#63: A Tale of Two Kings

In today's overkill digest we talk about gamescom fast approaching, and how there are only two real handheld PCs currently on the market

Hi, hello, welcome.

I am currently packing for gamescom. Here is the list of all the tech I'm bringing, it's so... overkill! If you are at gamescom, and looking for me, I am the guy cosplaying as a packing mule.

I'll leave early on Tuesday, Chris will arrive from the UK, and we’ll have some time to waste before attending Opening Night Live — hoping for a lot of World Exclusives. The real work will start on Wednesday, and we'll be on the show floor till Friday. As I mentioned a few times in the past (don't worry, this is the last time), we'll be sending out a newsletter each day (sign up here), but plan to also produce content on our social media platforms (here, here and here).

I'm hyped for these few days, I can't wait to see what the gaming world has prepared for us. So see you there.

What to know

On Friday, I reviewed the ASUS ROG Ally X. After spending over two weeks with the device (unfortunately, I had to send it back already), I've realized that right now, in most cases, there are really only two PC Gaming handhelds worth talking about: the Ally X on one side, and the Steam Deck on the other side.

The question of which one of the two you want comes down to three things:

What is your budget? (Even the highest-end Steam Deck OLED is still less expensive than the ROG Ally X.)
How willing are you to tinker with your device? (While it is Linux-based and therefore super customizable, SteamOS is a much easier-to-use OS out of the box than Windows is on a handheld.)
How important is maximum compatibility for you? (Windows can simply play on paper more games than SteamOS. Also, it helps that the ROG Ally X has more power.)

Depending on how you answer, you'll either pick the Steam Deck or the ROG Ally X (if I answer these questions myself, I will end up with the ROG Ally X).

Now, other handhelds are worth talking about. But I believe they all need to bring something different to the table than what these two do. For example, like the Odin 2 Mini, they are tiny and Android-based. Or like the AYANEO Flip KB, they have a different form-factor. But it won't be enough to just do another one and hope it will be successful. (How many MSI Claws have you seen in the wild? Even in tiny Luxembourg, I've seen a few ROG Ally (X) and Steam Decks.)

However, the handheld market is slowly getting saturated. I believe that over time everyone who's currently making a gaming-focused laptop will end up making a handheld. It will just be one more form factor they have in their offering. And I don't see any issues with that, I believe that competition is what will make this space healthy over the long run. (I'm very much interested to see whether Microsoft will join the race with their own hardware).

But they better all do something new and different, or we'll very quickly reach a situation like the smartphone market, where every device is a glass slab with a camera bump.

In either case, we'll be writing about them!

In other news

If you like LEGO, like Chris likes LEGO, this LEGO games sale is for you.
Microsoft is still working on making Windows a better experience on handhelds thanks to a few new tweaks to the Game Bar overlay.
Oops. It looks like Sony leaked the release of Red Dead Redemption for PC. Not a big surprise, since it was long-rumoured, but at least now it's finally official that it exists.
If you're in the EU and want to play Fortnite on your iPhone, you can now install the Epic Games Store by going to this link on your phone.
Krafton, the publisher behind PUBG, has bought Tango Gameworks and their Hi-Fi Rush IP after Microsoft closed down the game developer. Chris liked the game, so he'll be happy to know there will be more.
Don't tell Chris that I am doing some self-promotion, but I'm launching a newsletter tomorrow about all the other things besides gaming I'm interested in. In case you want even more of my writing. (You can also follow the newsletter via RSS.)
I can't get tired of modding news, and I hope that counts for you, too. So here's a new trailer for Skyblivion!
In a recent changelog, Valve mentioned to be working on SteamOS for other devices like the ROG Ally. Lawrence Yang later confirmed it to The Verge. It's good to see Valve still working on a public release of SteamOS for other platforms (though I somehow feel it's not a big priority).
Installing different launchers on Steam Deck just got easier, thanks to NonSteamLaunchers releasing a Decky Loader plugin. Now you don't even need to boot into desktop mode anymore.
You can now get an Antec Core HS for as low as $499. Which is $200 cheaper than what AYANEO wants for the AYANEO Slide, which this device is based on.
If you want to run Windows on your OLED Steam Deck (I don't know why you would want to do that), rejoice, since Valve has released Windows drivers for their handheld.