Asus Ally Emulates PS3, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360 with Ease
tomshardware.com
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You'd probably save yourself a lot of time and frustration by just throwing it in the trash and buying a new one or a Steam Deck if something goes wrong with it.
How is that even legal? Makes me glad I’m in the EU to be honest.
https://www.asus.com/us/news/ihctikmgahafyrib/?tduid=969491b...
Long wait times, unhelpful people - even sales people! I wanted to change my order from mid-range model to high range model in their official store, and i got stonewalled and delayed by their sales.
Last time, i sent my phone for repair, a 4 year old one. Quoted price for out of warranty repair was higher than the price of their newest gaming flagship phone.
Previously i sent my tablet for repairs - a broken screen - it came back with used touchscreen that was faulty, had no safety sticker on it(so i assume they just slapped an used one from other repair), and I had to send it back again.
From worst to best:
Asus Nvidia MSI Zotac Gigabyte
In all my mining, I never had a gigabyte card fail. Nvidia made me do chat support for an hour where they demanded I test the card in a separate desktop PC with fully different parts, and I had to send them the specs on the second machine in full.
If you want something that lasts, Steam Deck is a better pick
The hardest and most brittle part is the drivers, I find it hard and technical extensive to install drivers.
Things go wrong sometimes but their support was excellent.
The unit being Valve branded, I messaged Valve's customer support. I asked if I could mail the broken lighthouse to them to make sure it got recycled properly. I made it very clear that it was a sketchy eBay purchase that I essentially got for free, and I really just wanted to make sure it got e-wasted responsibly, rather than float around in my garage for the next decade.
They had no record of its serial number, and explained that it was most likely HTC's inventory rather than Valve's. Despite that, they insisted on RMA'ing it and mailed me a functioning unit! They even sent me a prepaid mailing label, but I printed my own to save them the $5.
That's not my only story where I politely made a modest request of their customer support team, and they significantly over-delivered.
Ally works with Asus' proprietary eGPU enclosure, theoretically can expand horsepower even more. Again though only so much you can do with the form factor. I get using a dock but dedicated accessories seem like they'd provide diminishing returns versus conventional PC hardware. Especially at the price point. Base model Deck blows this thing out of the water value-wise.
Windows 11 on a small touchscreen sounds like an awful idea to me.
The problem that still remained, and ultimately killed the platform, is the lack of third party apps also optimized for small screen and touch. These days, it doesn't matter how good the base UX is if the OS doesn't have a good YouTube app, for example.
Indeed. The flipside of Windows 8 Metro being fucking horrible on desktop is that it's awesome on actual tablets and other mobile devices.
>The problem that still remained, and ultimately killed the platform, is the lack of third party apps also optimized for small screen and touch. These days, it doesn't matter how good the base UX is if the OS doesn't have a good YouTube app, for example.
Windows's value lies with the Win32+x86 ecosystem, and every single iteration of Windows that failed to practically implement them (I'm looking at you Windows RT and Windows XP 64-bit Edition) has failed miserably to the surprise of noone except for Microsoft themselves.
Win32 has singlehandedly slain and foiled every single one of Microsoft's plans for expansion.
Everyone buys and runs Windows because we want to use our favorite Win32 programs from today to thirty years ago.
Windows XP 64-bit Edition. This runs specifically on Itanium only and was wholly impractical due to steep performance overheads emulating x86.
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. This runs on x86-64 and is the direct predecessor to the 64-bit releases of subsequent Windows versions including the latest which is Windows 11. This was impractical due to a lack of drivers, it was essentially too advanced for its time.
In my parent comment I am specifically referring to the former.
WinRT 8 => WinRT 8.1 (UAP gets introducted) => WinRT 10 (UWP gets introduced) => WinUI/XAML Islands/XAML Direct => Project Reunion => Back to Win32 with WinAppSDK/WinUI 3.0
In the process, .NET Native and C++/CX get deprecated, Native AOT and C++/CX are not at the same feature parity level, there is no designer, hardly any updates, Github issues keep growing exponentially.
Except for WinDev with Windows 11 UI updates, and everyone that has gotten too deep into WinRT, everyone else went back to classical .NET and Win32 frameworks, or Web alongside "Azure OS".
Even the XDK has dropped WinRT support and refocused on Win32 with the new GDK.
For windows itself they also abandoned their style guides. So now you get random levels of win3.1 to win11 GUI popping out with different amounts of how does this work. Nothing is consistent and sort of half 'we are a tablet' and half 'we are a desktop' motif.
Them 'abandoning' win32 was a serious misstep. They should have built that up and had any of their new fancy frameworks building on that.
If only Microsoft had come up with a new kind of UI that was suited for use on touchscreens... oh well.
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/micr...
Proton was the missing piece that makes Steam Machines viable. Valve should be making SteamOS 3.0 available to hardware companies like ASUS. The Ally should have been a SteamOS device, IMO.
ASUS is getting a little bit better with their Linux support, but Zenfones for example were great little devices with atrocious software support.
Why not? They develop it. They can also release it.
In the meantime, there's HoloISO [0], but it's unofficial.
I tried it out on my GPD Win Max 2 and it ran great, until an update borked it. That was a while ago, though, so I assume things have only improved.
While the steam deck is an expensive tinkerers device that’s usually sold out.
Mostly I play steam games I already own, although I have picked up a a double handful of inexpensive platformers during various steam sales.
I suppose if you're trying to get it to run the latest and greatest games that may require some tinkering, although it seems like an increasing contingent of games seem to be launching steam deck aimed updated and setting configuration.
I would guess my relatively anccient desktop i7-7600k and gtx 1080 is still a more capable gaming PC but doesn't fit as nicely in my backpack or in bed.
I'm not trying to hate on the steamdeck. I think it's super cool and would love to have one. But it's too expensive for me and I'm not sure they even ship it to my area. While the switch is super affordable and a just more out of the box works experience. I know every game I buy for the switch will work great on it, meanwhile I can expect most games I have on steam will not have great controller support or may not run well on the system so its a bit more of a "at your own risk" platform.
I paid $350 canadian for a 64gb steam deck and paid another $100 canadian for a 1tb 2230 format ssd (thats only $80 now). I think the canadian dollar is slightly more valuable than aussie bucks right now but not double as valuable. 1 canadian dollar is $1.12 kangaroo bucks.
So your evaluation of the cost of the steam deck is just wrong. Its way cheaper than you imagine.
Also, valve has put literal years into Steam Input, which lets developers set up controller support, and also lets you load community sourced controller setups for your games. The Steam decks touchpads also let mouse driven games work pretty amazingly in a way that an xbox controller or switch can't.
You're just kind of wrong about the input situation. steam has basically the most sophisticated input software you can get and most of the time it just works, and when it doesn't you just load a community setup and play.
Also there was a queue for the first few months, but now you can order it and get it shipped right away.
Also you can tinker if you want but you don't have to. Just play verified Steam Deck games and it's as simple as a Switch.
Why some people are so hell-bent on seeing the Deck fail is a mystery to me. Either they are simping for some company in competition with Valve/Deck, or they are bitter about people having fun. I could understand the criticisms of it, of which there were many upon initial release, but overall it's a pretty good experience these days.
Name any other gaming platform where you can legally and conveniently share almost all available games with friends.
And even if you do have a physical copy of a given game content for it may require paying for extra DLC. That can't be shared.
I fully expect Nintendo to do away with game cartridges on their next console. They are not consumer friendly.
For multi-device multiplayer, you need multiple copies anyway, so might as well go digital.
Admittedly, this may be a niche concern, but OTOH I don't think Nintendo wants it to be a niche concern, since they're pushing the Switch as both a TV-connected console and a Gameboy replacement.
There's also the matter that you can recover a fair bit of the value of a cartridge by selling it, while you can't do that with digital games, and you can buy physical copies used. Between those, digital is effectively quite a bit more expensive, since they sell them at the same price as physical.
The Deck's wider capabilities (emulators, Minecraft) are also harder to setup and use for kids. The Switch is way more limited but little kids perhaps deal better with a flat "no" than a "maybe, you'll need to work for it".
I think GP's point holds. I'm loving my Deck but my kids are more drawn to their Switch, the Deck intimidates them.
(Keeping in mind it's still super early version)
Brief summary - more recent APU so if you're plugged in to power, the Ally can play games at higher settings. If you're not plugged in, reviewers found that the minimum power draw is high so your battery life is worse (both have the same battery capacity). The best case scenario for the Ally is 4 hours while it's closer to 7 for the Deck.
On the software side, the Deck benefits from a large community of folks creating control mappings for older games. Windows handicaps the Ally - it's just clunky to use in this form factor.
But you don't want to play that long on a portable device anyway, position is just terrible for your posture/neck and I don't think it is really healthy. What you want is alterning occupations: video games, reading, sleeping, drawing, card games, listening to music, making music, chatting, eating, moving in the main aisle, etc.
The ally is much less efficient with the same battery capacity. I've seen reports of like 40 minutes of battery life when running high power draw games.
But would you want to spend that time playing with an undocked 700gram device in your hand, in a bad posture looking down at a screen? Even my much lighter Switch I would not play more than 45 minutes straight in portable mode.
The ally just seems to be chasing 'look how high the specs can go' instead of practically improving on the steam deck.
After all, most of the games being played on Steam Deck do so via Proton, no need for emulating[0] an OS when the real deal is available.
[0] - Yes I know that Proton technically isn't really an emulator.
Linux is free as well, and runs 99% of games you want to play on a handheld pretty well. It's not going to be that 1% that love Gamepass or really want the Windows UI on a gaming device to overthrow the Deck.
Lastly, first mover advantage. The Deck was very well received, Valve have just to eventually upgrade the hardware in a Steam Deck 2, and it'll sell like hot cakes again.
Thanks for making me laugh.
How is that whole Year of Desktop Linux going?
Had SteamDeck not been released wihtout Windows and DirectX "emulation", the usual 2% folks would be the ones using it.
MS has been like this for a long time. Just ask all the PlaysForSure music owners.
So for the very few people who bought them, I'd imagine they're unlikely to be all that upset.
None of the Steam Deck competitors have trackpads either which make games not designed with controllers in mind so much more playable without hooking up a KB/M. I think it would be kind of a wash with Windows and no trackpads, yes you can play anti-cheat but strategy and other games are off the table or super clunky.
"OS/2 runs Windows applications better than Windows"....
With Wine, all of these functions can be mapped to their modern counterpart. Tray icons and fullscreen behavior can be updated to work as they should in x11, Quartz and Wayland. Breakage can be worked around in the same way Microsoft does with registries, but by the community. The end result is good enough that entire portions of Microsoft's customer base could just move over to Wine without knowing what happened.
Honestly, the best thing Microsoft could do right now is turn DirectX into a useless Metal-style API, and send the game devs running back to Vulkan. Would certainly make porting to multiple consoles easier.
At least for myself and two friends I just asked, none of us have ever used the trackpads aside from on the desktop and rapid-fire typing. On the desktop you can make do with joystick mouse relatively well, and typing with sticks or perhaps gyro is a bit slower but works fine. None of us has ever used the touchscreen.
For the Deck 2 they should honestly strip out the touchpads and touchscreen.
By taking out the touchpads they claw back real estate that can be used for battery or slimming down. No touchscreen means a little bit more money can be diverted to screen quality, and the screen itself is more likely to have smaller bezels.
I know stating this will ruffle some enthusiast feathers and probably send me into the deep grey, but I honestly think the trade-off would be worth it.
The touchscreen can go though.
I want real estate for a bigger D-pad. I find the Steam Deck's D-pad less comfortable than even the Joy-Con's.
The touchscreen is useful at the very least for the virtual keyboard.
Games like minecraft (java, not bedrock) make no concession for controllers but are flawless experiences due to the track pads giving precise, accurate mouse controls for the crafting interface. They can also be configured as flexible rotary menus or button grids directly in Steam.
They're great for emulators too, which have a lot of complex controls for things like save states. I've played a bunch of PS1 games through and found having all the controls for the emulator I would ever need in one sub-menu on the left trackpad.
They're IMO the real selling feature of the steam deck. The rest is just a computer to run the trackpads.
ASUS runs normal Windows which doesn't seem to behave all that well on such a small screened device so that's going to be a massive compromise.
The Verge at least found it's battery life claims lackluster and windows a real impediment to mobile gaming.
But for emulators... yeah I' imagine it'd be quite good if you don't mind a lower battery life.
Well, not completely different topics IIUC. You still need to root switches to extract the keys in order to decrypt the games. Maybe even for the dumping of the games and firmware as well, but not sure. IIUC Nintendo tries its best to blacklist any keys they find and switch consoles if they assume that the switch is rooted, etc.
I thought about buying myself a switch in the past, but the whole process to get control over your own device seems too annoying for me and there are enough non-Nintendo/Switch games out there that work well on a Steam Deck out-of-the-box.
Any time I've gone spelunking for them they were all just trojan horses waiting for the gullible to drive by.
Many Switch games run well but not all of them.
Does it? It was pretty buggy when it launched, did they fix it already?
Here's one article talking about it : https://www.dsogaming.com/news/nintendo-switch-emulator-yuzu...
On RPCS3, 30% of games aren't rated "playable" because they crash or barely run at all.
So you might say instead "Asus Ally Crappily Emulates a Small Fraction of PS3 and 360 games... with ease!"
Switch emulators are a different story.
I felt I had to comment because it feels like a dishonest ad campaign.
The only metric that matters is how many of those games that are 'playable' can be played on that device, as that shows capabilities of hardware.
Can you elaborate? As in: would you say that switch can be evaluated with ease or is it even worse?
Also: what about gameplay elements that require certain hardware, e.g. is gyro aiming just missing?
What's the longterm roadmap for Xenia, do people expect it'll reach Dolphin levels of playability? I remember using Dolphin in the 2010s and it still blew my mind; now it's one of the finest emulators ever made. Is there similar hope for Xenia?
While the increased resolution is nice, I could live without that. You don't need a ton of resolution at that screen size. On the other hand, its better colors and contrast as well as adaptive sync are nice. Adaptive sync especially is a no-brainer given how many games will have their framerates jumping around on a pogo stick due to power limits.
I really hope that the Deck gets improvements in these areas before I make a decision on buying a handheld gaming PC, because the rest of the Deck is more compelling than what Asus is offering here.
The repairability and hackability is an asset, but not the main selling point why so many buy it.
Doing hardware repair is not a game, it’s work.
And, quite honestly, if a bit of tinkering bothers you then you are not the target audience for the steam deck
Your knowledge might be a little shallow then, https://ifixit.com/products/steam-deck-fan
(Mine doesn't have the issue, but it's a pretty new unit.)
I'm still waiting for an upgraded https://gpd.hk/gpdwin4, the physical keyboard behind the screen is a must have..
There is nothing wrong with being a toy, so why should they try to disguise it as something else?
For the Win4 you won't need to slide the screen as often, so I don't expect it to break anytime soon
Also weird/wonderful that this is a handheld device featuring (at the high end, and let me guess it's thermally throttled) a GPU capable of 8.6 TFLOPS while the system consumes no more than 30 W. That is more than the 2001 US supercomputer "ASCI White" [2] did, which at most reached 7.2 TFLOPS. It was housed in 200 cabinets weighing a total of 106 tons, and consuming 3 MW.
[1]: https://rog.asus.com/gaming-handhelds/rog-ally/rog-ally-2023...
No thanks.
One video has a good variety of emulators and games with usable power settings for battery saving.
Pull the other one, it has got bells on it.
- https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/...
Even if downloading it for the purpose of having a backup is your goal, it's still piracy in the UK and the US. There is no difference.
Fair use means you are allowed to make a copy of your OWN legally owned/purchased copy. But if the only copy is on a digital platform, then you aren't allowed to have a pirated copy as a backup measure.
You can disagree with me if you want to, but them's the legality of it.
Oh no! The horror!
I already primarily use mine with Windows anyways.
So the back triggers for me on the steam deck is for consistency, so I can easily switch between gaming with my elite controller and the steam deck with minimal differences.
If the upcoming AC6 isn't being restricted with console joysticks, I guess the back buttons can be used as more inputs for weapons or extensions.
Care to elaborate why you think artificially high prices on outdated console games (your SD full of ROMs) in any way helps a software developer - in either venture capital (we are on HN) or their take-home paycheck. Because as far as I can tell, the only people it helps is rent-seekers on ancient IP. You know, the kinda people we wanna “disrupt”?
Speak for yourself. I don't want to disrupt anyone by explicitly not following laws i don't like.
If you were to complain about the anti circumvention clause in DMCA, or Nintendo going after the guy who sold mods under that (somebody got jail time), then I think that stuff is not justified. But i wouldn't personally sell software i have no right to distribute on Amazon.
For that scenario, providing a download for free is still illegal but less unethical.
The fact is, I’d imagine a solid 90% of people using Switch emulation are using it for piracy of games that are usually still available on the shelf - or worse, brand new.
As a homebrew developer for, EG; the SEGA Saturn and Atari Jaguar - I absolutely do get that there are a few of us that legitimately use emulators for legal purposes.
I also download ROMs all the time of even mainstream titles that have never seen a re-release. (Here’s looking at you, ‘Knuckles’ Chaotix’ for the SEGA 32X…)
But the issue with Switch emulation is that, yes; I’ve got a few friends who simply downloaded and played all the way through the new Zelda title released just recently via emulation, and it’s just kind of…it’s easier to understand why that isn’t really ‘okay’ to me.
Many people I know just buy the game (because game devs need to eat) but prefer to play on an emulator because it provides an objectively superior experience. Increased framerate and the ability to manage your own save files is enough to justify using an emulator.
Yes, what he was doing was different, but the ends rhyme. I hope nobody is prosecuted, but Nintendo is already after the key dumping software. It’s never a safe space to tread with a company as litigious and eager to make examples as Nintendo.
If you copied the game and you have already bought it, then it is fine. Distributing the ripped game for others to download for free is piracy and is illegal.