Assassin's Creed Shadows is out now on Steam, inviting you on a journey with the stealthy shinobi Naoe and powerful samurai Yasuke as they explore Feudal Japan and discover a shared destiny. As you recruit allies, expand your Hideout, and use your network to gather knowledge about the world, Steam offers a number of additional ways to enjoy the game—let's take a look at what you need to know about playing Assassin's Creed Shadows on Steam.

Achievements
There are many Steam achievements available for Assassin's Creed Shadows and all of them can be earned in a single playthrough, regardless of story choices or difficulty level. They are earned not only by playing through the main story, but also by exploring the world, completing different activities, upgrading the Hideout, meeting allies, and more. Check the full list here.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced its 2025 lineup of Snapdragon G Series Gaming Platforms, purposefully designed to power handheld gaming devices for a wide range of players. The new portfolio consists of the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3, Snapdragon G2 Gen 2, and Snapdragon G1 Gen 2, created to bring best-in-class portable gaming experiences.

• Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 is the first Snapdragon G Series platform to support Lumen, Unreal Engine 5's fully dynamic global illumination and reflections system, for Android handheld-dedicated gaming devices. Compared to the previous generation, Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 features 30% faster CPU performance and 28% faster advanced graphics capabilities, as well as greater power optimizations and energy efficiencies. With support for Wi-Fi 7, players can reduce latency and increase bandwidth.
• Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 is aimed for gaming and cloud gaming at 144 FPS on dedicated gaming devices, offering a powerful balance of performance and efficiency with 2.3x CPU performance increase and 3.8x faster GPU capabilities over Snapdragon G2 Gen 1. The platform also supports Wi-Fi 7 for faster and more reliable wireless connections.
• Snapdragon G1 Gen 2 is built to deliver robust performance to a broader audience, bringing up to 1080p at 120 FPS over Wi-Fi. Intended for cloud gaming on dedicated handheld Android gaming devices, this platform drives 80% faster CPU and 25% faster GPU performance for seamless gameplay.

Not that long ago, an Xbox executive claimed that an Xbox handheld gaming device is still in the prototyping stage, with a launch expected to take place sometime in the next two to three years. There is no denying that the handheld segment is an incredibly lucrative space, boosted by the impressive performance and efficiency gains made by the chip giants in recent years. Microsoft clearly intends to take a piece of the pie, and as a recent report by Windows Central pointed out, the first Xbox-branded handheld is in development and may even see the light of day as early as the third or fourth quarter of this year. Now, a fresh report by The Verge has revealed that Microsoft might be collaborating with ASUS in order to bring the handheld gaming device to market.

This is quite interesting, considering that ASUS is one of the most well-known players in the handheld segment, thanks to its ROG Ally lineup. But the conflict of interest shouldn't be much of a hassle - Lenovo is also a major player in the segment, and did not hesitate teaming up with Valve to bring the first third-party SteamOS handheld to the market. Microsoft is likely targeting something similar, intending to combine Xbox and Windows platforms in order to improve the experience for developers and players alike, allowing better inter-compatibility of games between handheld, PC, and console platforms. Essentially, the handheld will reportedly feature an Xbox-like interface, but will be powered by Windows underneath. The aforementioned late-2025 launch timeline is still in place, but considering the very nature of early reports, accept this information with a grain of salt.

Handheld enthusiasts are likely quite familiar with tiny laptops that intend to function as handheld gaming consoles. The company Winstron has a different vision for the segment, however, which has been depicted by the company's latest concept - the Winstron Dual Fusion. Considering that this product is very much in the concept stage, we have no details regarding specifications, pricing, or availability. That said, the concept laptop sure does look quite interesting.

Instead of shrinking a laptop down to the size of a handheld, Winstron's Dual Fusion package consists of a typically sized laptop with a detachable palm rest area. This section, will include a display where the trackpad is present, flanked by controls on either side that disappear when the module is attached to the host system. The handheld module is not standalone, unsurprisingly, and is only meant to act as a streaming companion for the laptop. The handheld module will also include a 180-degree hinge, in order to allow for the display to flip and switch positions with the touchpad on the other side. As stated previously, Winstron has yet to reveal any plans for manufacturing the device, and as always, the rest remains to be seen with time.

In an exclusive report, Windows Central has claimed that Microsoft is collaborating with an unnamed "PC gaming OEM" on an Xbox handheld console. Jez Corden has heard from several insiders; they reckon that a "later in 2025" launch is possible, if development goes smoothly enough. A leak from Winter 2024 indicated that Microsoft's gaming division was "targeting a handheld gaming experience," but Phil Spencer has freely disclosed his ambitions for his team's portable project. Last November, he confirmed that something was in pipeline—with a view to take on very visible competition: Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. The latest Windows Central investigative piece divulges some unprecedented details about: "codename 'Keenan,' this gaming handheld will look unmistakably 'Xbox' we're told, complete with an official Xbox guide button, and Xbox design sensibilities. Given that this is a partner device, similar to Lenovo's SteamOS partnership with Valve, I expect this handheld to be more PC-oriented. Keenan is almost definitely running full Windows, putting the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass front and center, alongside the ability to install things like Steam."

Based on inside track knowledge, Corden anticipates operating system innovations: "I expect the handheld will test new Windows 11 'device aware' capabilities, while reducing third-party OEM bloatware that are typical of devices like the Lenovo Legion Go and ASUS ROG Ally. I expect Microsoft will leverage widgets on the Xbox Game Bar on PC for controlling things like TDP and fan speed, while hopefully having a more streamlined OS experience for controller use. Of course, existing PC gaming OEMs will benefit from these efforts as well—but the research will also help with Microsoft's further-out plans." Almost a month and a half ago, Spencer outlined a sort of wishlist for "innovative" future Xbox hardware—given that Sony is rumored to be devising a "standalone PlayStation handheld," he was likely envisioning next-gen home consoles. Windows Central's sources have provided additional insights into potential Xbox Series X|S successors.

Lenovo Group Limited (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY), together with its subsidiaries ('the Group'), today announced Q3 results for fiscal year 2024/25, reporting significant increases in overall group revenue and profit. Revenue grew 20% year-on-year to US$18.8 billion, marking the third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Net income more than doubled year-on-year to US$693 million (including a non-recurring income tax credit of US$282 million) on a Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standards (HKFRS) basis. The Group's diversified growth engines continue to accelerate, with non-PC revenue mix up more than four points year-on-year to 46%. The quarter's results were driven by the Group's focused hybrid-AI strategy, the turnaround of the Infrastructure Solutions Group, as well as double-digit growth for both the Intelligent Devices Group and Solutions and Services Group.

Lenovo continues to invest in R&D, with R&D expenses up nearly 14% year-on-year to US$621 million. At the recent global technology event CES 2025, Lenovo launched a series of innovative products, including the world's first rollable AI laptop, the world's first handheld gaming device that allows gamers free choice of Windows OS or Steam OS, as well as Moto AI - winning 185 industry awards for its portfolio of innovation.

In an exclusive report, Laptop Mag has extracted intriguing disclosures from Intel's Robert Hallock. The company's VP and General Manager of Client AI and Technical Marketing was happy to announce that new-generation processors are lined up for inclusion within next waves of handheld gaming PCs. Industry rumors posited that things would end with Team Blue's Core Ultra "Lunar Lake" generation of APUs; as featured on the recently deployed MSI Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ models. First-generation devices with "Meteor Lake" chips did not disrupt the market, and struggled to keep up with AMD Ryzen Z1 chipset-based rivals. Despite negative conjecture suggesting a withdrawal, Hallock revealed that a certain department is growing in size: "Intel is beefing up its staff to support gaming ISVs who want to do handhelds."

Team Blue's fortified support network is touted to expand the market reach of portable gaming PCs; the Intel executive elaborated on this topic: "we're starting a number of internal programs to give them more assistance in targeting this performance profile because—relative to what they're accustomed to—(handhelds) are still relatively rare in terms of availability." Hallock and colleagues are diving in with a new strategy; game development studios are on the receiving end of pre-release hardware: "a lot of game devs tend to just target what they have on their desks or in their QA labs...so (we're) arming them with more handhelds as prototype devices. Getting them dev kits leading into Panther Lake."

Ayaneo has been teasing the Ayaneo 3 gaming handheld for what seems like an eternity now. The handheld was among the first to be powered by the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU with the extremely potent Radeon 890M iGPU, promising impressive performance potential. However, the 7-inch gaming handheld is yet to see the light of day, and we still have no clue when it finally will.

However, Ayaneo has gone ahead and teased the Ayaneo 3 once again, showing off a new colorway for the gaming handheld. This edition, dubbed "Retro Power", utilizes a beige-themed design with red accents on some of the controls. The device will also be available in black and white colorways, making the "Retro Power" variant a fun alternative for those who prefer something other than black or white for their handheld gaming console. That is, when the Ayaneo 3 finally ships, of course.

MSI's Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ handheld gaming PCs were unveiled late last year—these new models have been rolled out quite quickly; launching within a year of first-generation Claws. The successors feature many improvements—across hardware (Intel Lunar Lake), software and physical properties—when compared to the Meteor Lake-powered originals. MSI appeared ready to not repeat past mistakes—the Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ were showcased at CES 2025 earlier this month, with press material pointing to a North American market launch on January 15. VideoCardz was in the process of preparing a special launch article for the 8-inch model, but many customers have reportedly not received their orders.

Hands-on impressions started to appear on the internet earlier this year, possibly only emerging via Chinese press outlets—today's article claims that international publications have not yet received review samples. According to VideoCardz, MSI had lined up the Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ for an Asian market launch on December 26. Several retailers in the USA have revised shipping dates for the Claw 8 AI+—the likes of Amazon, Newegg and B&H are expecting first shipments next month, somewhere around the 4th to the 12th. MSI's official online store has removed release date information from product pages, and Best Buy has followed suit. Activity on the MSI Claw subreddit provides evidence of lucky customers getting their mitts on first wave units—early impressions (post-unboxing) are promising, but one customer was left puzzled by the absence of extra items. Many handheld enthusiasts have expressed anger about finding it difficult to obtain the basic hardware, but BigShotBosh took issue with MSI's aftermarket extras: "...looks like the travel case, screen protector and dock for the Claw 8 won't be available until March of this year. Talk about a botched rollout."

Lenovo announced the latest additions to its Lenovo Legion ecosystem of gaming devices, accessories, and software today at CES 2025, delivering a deep bench of devices across a wide range of form-factors that give gamers of all levels powerful options to game their way in pursuit of 'reaching their impossible'. These new devices include:

• The Lenovo Legion Go S (8", 1) and Lenovo Legion Go S (8", 1) - Powered by SteamOS, gaming handheld devices featuring an 8-inch screen with VRR support, a chassis sporting fused TrueStrike controllers with adjustable trigger switches and hall-effect joysticks, and the world's first officially licensed handheld powered by SteamOS.
• The Lenovo Legion Go (8.8", 2), a gaming handheld prototype device planned to feature a native landscape OLED display, up to double the RAM compared to previous generation, and a bigger battery.
• The redesigned Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (16", 10), Lenovo Legion Pro 5i (16", 10) and Lenovo Legion Pro 5 (16", 10) laptops, with new aggressive design language, more performance, and new Lenovo PureSight OLED display options.
• A fully redesigned Legion Space gaming software solution that unifies all Lenovo Legion device settings, syncs with all Lenovo Legion ecosystem devices, provides access to all games in one library, and features a suite of new AI-powered features that help gamers up their game, their streams, and their enjoyment.
• The Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 monitor, a PureSight OLED display with gaming-specific features to give competitive gamers an edge on the map.
• Lenovo also announced other new additions to its Legion and LOQ laptops and desktops, the latest Legion Tab, and a selection of Legion accessories to complement the gaming devices.

Acer today launched the new Nitro Blaze 8 and Nitro Blaze 11 handheld gaming devices, designed to elevate mobile gaming experiences with cutting-edge performance and versatile features. Powered by AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processors, 16 GB of LPDDR5X memory, and up to 2 TB of storage, the Nitro Blaze series boasts lightning-fast performance and responsiveness. Their WQXGA touch panels (8.8-inch or 10.95-inch) featuring Radeon Super Resolution and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution technology, ensure fluid image quality. The dedicated Acer Game Space application simplifies managing and accessing popular games and applications on handheld gaming PCs.

The new Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller enhances the mobile gaming experience by enabling users to game anywhere and anytime with its foldable design. It supports fast charging to allow uninterrupted gaming sessions while powering mobile devices quickly.

We previously covered the announcement of the One-Netbook OneXPlayer G1, a hybrid handheld gaming laptop with a unique removable keyboard and trackpad module that hides PS Vita-like game controls, but a launch date for the Ryzen-powered Windows handheld was unknown until now. One-Netbook has now officially launched the Indiegogo crowdfunding page for the OneXPlayer G1, providing more details about the upcoming hybrid's launch configurations and confirming a January launch date. Still missing from the Indiegogo page, though, are any indications of pricing or memory configurations for the G1.

Notebookcheck also says it received confirmation from One-Netbook that the OneXPlayer G1 will launch on January 9, and that it will only be available initially via Indiegogo. As for launch configurations, the G1 will be equipped with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, a 144 Hz, 8.8-inch, 2.5 K, IPS touchscreen display, and a 14,283 mAh battery. It will also offer OcuLink and dual USB4 ports, for enhanced connectivity and compatibility with a variety of eGPU solutions.

It is no surprise that Lenovo is cooking up the next-generation of Legion Go consoles for launch next month. We have reported on a plethora of leaks surrounding both the affordable Legion Go S, and the Legion Go 2 handheld gaming consoles. Finally, it appears that there is some concrete information regarding their launch - Lenovo, in an email to The Verge, has confirmed new Legion handhelds are dropping next month. But that's not all - according to The Verge, the launch event will have a surprise guest.

Our readers who have been keeping tabs on the Legion Go 2 rumor cycle will recall that we recently reported on a leaked image of the upcoming Legion Go S which had an interesting detail - the handheld features a dedicated button for Steam. Now, of course, we're completely in the dark regarding what that button's presence entails. It is entirely possible that the button is simply for opening the Steam app, or, it could indicate that the Legion Go 2 might run SteamOS - we simply don't know yet.

With the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 all but a given, much has been said about the new handheld gaming console in leaks and rumors. Now, a new set of supposed leaks from Decky Wizard on X have caused a bit of consternation among the Switch community, given the seemingly random mix of upgrades and perceived downgrades coming to the next-gen Switch. Minor details include larger buttons, a redesigned dock, and three colorways at launch, however, details around the new display and controls are more significant. For starters, the leaks suggest that the Switch 2 will have larger buttons and Hall-effect joysticks, both of which would likely be a massive upgrade in the eyes of most gamers, however it also seems as though the Switch 2 will use an LCD, as opposed to an OLED display, for the base model.

It seems as though most Switch fans were expecting an OLED panel right out the gate, given the Nintendo Switch OLED has been available for quite some time, now. Hall-effect joysticks will also likely solve one of the community's biggest complaints about the Switch controls—that being stick drift—but Nintendo would have to also provide a calibration tool in the Switch software to correct for wear and tear on the joysticks. Larger buttons may also be a welcome change for most Switch gamers, since cramped controls are a fairly common criticism of the original Switch. In addition to the news of the physical and technical specifications, Decky Wizard also claims that the Switch 2 will be lighter than the Steam Deck and be launched as soon as January 2025. In a subsequent post, Decky Wizard uploaded leaked images of the new Switch 2, showing off not only a fresh looking chassis with smaller screen bezels and a new built-in kickstand design, but also the design of the new first-party dock and two new, larger Joycon release buttons on the backs of each Joycon.

Refurbished Steam Decks have been a more affordable way to get into the handheld gaming PC space for a while now, but Valve just announced that it has now added the OLED version of the Steam Deck to its official refurbished device line-up. Now, you can get your hands on a Steam Deck OLED for as little as $439 for the 512 GB variant or $519 for the 1 TB version—a healthy $110 and $130 cheaper compared to new units, respectively.

Valve claims the refurbished Steam Deck units—generally customer returns—are functionally identical to new stock units, and it says that there is a strict inspection and testing process for all returned Steam Decks that go into the refurbished program. The only material difference between factory new and refurbished units are "cosmetic defects to be small blemishes or scratches (on the plastic casing, not the screen) generally caused from normal handling of the unit," and these will obviously vary from device to device. In case anything goes wrong, Valve offers the same warranty and support for the refurbished units as it does for its factory new Steam Decks. Unfortunately, the refurbished Steam Deck OLEDs are only available in Canada, the EU, the UK, and the US. Other regions are stuck with regular MSRP Steam Decks or third-party refurbished or used handheld consoles.

GPD recently updated its Win 4 gaming handheld with Strix Point APUs, and has now seemingly turned its attention to the Win Max 2. The system is available on Indiegogo, with an estimated shipping time set for sometime this December. The Strix Point update will not only bring improved performance to the table, but also enhance overall energy efficiency, which is crucial for such compact form factors.

The Win Max 2 is now available with AMD's latest Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU "Strix Point" APU, although a "Hawk Point" variant with a Ryzen 7 8840U is also available. The Strix Point APU outperforms the Hawk Point APU in almost every possible way, with the 12-core HX 370 pulling ahead of the 8-core 8840U by almost 45% in multithreaded benchmarks. In graphics performance, the story is much the same, with the Radeon 890M iGPU leading the 780M by almost 25% in synthetic benchmarks.

It's been public knowledge for a while now that Lenovo is planning an imminent successor to its Legion Go handheld that has proven rather popular among handheld gamers. Previous leaks and rumors indicated that the Legion Go S 8ARP1, as it will apparently be named, will be a more affordable version of the current Legion Go. Now, thanks to Roland Quandt, Windows Central, and WinFuture, more details about the upcoming Legion Go S have leaked, including images of the device, supposed specifications, and a potential price.

According to the leaks, the new affordable handheld gaming PC will feature some substantial hardware changes, including a slightly smaller eight-inch display, this time with a much lower 1920 × 1200p resolution and a slightly lower 120 Hz refresh rate. Gone, too, are the Nintendo Switch-style detachable controllers, with the Legion Go S instead featuring a white unibody design. What's more interesting than the leaked images of the Legion Go S or the hardware changes—detachable controllers or not, the Legion Go is still intended to be used as a handheld—is the new AMD APU that will seemingly power the Go S. The as-yet unannounced AMD Ryzen Z2G looks like it will be an odd core configuration featuring an AMD Radeon 680M iGPU and Zen 3+ cores. Ultimately, the APU seems like it will put the Legion Go S somewhere between the current-generation Legion Go and devices featuring the AMD Ryzen Z1 (non-extreme), which is a good place to be if Lenovo hopes to compete with the likes of the Steam Deck OLED, which will seemingly cost around the same as the Legion Go S, depending on which region you are in.

It looks like Sony is joining Xbox in the development of a standalone handheld gaming console to compete with the likes of the Nintendo Switch and Valve Steam Deck. According to a Bloomberg's insider sources, a Sony gaming handheld is already in development, and would be designed with Sony PlayStation 5 games in mind. Unlike the PlayStation Portal, the future gaming console wouldn't be dependent on game streaming and would, instead, run games locally, meaning it would likely need significantly more powerful hardware than the Portal has. This would be Sony's first true foray into the portable gaming console market since the likes of the PS Vita, which is largely considered to be a commercial disappointment.

Sony isn't the first of the console giants looking into creating its own gaming handheld after Nintendo's Switch. Obviously, Valve, traditionally more of a software company, already has the immensely popular Steam Deck, but we also recently reported that Microsoft is in the early stages of developing its own handheld gaming console. Details on the future Sony gaming handheld are scant, and there has been no official word from Sony about the console. That said, it wouldn't be surprising to see it equipped with an AMD APU, similar to the likes of the Steam Deck and the PS5, since Sony already has history and a commercial relationship with AMD hardware.

MSI previously gave us a teaser of what to expect from its upcoming Claw 8 AI+ gaming handheld with Intel's Lunar Lake Core Ultra CPUs, calling it "the most advanced 8-inch gaming handheld in the market," but a recent CES listing has divulged more details about the upcoming challenger to the likes of the Lenovo Legion Go. For starters, the upgraded battery capacity has been revealed, along with an estimated battery life and performance figures. Supposedly, more information will be revealed about the Claw 8 AI+ at CES 2025, which starts on January 7, 2025.

According to the CES page, the new MSI Claw 8 AI+ will have an 8-inch display and an 82 WHr battery, which will supposedly be able to deliver "4+ hours of gameplay for AAA titles." However, these manufacturer claims are generally to be taken with healthy helpings of salt, especially in when it comes to claims as nebulous as "AAA titles" without any proposed quality settings, specific games, or frame rates. Regarding the display, it wouldn't be surprising to see MSI use the same display as the one found in the Lenovo Legion Go, since there is a somewhat limited selection of 8-inch displays for handheld gaming devices. The MSI Claw 8 AI+ will also use Intel's 2nd-generation ARC iGPUs in conjunction with AI-enhanced graphics, which should provide a healthy uptick in both performance and efficiency, with the CES listing touting 48 TOPS of compute power.

AYANEO has officially revealed its latest handheld gaming console, dubbed the AYANEO 3. The company has teased the handheld multiple times in the past, while refraining from sharing any specifications regarding the same. Now, however, the company has detailed the internals for its new flagship handheld along with a few extra details.

The AYANEO 3 appears to be powered exclusively by AMD APUs, with Intel's Lunar Lake options nowhere to be found. Interested buyers will get to choose between either the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 "Strix Point" APU, or the Ryzen 7 8840U "Hawk Point" APU. The "Strix Point" option happens to be AMD's latest and greatest, packing 4 Zen 5 and 8 Zen 5c cores, while the "Hawk Point" option sports 8 Zen 4 cores only.

Apacer today introduced the PE4430-R, a compact M.2 NVMe SSD in the M.2-2230 form-factor, which makes it suitable for handheld gaming consoles, such as the Steam Deck. The drive uses a graphene based heatspreader that's 0.17 mm-thick. It comes in 1 TB and 2 TB capacities, and appears to be based on a combination of a Phison E27T DRAMless controller, and a single 3D TLC NAND flash chip. It takes advantage of the PCI-Express 4.0 x4 host interface, offering sequential transfer speeds of up to 5500 MB/s reads, with up to 5200 MB/s writes, with around 700,000 IOPS of 4K random reads, and around 880,000 IOPS 4K random writes. The Apacer PE4430-R comes with some impressive endurance figures, of 500 TBW for the 1 TB variant, and 1,000 TBW for the 2 TB. The company didn't reveal pricing information.

The second generation of AMD Ryzen Z-series processors for handheld gaming consoles, will be led by the Ryzen Z2 Extreme. There will also be an affordable Ryzen Z2 (non-Extreme). We've known for some time that the Z2 Extreme is based on the 4 nm "Strix Point" monolithic silicon, with some optimization (the highest bins to facilitate the best energy efficiency); but now we have a few more details thanks to a leak by Golden Pig Upgrade. AMD's engineering effort with the Z2 Extreme will be to give the console the most generational performance uplift from the iGPU, rather than the CPU.

The "Strix Point" silicon features a significantly updated iGPU from the previous-generation "Phoenix." It's based on the more efficient RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture, which is better optimized for LPDDR5 memory; and comes with 16 compute units (CU), compared to 12 on the "Phoenix." The Ryzen Z2 Extreme will come with all 16 CU enabled. The CPU is where some interesting changes are planned. The "Strix Point" silicon features a dual-CCX CPU, one of these contains four "Zen 5" CPU cores sharing a 16 MB L3 cache, while the other features eight "Zen 5c" cores sharing an 8 MB L3 cache. For the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, AMD is going with an odd 3+5 core configuration. What this means is that the Ryzen Z2 Extreme will have 3 "Zen 5" cores, and 5 "Zen 5c" cores. The L3 cache on the CCX with "Zen 5" cores has been reduced to 8 MB in size. On paper, this is still an 8-core/16-thread CPU with 16 MB of L3 cache (same as "Phoenix,") but now you know that there's more going on.

Valve has merged a new script into the master branch of its SteamOS Gamescope compositor on GitHub. This update introduces display configuration support for the Asus ROG Ally and ROG Ally X, notably enabling Gamescope to utilize the full 48-120 Hz Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) range on the 1920x1080p panels of these devices. Having a wide VRR range is especially worth considering the challenges of maintaining high frame rates on portable devices due to limited computational power. So with VRR being present at 48 Hz, handheld consoles reach tear-free gaming even demanding titles. This update follows a series of recent Steam-related improvements, including an August update that added support for Asus ROG Ally and ROG Ally X buttons to the SteamOS input layer.

With VRR support being added now, we may see future Steam Deck iterations with VRR display support, as the current Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED don't support this feature. This VRR update shows Valve's continued progress towards a broader release of SteamOS for various PC platforms. It confirms the company's focus on optimizing the operating system for handheld devices as the future of SteamOS. What used to be mini PCs, Valve now sees as handheld gaming consoles, which are the target area of SteamOS. Despite the growing anticipation, the exact release date for a broader SteamOS rollout remains uncertain, given Valve's notorious "Valve Time" approach to product launches. However, with community-driven SteamOS 3 ports like Bazzite and HoloISO already available, enthusiasts have alternative options to explore in the meantime.

Nintendo's next-generation Switch 2 handheld gaming console is nearing its release. As leaks intensify about its future specifications, we get information about its planning stages. According to Moore's Law is Dead YouTube video, we learn that Nintendo didn't choose AMD APU to be the powerhouse behind Switch 2 due to poor battery life. In a bid to secure the best chip at a mere five watts of power, the Japanese company had two choices: NVIDIA Tegra or AMD APU. With some preliminary testing and evaluation, AMD APU wasn't reportedly power-efficient at 5 Watt TDP, while the NVIDIA Tegra chip was maintaining sufficient battery life and performance at target specifications.

Allegedly the AMD APU was good for 15 W design, but Nintendo didn't want to place a bigger battery so that the device remains lighter and cheaper. The final design will likely carry a battery with a 20 Wh capacity, which will be the main power source behind the NVIDIA Tegra T239 SoC. As a reminder, the Tegra T239 SoC features eight-core Arm A78C cluster with modified NVIDIA Ampere cores in combination with DLSS, featuring some of the latest encoding/decoding elements from Ada Lovelace, like AV1. There are likely 1536 CUDA cores paired with 128-bit LPDDR5 memory running at 102 GB/s bandwidth. For final specifications, we have to wait for the official launch, but with rumors starting to intensify, we can expect to see it relatively soon.

Acer today announced its entry into the handheld gaming space with the launch of the new Acer Nitro Blaze 7 (GN771). The device combines cutting-edge technology and a compact design to always bring next-level gaming and entertainment within reach. Acer's first-generation handheld AI gaming PC features an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor, with Ryzen AI that optimizes performance and responsiveness across a wide range of games and applications.

The design allows users to easily slip the device into their bags or pockets for instant playing time on the go. It features a 7-inch Full HD (FHD) IPS display with a touch interface, plus AMD FreeSync Premium technology, and a blazing-fast 144 Hz refresh rate. This allows players to experience enhanced visuals and responsive controls while playing their favorite AAA titles. The system runs on Windows 11 and features the new Acer Game Space application which supports the addition of games from multiple platforms.