t mesh, it can feel like a cash grab that hollows out the original property. And what works for one player might feel egregious or immersion-breaking to another.

«Am I the problem?» I ask myself, as I work on a fourth Magic deck built around a Final Fantasy character, after spending hundreds of dollars on cards and accessories from the set.

I do realize that the money I spent on the release event and weekly drafts screamed to Hasbro, «It’s working!» At the same time, playing with cards from that Final Fantasy set was also the most fun I’ve had with Magic in several years.

Corporations betting big on brand crossovers feels like the unavoidable consequence of a world in which players look more and more for customization and ways to show off their personalities and interests, which dovetails with companies looking for lucrative ways to attract new players and increase revenue in ongoing games. Is other media filtering into popular games about the joy of including familiar faces, or does it turn characters into digital bumper stickers, starved of their identity from their original context?

The answer, like it or not, is both.

Money is a big part of the motivation, but expanding reach and offering customization also factor in

Blending different properties together generally requires an intense collaboration between the property owners and the game inviting the crossover. So what makes these gaming collaborations worth it for those parties?

There’s a financial incentive, to be certain, as Hasbro has made astonishingly clear. In its second-quarter 2025 earnings call, CEO Chris Cox noted that Magic: The Gathering’s Final Fantasy set made $200 million in revenue in one day, while it took the Lord of the Rings set six months to hit that milestone. To put those two collaborations in the context of original Magic: The Gathering sets, the bestselling Magic set before Lord of the Rings was Modern Horizons, which made $200 million over two years.

Admittedly, $200 million in 24 hours is performance that Magic: The Gathering will likely struggle to replicate, even with the overabundance of outside properties coming next year: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Hobbit, Star Trek and Marvel. Still, Cox said the company feels good about the collaborations set to launch next year in terms of pleasing players and bringing in revenue. And Final Fantasy ultimately points to the financial power of a good gaming crossover, one where the properties are handled thoughtfully and intentionally (even if some of that intention is making the collaboration more collectible).

To better understand how and why these crossovers happen, I talked with some of the people powering these gaming collaborations.

There were «a lot of clues» both internally and externally that Magic could support these kinds of crossovers in the game, said Aaron Forsythe, Magic: The Gathering’s vice president of research and development.

Sets like Lord of the Rings and Final Fantasy can also help funnel new players into a game that has been around since 1993.

«With Final Fantasy, we have seen a marked increase in play participation, especially among players who haven’t previously participated in our Organized Play programs,» said Rebecca Shepard, the vice president of franchise for Magic: The Gathering. That participation also extends after the launch of sets based on the other properties, which Magic brands Universes Beyond.

She noted that Universes Beyond releases also lead to increased interest in older products, demonstrating the crossovers’ ability to drive interest in the game’s original creations.

Magic’s designers have spent decades creating multiple in-game worlds or «planes» with their own lore, characters and mechanics. To a certain degree, crossovers are baked into its premise.

But what about something with a considerably smaller scope, like the hero shooter Overwatch 2? The team-based game is set in nearish future Earth, where other Blizzard games like Diablo and Starcraft are minimal parts of the world as references and outfits. But aside from a small Lego crossover, other external properties were mostly only winked at… until the game introduced skins from the popular manga and anime One-Punch Man back in 2023.

The game’s collaborations started out as infrequent events, but now show up roughly every season.

The Overwatch team was nervous for its first collaboration and took a cautious approach, said Aimee Dennett, Overwatch’s associate director of product management. Devs wanted to ensure that heroes were still recognizably Overwatch characters while also maintaining the integrity of the game’s lore. The solution was described as «our characters are cosplaying,» meaning that the Overwatch heroes maintain the iconic parts of their visual identity, while incorporating elements that are recognizable as the characters from the crossover properties.

There are also internal motivations for these opportunities.

«We’ve found that it has such a positive effect on the team,» said Overwatch’s Art Director, Dion Rogers. People who work on the game are also fans of these properties, and the opportunity to design those crossovers can be a creative spark for the developers.

Fortnite didn’t start the party, but it did invite basically everyone

Fortnite is the de facto example of crossovers in gaming. It represents an astonishing evolution of a concept that kicked off decades ago.

Video game publishers were firmly protective of their properties to keep their games unique, but gaming website Giant Bomb asserts that crossovers started in earnest with 1992’s Battle Soccer, where Godzilla could take the pitch against giant mech Gundams and superheroes from Japanese TV. A few years later, Marvel’s X-Men faced off against Street Fighter characters in a move that would eventually spawn the Marvel vs. Capcom series of fighting games.

Crossovers ramped up in the 2000s with Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake as the first two characters not owned by Nintendo to show up in Smash Bros. Brawl, a few years before horror movie villain Freddy Krueger first appeared in a Mortal Kombat game. Thematically, these all make some sense — but Fortnite took crossovers to another level.

The crossovers started with the Infinity Gauntlet limited-time mode, where players could transform into Thanos, the villain of the 2019 film Avengers: Infinity War. It was quickly followed by the first Marvel-themed skins for Black Widow and Star-Lord that any player could wear. That kicked off a wave of Fortnite crossovers that would grow beyond Marvel to also include DC Comics, Star Wars, celebrities and various other games.

More have followed in Fortnite’s wake. The jump to include characters from other media besides video games has proven popular, with games like Mortal Kombat bringing in the villainous superhuman Homelander from The Boys, and the asymmetrical PVP horror game Dead by Daylight leaning heavily into killers and survivors from various games and movies — and also Nicolas Cage as himself, delivering some truly amazing voice lines.

Still, when it comes to bringing in everything from everywhere, nothing tops Fortnite, where crossover events feel less like guest stars and more like the first stop for major franchise promotion. And the cumulative results are, for lack of a better word, bonkers. Now a squad of Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga and Sabrina Carpenter can face off against a squad made up of Darth Vader, the Joker, Thanos and Mortal Kombat’s Sub-Zero… and then perform *NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye dance on the villains’ corpses.

Epic Games, the makers of Fortnite, declined to comment for this story.

Convenience and customization… at a cost

While crossovers with other properties help bring revenue and new players into games, they also risk alienating players whose primary interest is in their games’ original concepts and who may feel the crossovers move the game away from its identity.

«We listen and learn more than folks realize but at the same time, our goal of making Magic for everyone — because it is — can also frustrate our existing players,» said Shepard in response to a question about the feedback to Universes Beyond and the seemingly polarized responses online.

You can see that frustration in videos from prominent Magic creators, with titles like «The Problems With Universes Beyond — Even if You’re NOT a Hater» and «Half of Magic: The Gathering Will Not Be Magic: The Gathering.» The discussions in those videos touch on multiple elements, but center around the proportion of and execution of Universes Beyond sets and how those sets do or don’t gel with the rest of the game.

That tension exists with most gaming crossovers. I wasn’t initially a fan of Overwatch’s move into collaborations. For me, the image of Doomfist in a yellow suit and flowing cape cheapened a character who’s supposed to be a surly big bad in the Overwatch universe. To me, it felt tonally mismatched with his identity, and I feared Overwatch feeling less like Overwatch as a result.

But the response I saw was largely positive. A change being celebrated doesn’t mean it’s necessarily good for the game, nor does outcry mean a change is bad. But there were clearly people who wanted the customization and expression of anime skins, highlighting the tension inherent in gaming collaborations like this.

Magic’s Aaron Forsythe acknowledged the competing interests, saying, «Players that have been with us for a while don’t feel the need for a change of this magnitude, and I appreciate how this hits them. But we’re doing this both because we want to grow the game — and we are — and because we think it’s another really fun way to enjoy it.»

For longstanding fans who have played the game for years, perhaps even decades, it may feel like the resources for the game’s original ideas are being diverted to fuel crossovers.

There are degrees, though. In the case of Magic: The Gathering, one-time Secret Lair drops like Sonic the Hedgehog that mostly show up in casual multiplayer formats may not seem as disruptive. But over the course of next year, Magic will release four more sets based on outside properties, bringing the total to seven such sets in two years. More than any individual card or set, that density of outside properties might feel particularly unwelcome, contributing to the feeling that it’s just Fortnite now.

Everyone is here (and here to stay)

I think a lot of the response to crossovers comes down to two things: how well the concept fits and how good the execution is. Fortnite itself has become a conglomeration of various game types — from Battle Royale to Lego to Ballistic, festivals and Creative modes — so the game featuring skins from all kinds of movies, games and celebrities sort of fits into that «everything for everyone» idea.

Something like Dead by Daylight is an example of using crossovers with a narrower focus, incorporating horror icons that fit its gameplay and lore. Resident Evil characters trying to escape from Halloween’s Michael Myers doesn’t make total sense, but there’s enough of an internal logic in the genres of slasher films and survival horror games for it to work.

And, despite my initial reservations about Overwatch’s collaborations, I was immediately enthralled when I saw Kiriko’s Suki skin from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In addition to giving me a new outlet for my favorite character from the show, it just fit the visual identity and the concept of the Overwatch hero, a protector in her own right.

The people behind the games acknowledge how much that matters. «If we don’t do this right,» Overwatch’s Rogers told me, «the fans will call us out.» Players have their own ideas of what fits and what doesn’t, and they aren’t shy about voicing those feelings. But Rogers said that getting it right instead helps maintain the identity of the game’s heroes.

Similarly, Magic’s Shepard said one step in the process of evaluating potential crossovers is feeling out whether it feels like «an authentic relationship» for the game and its players. The challenge, however, is that each player’s mileage will vary when it comes to that authenticity.

There’s no putting these crossovers back in the box, for better and worse. We’ll continue to have more options to play as our favorite characters across a variety of games. Right now, if I wanted to, I could fire up Street Fighter 6 and play a game as Chun-Li in the context of her original series. I could then swap over to Fortnite and run around sniping people as Chun-Li before logging into Overwatch and playing as Juno in her Chun-Li skin, healing people with a Martian mediblaster. And then over the weekend, I could play Magic: The Gathering with my friends and pull out a deck built around a Chun-Li character card.

For Chun-Li superfans, that’s great. At the same time, my Magic opponents may be sick of playing against characters from Stranger Things, Jurassic Park and Marvel, which might break the immersion of the game for them.

The demand is there and the complaints are valid. Companies will follow the money. But each game’s developers have to find their own way of squaring the crossover — justifying (or not) how another creative world collides with theirs.

For Overwatch’s Dennett, as the game grows and changes, so does the team’s philosophy about collaborations — because pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the hero shooter sparks the imaginations of its player base.

«It’s sort of a self-reinforcing cycle, where our players grow and change so much, and so do the types of collaborations, and the types of collaborations change, which grows and changes our players.»

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Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Nov. 21

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 21.

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