This could be a first step towards more handheld improvements in Windows.
    •  MudMan   ( @MudMan@kbin.social ) 
      4•8 months ago

      I mean… if somebody has a gaming storefront monopoly in Windows it certainly isn’t Microsoft. Concern about monopolistic practices is a great catch-22 between the OS dominance of Windows or the platform dominance of Steam, and I’m about as concerned about both.

      FWIW, I have both a Steam Deck and a GPD Windows handheld and, being entirely agnostic about that entire conversation I default to my GPD Win 4, because of ergonomics, usability and compatibility concerns, in that order.

    •  beepnoise   ( @beepnoise@beehaw.org ) 
      11•8 months ago

      I don’t think folks realise how much effort and investment Valve has put into making Linux a viable gaming alternative for modern-ish games.

      Most distributors use Windows because it is easy to install and setup for gaming. Is it perfect? No. But any vendor can pay Microsoft and get a viable OS for gaming.

      Linux will need a lot of custom graphics card drivers and a lot of tweaking (think power as well as graphical features, memory, CPU etc) to get the optimum performance. Most OSes out of the box have OKish performance for gaming, which is OK for any hobbyist but would be a disaster for a consumer product.

      And before Valve came along, Proton wasn’t even a thing. Proton is now a thing, and the way Steam utilises it makes it effortless, but it will need a fair bit of custom args to get it working well.

      Each of these things separately can be quite painful in its own right, but altogether it would be a headache for any company not well versed in Linux. Not only that, but having to provide customer support for a Linux OS would put the fear in most companies.

      I would imagine most vendors would just slap Windows on their machine and be like “you know what to do with this” and let them go nuts.

  •  Sean Tilley   ( @deadsuperhero@lemmy.ml ) English
    2•8 months ago

    I mean, it certainly looks nicer. At least they’re thinking about ways to make the experience better, for those that use it.

    I’m still really happy with SteamOS, the only real downside is that newer AAA games are simply too demanding. Not so much of a problem on the desktop, but certain games just look rough and run at sub-30 fps.

  •  AutoTL;DR   ( @autotldr@lemmings.world ) BEnglish
    1•8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Microsoft has started testing new updates to its Xbox app on Windows 11 that improve the experience on handheld devices and smaller screens.

    In an Xbox test app released earlier this week, Microsoft has introduced a new compact mode that greatly reduces the sidebar on the left-hand side.

    (tldr: 3 sentences skipped)

    Early “Windows handheld mode” concepts leaked from a hackathon project inside Microsoft earlier this year, including a floating taskbar, an improved game launcher, and changes to the Xbox app.

    This gaming shell was simply a prototype, built before devices like the ROG Ally and Lenovo’s Legion Go were announced.

    Asus’ ROG Ally is now emerging as the portable Xbox for PC Game Pass.

    (tldr: 2 sentences skipped)

    “We are focused on making the Xbox and GP experience great on devices like the Ally … More to do,” admitted Spencer in a tweet in July.

    (tldr: 2 sentences skipped)

    The original article contains 307 words, the summary contains 148 words. Saved 52%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!