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Having covered the pre-announcement of the ROG Ally X announcement a few weeks ago, we will admit to being left feeling a little underwhelmed. One year on since the announcement of the original ROG Ally we were getting the promise of a machine that should have perhaps been the device that launched originally for more money, leaving current ROG Ally users with a feeling in their gut that somewhere along the way, they should have just waited.
You don’t need buyer’s remorse a year on and this speedy iteration of hardware is annoying. You can’t expect all the people who supported your initial venture just to have a few hundred more dollars to drop on a machine with a better battery and some other changes – even though they really deserve those upgrades for supporting you in the first place – without them there would be no iterative leap.
Valve did something similar with the Steam Deck, although they were in more uncharted water with the original release, 3D Printer companies do it, heck, even Apple does it and we, as customers continue to enable the behavior. The last thing I am going to say on the matter is, if a better battery and more USB ports are possible a year after launch, they were likely possible at launch. Now some owners will be left with a feeling they have a second-rate device compared to the one they want. Why buy the ROG Ally X if the ROG Ally 2 could be months around the corner?
Anyway, enough hypotheticals. Let’s have a look at what the new ROG Ally X will be packing.
ROG Ally X Specs
Rather than just give you a list of specs to glaze over let’s talk about some of the key things here and compare them to what we already have.
Asus has done a great job keeping the weight of the machine down despite dropping in a much heavier battery. It uses a different, lighter plastic for the shell, smaller yet more powerful fans, and saves more real estate on the PCBs inside.
Joysticks have been improved dramatically to bring them in line with what you would expect with an Xbox or PlayStation controller and the speakers have been upgraded for better sound. The D pad’s size has been enlarged but we still don’t get Hall Effect sensors on the controls. I wonder if they will come as a selling point for the ROG Ally 2? Hmm.
Storage has been revamped, the Ally X comes with a much-needed boost to 1TB onboard – double the original size and your internal upgrade options look like they may be more viable to put something really large in there, but that will be hacky and DIY, and not for everybody.
ASUS reckons the boost to the speed, as well as double the memory will provide a 15% bonus to performance which will obviously be welcome.
So is the Rog Ally X going to be worth the buy? If I have sounded harsh so far it is mainly because I really like the original ROG Ally. While some don’t like the fact it comes with Windows rather than a proprietary OS like the Steam Deck, I found the ease of just being able to install Game Pass, Epic Game Store, Ubi Connect, etc without faffing around just made playing my gaming library which is spread around all over the place much easier.
My issue here is if you already have one then the pre-purchase of $800 is asking a lot of existing owners who backed the original.
If you are new to the blossoming world of the PC gaming handheld you have a choice – do you want to drop that amount of money on a pocket gaming device? The Switch costs a couple of hundred dollars. I know it’s not the same, but if you only game on the go “a bit” you have a decision.
The Steam Deck with its beautiful OLED screen is also the cool kid on the block as a cheaper option.
Time will tell whether the price creep of the ROG Ally X will be worth it over the original. Extra storage is nice, and better performance is great, but I had an awful lot of fun with the original Ally and while all these little extras are nice, I would be hard-pressed to drop that amount of money on an iterative upgrade if I had the original.
When is the ROG ALLY X released?
You can pre-order the Xlly X now and the release date is currently earmarked for 22nd July 2024. There is no reason we can foresee that this will change, so you should be able to get your hands on it within six weeks of the time of going to press.
Like the original ROG Ally, you will also get a free three-month credit with Game Pass Ultimate, which you can either start up an account with or add to your existing account.
How much is the ROG Ally X?
The Ally X is listed at $799 which is between $100-$150 more expensive than the original model depending on when you purchased it.
Can you trade your existing ROG Ally in towards the new model?
We went through Best Buy’s trade-in program which is offered at the time of pre-purchase and you can in fact trade in an existing Ally towards the cost of purchase. Having said that, if you have one in good condition and with all the power supply and cables it will still only net you $180, so you may be able to sell it for more elsewhere or even eBay it to raise more funds.
This means if you have bought an existing Ally for around the $640 mark and then pre-order the Ally X for $799 and trade in for $180 you are still in the hole for around $1250 in the last year for a gaming handheld.
Not so much a problem if the Ally X is your first model, although $799 is still not exactly cheap.
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Xbox Game Pass will be saying goodbye to five games on June 15, with some big favorites being amongst the first to leave this month.
The subscription service removes games from its content library every two weeks, usually in order to make room for new additions to the membership.
In the first couple of weeks of June, players will have one last chance to obtain achievements across these games as they’ll soon be gone.
Games leaving Xbox Game Pass on June 15, 2024

Bramble: The Mountain King,
High of Life,
Rune Factory 4 Special,
Spacelines from the Far Out
The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales.

All five were added to the Game Pass some time ago, with most being in June 2023 and others a year before then. If you are hoping to have one last play though, most of the games can be beaten in a comfortable enough time ahead of them being taken away.
According to HowLongToBeat data, Bramble: The Mountain King takes just 4.5 hours to 7 hours to achieve everything. High on Life is estimated to be 9.5 – 20.5 hours, Spacelines from the Far Out is 5 – 14.5 hours, and The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales is 7 – 13.5 hours.
It’s only Rune Factory 4 Special that may not be achievable at between 39 to 166 hours to beat the game.
Like always, these games will have a 20% discount on them until they leave the subscription format in June and some could appear in the Xbox Store sales.
What’s coming to the Xbox Game Pass in June 2024?
Microsoft has announced three games to be added to the Game Pass, but more will likely be coming.
So far, we know that Firework will be available from June 4 but only for the PC Game Pass. The same day will see the addition of Rolling Hills and a few weeks later, on June 18, Still Wakes the Deep will be on the Game Pass too.
While people are left in the dark about what else is to come for June, this will likely change from June 9 as the Xbox Games Showcase takes place on that date.
From there, Microsoft will probably share more about what’s to come and potentially announce plans to bring back certain classics.
Featured Image: Photo by Alex Escu on Unsplash
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As the New York Stock Exchange becomes the primary listing for shares by Flutter Entertainment, the group’s chief financial officer has stepped down as he can’t commit to spending extensive time in the United States.
Flutter is the world’s biggest online gambling group which owns some of the most well-known betting and gaming brands like US-based FanDuel.
In a directorate change, the board of Flutter announced the CFO transition and said it was in the company’s “best interests for Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson to step down from his role as Group CFO and Executive Director.”
This came about following a conversation about the “need for extensive executive management time to be spent in the United States.”
After a conversation with the CFO “concerning his ability to meet that requirement in light of his family commitments in the UK,” the decision to step down was taken.
Flutter appoints new Group Chief Financial Officer
Replacing him will be Rob Coldrake who was previously the chief financial officer of Flutter International, a role he had been in since 2020. Before that, he spent 14 years with TUI Travel.
Peter Jackson, CEO, welcomed Coldrake into the role: “I am delighted that Rob will become our next Group CFO.
“During his four years at Flutter, he has shown himself to be a CFO of exceptional caliber and his skills and experience will help us to take advantage of the significant opportunities before us. I would like to thank Paul for his contribution to the Group, particularly in relation to achieving our US primary listing, and I wish him and his family well.”
“The Board welcomes the appointment of Rob as Group CFO and is especially delighted we were able to develop such a high-quality executive within our own business.  We look forward to working with him and the team in the future.  I would also like to take the opportunity to wish Paul well and to thank him for his contribution to the Group,” said Chair, John Bryant.
Featured Image: Via LinkedIn
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Doom scrolling on Instagram may soon no longer be possible, as reports suggest the social network is testing an ‘Ad Break,’ feature which will include an unskippable ad with a countdown lasting 3 to 5 seconds.
The platform has always been free to use and while paid-for posts are visible in the feed, users can scroll past them along, unlike the potential new introduction.
A screenshot of the feature was shared by someone on X (formerly Twitter) and it reads: “You’re seeing an ad break. Ad breaks are a new way of seeing ads on Instagram. Sometimes you may need to view an ad before you can keep browsing.”

Got the Instagram “ad break” again & this time I clicked the info button to see their explanation
So abusive to their users to do this pic.twitter.com/BrzndbSvNk
— Dan Levy דניאל לוי (@TheDanLevy) June 1, 2024

Another social media fan took to Reddit to share the screenshot of the ad break they received when scrolling and said: “Coming soon for everyone. This’ll be the last straw for me when it comes to Instagram. I could stand the plethora of ads sprinkled throughout the entire app already, but unskippable? Gtfo.”
While the Meta-owned company hasn’t yet publicly shared the news about the feature, it appears they’re testing it first on a small number of accounts before potentially rolling it out for the masses.
If brought in entirely, revenue for Instagram could rise substantially as they’ve always used advertising as the monetization model. With unskippable ads, they’ll be able to
Unskippable ads aren’t going down well with consumers
No one wants to sit through an advert if they didn’t have to before, so understandably people aren’t happy about the slow introduction.
“Closed the app immediately when the ad break popped up and will continue to do so. Thanks Instagram for the handy pop up that reminds me I have something better to be doing,” said a Redditor.
Another thanked the platform for getting them off their phone: “Ends up making me do the exact opposite of what they want by closing the app when I come across one. So thanks for helping me reduce my screen time IG! Smart move.”
Featured Image: By Dan Levy on X
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