This isn’t quite what we expected to see last year, but the ROG Xbox Ally still marks a new chapter in the rapidly developing “handheld war.”

Microsoft has needed to respond to SteamOS ever since the Steam Deck launched three years ago, and it has steadily been tweaking its Xbox app and the Xbox Game Bar on Windows to make both more handheld-friendly. But there was always a bigger overhaul of Windows required, and we’re starting to see parts of that today.

Xbox and Asus haven’t exactly kept their intentions to create a handheld secret. The device the two brothers-in-arms finally showed off at Microsoft’s weekend games showcase diverges from the flat-panel design established by the Nintendo Switch back in 2017.

Microsoft announced that it is diving into the handheld gaming market with its own Xbox-branded handheld in partnership with PC maker Asus.

The Legion Go S with SteamOS even beats Valve’s Steam Deck performance, and you can get even better performance if you’re willing to sacrifice the battery. Battery life on a handheld gaming PC is a massive part of the experience, and the SteamOS version of the Legion Go S just totally embarrasses the Windows model in Dave2D’s tests.