Xbox unveils new handheld console after years of speculation
Microsoft has announced the ROG Xbox Ally, a handheld gaming console in partnership with Asus, set to launch in late 2025.
The ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X are enhanced versions of existing Asus ROG Ally hardware, booting directly into an Xbox app OS for accessing digital and Game Pass games.
The ROG Xbox Ally supports third-party PC apps like Discord, Steam, Epic Games, and GOG, allowing users to play their entire PC gaming library.
The ROG Xbox Ally X features an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme processor, 24GB RAM, and 1TB storage for 1080p gaming, while the base model targets 720p with a Ryzen 2A processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB storage.
The ROG Xbox Ally includes an Xbox button, enhanced hand grips, impulse triggers, and a streamlined Xbox interface for improved performance and battery life, with pricing expected to align with the current ROG Ally models (starting at £449).
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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Download festivalgoers warned against making accidental 999 calls from moshpit
When hundreds of 999 calls came in from fans at the Download festival two years ago, the emergency services must have thought a disaster was unfolding at the three-day heavy metal gig in Leicestershire. In fact, the calls were made automatically from smartwatches and other devices worn by fans because 'the tech assumed that people in moshpits had been in a collision', according to Leicestershire police. Now the force is appealing to those attending the festival this weekend to turn their devices to airplane mode or disable emergency alerts to avoid unnecessary 999 calls. The number of 999 calls during the event doubled from the usual 600 or so over a long weekend. 'In previous years, due to wearable tech issues, we saw a rise of nearly 700 extra 999 calls in a weekend,' Leicestershire police said on social media this week. 'All those calls had to be assessed … to ensure there is no threat, risk or harm, taking our contact handlers away from answering true emergency calls.' Police are asking fans to stay on the line if their device makes an accidental 999 call, or to answer callbacks made by emergency teams 'to let us know you are safe'. According to one US personal injury law firm, moshpits 'always have risks and dangers' but can result in 'enjoyable chaos and energy release'. Some wearable technology includes a 'crash detection' feature. Apple says its watches and some iPhones will sound an alarm and display an alert if they detect a 'severe car crash'. Unless the alert is cancelled, the device calls the emergency services after a 30-second countdown. About 75,000 people are expected to attend the Download festival in Donington Park, a racetrack near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, for what the organisers call the 'UK's premier rock festival'. Sign up to Sleeve Notes Get music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras. Every genre, every era, every week after newsletter promotion The site has been open to campers since Wednesday with the rock festival opening on Friday. Green Day, Sleep Token and Korn are the daily headline acts at the festival. This year's fancy dress theme is Friday 13th. The organisers said: 'For everyone's safety and comfort, we ask that you don't bring any fake or replica weapons, including toy guns, swords or other realistic-looking props. These items can cause confusion during security checks and may be mistaken for real weapons by our teams or the police. They can also be distressing to other festival-goers.'
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
UK broadcasters hail rare win over Netflix in battle for streaming ads
Shows such as Netflix's TV history-making Adolescence and Disney's romp Rivals are among the latest hits to continue the subscriber juggernaut, as the US streamers continue to mount pressure on UK TV broadcasters. However, research reveals that a new breed of viewers being banked on to drive their next era of growth are watching up to 40% less content on some services, giving traditional broadcasters hope that their own streaming services will not ultimately be outmuscled in the battle over the rapidly growing £1bn-plus streaming ad market. It has been two and a half years since Netflix reversed its resistance to advertising, leading the charge to tap a new market as subscriber growth petered out and the cost of living crisis made consumers more open to paying less in return for seeing ads. The strategy has helped breathe life into stalling subscription growth. Netflix added the most customers in a quarter in its history in the final three months of 2024, with 55% choosing its ad-supported package. About a third of its 300 million-strong global subscriber base are now watching with ads. Disney+ followed suit in late 2022 and has since amassed 157 million ad-tier subscribers, including its US-only ESPN and Hulu services. And in February last year, Amazon started automatically introducing ads to the 200 million potential monthly viewers of Prime Video, requiring customers to pay if they wanted an ad-free experience. However, research into streaming households shows that homes that watch with ads are 'lighter' viewers, in the words of one media agency executive, compared with those who pay for higher-priced, ad-free packages. A snapshot of UK streaming in the fourth quarter of 2024 showed that Netflix households with advertising-supported subscriptions watched an average of 22 minutes less content a day than those with an ad-free subscription, a difference of almost 22%. Netflix is estimated to have about 17.6 million subscribers in total in the UK, of whom just over 4 million are on an ad-supported package, according to Ampere Analysis. At Amazon's Prime Video, which is estimated to have about 12 million UK users, the same trend has emerged. Viewers who accepted ads watched an average of 23 minutes less content a day than those who had opted to pay for an ad-free experience – a difference of 44%. While viewing minutes were not available for Disney+ UK subscribers, the research showed it had the narrowest gap, with those on ad-supported accounts watching just five fewer minutes of content a day on average than those paying for an ad-free subscription. Matt Ross, the chief analytics officer at the streaming research firm Digital i, says two distinct types of viewer have emerged, but adds that lower levels of viewing in ad-supported households is partly because those subscriptions also typically offer access on fewer devices. 'We've seen that more engaged viewers typically opt for ad-free tiers, valuing the uninterrupted experience they provide,' Ross says. 'More premium plans offer multiple simultaneous streams, which appeals especially to larger households and families. This combination of premium features and flexibility often results in higher daily activity for ad-free plans.' Nevertheless, the phenomenon of 'light viewers' will be grasped by UK broadcasters trying to stop the deep-pocketed US giants conquering the streaming advertising market in the same way as they have the world of paid subscriptions. 'The appeal of the global streamers' ad tiers to advertisers doesn't stack up against the streaming services offered by British broadcasters,' says one senior TV industry executive. Certainly in the UK, at least, the drive into advertising by the big US streamers has had a mixed reception from the media agencies that buy commercial space for brands. Netflix started with a gung-ho attitude, buoyed up by the success it had had building a huge paid subscriber base and the belief advertisers would leap at the chance to be able to place commercials in its mega-hits for the first time. However, it demanded almost 50% more than ITV or Channel 4's services charge for advertising, alongside a hefty commitment to a minimum spend, despite initially only having a small audience and extremely limited ability to target ads. 'The rollout was a disaster,' says the chief executive of one media agency. 'Take-up was underwhelming, to say the least. They had to try again six months later and lost their lead over rivals and are now behind the curve in terms of pricing, data and reach versus, say, Amazon.' Amazon charges about the same as the public service broadcasters' streaming services, while Disney+ charges more, despite having the smallest base of the big three US streamers, a situation the media executive describes as a 'mad outlier, given their volume'. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Last month Netflix rung the changes, announcing that Warren Dias, the head of UK's ad sales, was to leave after two years in the post. The world's biggest and most profitable streaming service has acknowledged it is still a newbie when it comes to the ad market. 'I think you can say that 2025 is the year that we transition from crawl to walk,' Greg Peters, the co-chief executive of Netflix, said in a recent call with analysts. Peters said overall viewing hours per subscriber on its ads plans internationally was similar to those on its standard non-ad plans, and that it expected to double advertising income this year as it focuses on improving ad targeting for brands. The company launched its in-house ad-tech platform in the US in April and intends to start rolling it out to other markets in the coming months. While UK broadcasters feel the tentative start by the US giants has given them the upper hand in the British streaming advertising, which is putting further pressure on the shrinking £3.58bn traditional TV ad market, there is a sense of foreboding that history may ultimately repeat itself. 'We were successful and revolutionised TV viewing,' says Damien Bernet, the vice-president of ad sales for the EMEA region at Netflix. 'We believe we are going to be able to do the same for ads.' More people visit and watch Netflix than any other streaming service in the UK, and in March it made TV history with Adolescence becoming the first programme on a streaming platform to top the weekly audience charts of all shows aired in Britain. In February, 65% of 18- to 64-year-old internet users accessed Netflix, compared with 59% for the BBC's iPlayer, 48% for Prime Video, 46% for ITVX and 34% for Channel 4's streaming service, according to survey data from Ampere Analysis. The US streamers' ad tier strategies have reignited overall growth, are rapidly increasing the scale and attractiveness of the offering for advertisers, and the cheaper pricing has made users more 'sticky' and less likely to think about cancelling. 'Fundamentally, advertising is a scale game, and in that regard many of the streamers are only just getting started,' says Richard Broughton, a director at Ampere. 'UK and European broadcasters will be far from complacent, given the competition they have faced for viewers over the past decade, but they have only a narrow window to batten down the hatches before they start to feel more pressure across their advertiser base too.'
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Washington Post in talks with Substack about using its writers
The Washington Post has held talks with Substack about hosting pieces by its writers, the site's co-founder has said, as a host of legacy media brands embrace the newsletter platform in the battle for readers. In an interview with the Guardian, Substack's Hamish McKenzie said he had spoken to the Post about its plans to widen the types of opinion pieces on its website. He said there had been a 'change in mindset' from traditional media, which once viewed Substack with suspicion. He said many now saw the platform as an opportunity to adapt to what he described as 'the most significant media disruption since the printing press'. UK news companies including the Daily Mail, the Telegraph and Reach, which publishes the Daily Mirror, have all launched newsletters on Substack. McKenzie said the Post had approached Substack about hosting its writers. 'We've talked to them, but there's no formal agreement or partnership, and they wouldn't need to talk to us to be able to go out and attempt to do those things,' McKenzie said. 'They need to persuade the writers, creators, the journalists, publishers, not us. 'If they're helping to bring more exposure to those writers and drive audiences to them, if it's designed in that way – and I'm not 100% sure what the ultimate outcome is going to be – that could be really good for everyone.' Substack has become increasingly influential since its launch in 2017. It allows anyone to publish and distribute digital content, primarily through newsletters, and charge a subscription. It has also been branching out into podcasts and video. The potential tie-up comes after Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of the Post, provoked its comment editor to walk out after he announced its comment pages would be more narrowly focused on pieces that supported and defended 'personal liberties' and 'free markets'. The move was seen as an attempt by Bezos to safeguard his relationship with President Trump. However, the Post – under its British chief executive and publisher, Will Lewis – is trying to find other ways of drawing in readers following reported losses of $100m (£74m) last year, including a project to host comment pieces from other sources on its website. Reach has launched dozens of Substacks this year alone, covering topics from book trends to Liverpool FC. The Telegraph has just started to post content on a royal family Substack, while the Daily Mail has a Substack dedicated to showbiz news. 'All of a sudden really, a bunch of legacy news organisations are trying to see how they can take advantage of Substack,' McKenzie said. 'That's a really welcome change in mindset. At first people looked at us as if we were a curious instrument and then they started to look at us as maybe we were a threat, because some talent would prefer to go independent on Substack rather than be in a newsroom. 'People are starting to understand that Substack is not just a publishing system that helps people make money, but it's also a network and it represents new land to build on, where new media products can be born and built. Legacy institutions can build those just as well as newcomers. It's a big opportunity era.' He said Substack was supposed to be a 'disruptor of social media', rather than the traditional media, allowing longer writing instead of viral content. He said he had 'no regrets whatsoever' about having resisted overtures from Elon Musk to buy the site. McKenzie said Substack was trying to find new workable models for media amid the struggles of traditional outlets to hold on to rapidly fragmenting audiences. 'It's not a problem with demand for quality journalism,' he said. 'It's a problem with the business model and so there has to be a reinvention. We're almost at the point where the fire has razed through the forest and there are a few trees still standing. It's time to replant the forest. We're living through the most significant media disruption since the printing press.' Substack allows anyone to create digital content, which then sits on a dedicated website and can be sent directly to the inboxes of subscribers. It has also branched out into audio and video features in an attempt to benefit from the podcast boom. Crucially, it allows writers to charge a subscription for some or all of their pieces. The ability to monetise content has allowed some established writers to break away from traditional titles and go it alone. According to an analysis by the Press Gazette, the number of Substack newsletters with at least $500,000 (£369,000) in annual subscriptions revenue alone has doubled in two years. Some of the writers on the site have become influential in US politics, including Bari Weiss and Matt Yglesias. In the UK, it has provided a platform for new local news sites where newspapers have disappeared from the map or had their reporting staff significantly cut back. New ventures include The Manchester Mill, launched by the journalist Joshi Herrmann, and London Centric, launched by the former Guardian journalist, Jim Waterson.
