Defining Duke, Episode 242 | The TRUTH About The Xbox Ally Is Here...
Added 2025-08-21 16:00:25 +0000 UTCGamescom took place this week! On top of Opening Night Live which was home to many reveals, Xbox held their own show the day after. It's there that we finally got information on the Xbox Ally. Everything from its official release date to features, specs, capabilities, and so on. With the rumored price tag floating at $549.99 and $899.99 respectively, is this handheld doing enough to justify its enthusiast status? Despite everything being an Xbox, it seems like the Xbox Ally will only function as such if a title supports "Play Anywhere." While not a concern for future games as we've seen many releases support the future, what this means for your established Xbox library isn't great news. We parse through it all... and a lot of Lego Batman.
Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:07:28 - Health Is Wealth
0:31:52 - Xbox is safe from Tyson... for now
0:33:26 - Grounded 2 is outpacing the first
0:38:08 - Ex-PlayStation Exec Shawn Layden on Game Pass
0:57:15 - Details on the Helldivers x ODST collab
1:01:21 - Rod Fergusson is the new Head of the BioShock Franchise
1:08:28 - High On Life 2 is releasing February 13th, 2026
1:11:31 - Triangle Strategy shadow drops on Xbox
1:15:35 - Mafia: The Old Country sales thus far
1:17:34 - Shenmue 3 Enhanced Edition announced by ININ
1:36:41 - What We’re Playing
2:02:23 - Gamescom recap
2:45:29 - Updates on Xbox Ally
3:01:30 - PlayStation hikes console price
3:08:56 - Leaving Xbox Game Pass
3:10:21 - Game Pass Pick Of The Week
Comments
Shame on you guys for confusing GRAW with Future Soldier!
Sixth Gen Console Enjoyer
2025-08-27 14:55:08 +0000 UTCI wonder if we ever see a “universal Xbox library” (console games and PC games fully play anywhere). I got rid of my Series X and have slowly been rebuilding my catalog in Steam through sales. Play Anywhere is great but only 37 of my games had that feature. Which sucks
TheMuff1nMon
2025-08-25 17:01:13 +0000 UTCI still don’t get why anyone is excited about this new device - it’s just the existing Ally X with a new OS. Seems people thought it could play Xbox games? But was never claimed to do so
TheMuff1nMon
2025-08-24 16:27:46 +0000 UTCAnother tip, get your smithing up and upgrade Radzig’s sword, it’s beastly
Trill Spencer
2025-08-23 19:20:01 +0000 UTCI was really surprised Matty and Cog thought the Xbox Ally would play Xbox games that weren't "Play Anywhere". That seemed really obvious to me. Wake up Dukes, they want you on PC!
Rob P
2025-08-23 02:33:22 +0000 UTCCog is missing the forest for the trees here. Layden is definitely digging at XBOX about their "failure to launch". He even proves the point to his contrary when he talks about games that don't have a chance being able to grab the bag so to speak... But Xbox studios games should not have been those games, and treating them like those games is what failed the service. It is what we see now as Xbox cancelling projects now because GamePass isn't that "guy". Even furthering bolstering Laydens point is Activision's purchase failure to bring anything of substance to the growth of the service, I mean holy cow, thank GOD Microsoft is a software and services powerhouse, because they wouldn't exist after that bungled buy, otherwise.
Aaron B Vick
2025-08-22 14:34:03 +0000 UTC
