Microsoft just teased its next-gen Xbox console, and nobody noticed
I feel like a broken record, but I've been writing for more than a year that the next Xbox console will be more PC-like. Now, I think Microsoft just teased its next-gen Xbox plans while announcing its partnership with Asus to bring two Xbox Ally handhelds to the market later this year.
The Xbox Ally handhelds run Windows, but the Xbox team has worked with Windows engineers to boot these PC handhelds into a full-screen Xbox UI. The Windows desktop doesn't even fully load, and you use the Xbox app UI as a launcher to get to all your games (even Steam titles) and apps like Discord.
While the combination of Windows and Xbox here is intriguing, it's the way that Microsoft is positioning these devices that really caught my attention. 'This is an Xbox,' said Microsoft during the reveal, clearly expanding its marketing push beyond a single console to every screen and device.
It all felt like a true Xbox handheld reveal. There was even an 11-minute-long behind-the-scenes video on the Xbox Ally handhelds, filmed in a similar style to Microsoft's 'Project Scorpio' Xbox One X reveal from nearly nine years ago. 'This is a breakthrough moment for Xbox,' Carl Ledbetter, a 30-year Microsoft design veteran, says in the video. Ledbetter helped design the original IntelliMouse, the Xbox 360 Slim, the Xbox One X, and plenty of other Microsoft devices. When Ledbetter is involved, you know it's more than just a simple partner project with Asus.
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