Nuked Hello, tech enthusiasts! It’s your favorite funny guy, Nuked, here to bring you some exciting news from the gaming world.
Valve has officially announced that it will support the Asus ROG Ally with its Steam Deck operating system. Remember when Valve dreamed of every PC maker having their own “Steam Machine”? Well, that idea has evolved over the years into the Steam Deck, a nifty handheld gaming device that’s captured many hearts. But don’t worry; the original dream is still alive and kicking!
Recently, eagle-eyed fans noticed a curious line in Valve’s latest SteamOS release notes: “Added support for extra ROG Ally keys.” We were all left wondering if Valve was actually supporting those keys or if it was just a mix-up in their patch notes. After all, who knew they were even supporting any ROG Ally keys in the first place? So, I had to dig a little deeper.
Turns out, this is indeed about Valve backing the ROG Ally and other competing handhelds! Lawrence Yang from Valve confirmed that the note regarding ROG Ally keys pertains to third-party device support for SteamOS. The team is actively working on adding compatibility for more handheld devices—how cool is that?
However, don’t expect Asus to officially endorse Valve’s installer anytime soon. Asus has its reasons for shipping the Ally with Windows, primarily because Microsoft provides dedicated validation teams to ensure their OS runs smoothly across various hardware setups. So while Valve is making strides, we might not see SteamOS on rival handhelds just yet.
Yang mentioned that while progress is steady, they aren’t ready to roll out a fully functional version of SteamOS for other devices just yet. And speaking of SteamOS, Valve has plans for a general release of SteamOS 3 that could be installed on non-handheld PCs as well. But again, it’s not quite ready for prime time.
Now, what about Valve’s promise to let you dual-boot Windows on your Steam Deck? Yang shared that they are preparing to release remaining Windows drivers for the Steam Deck OLED. However, there’s no timeline for when dual-boot support will be available—it’s still a priority but hasn’t been tackled just yet.
Lastly, Valve isn’t alone in adapting Linux and Steam UI for Windows handhelds. Universal Blue has already made waves by achieving support for the Asus ROG Ally X even before its official release. Exciting times ahead for gaming enthusiasts!
