Alienware's 'Concept UFO' prototype brings Switch-like handheld gaming to PC players

[Polycount]

In context: If there's one event we at TechSpot look forward to every year, it's the Consumer Electronics Show. Companies don't always bring their most practical in-dev products to the show, but they do tend to bring their most ambitious or otherwise exciting ones. Alienware arguably has a foot in both camps this year following the reveal of its "Concept UFO" handheld gaming device.

When you first lay eyes on the Concept UFO, you'll likely notice some striking similarities to Nintendo's ever-popular Switch console. It has an almost identical overall design (with a unique Alienware spin, of course) and similarly-placed buttons and joysticks.

That's not where the similarities end, though. Like the Switch, the Concept UFO features detachable controllers, as well as a kickstand that allows you to prop the device up on a flat surface -- say, an airplane tray or a coffee table. Further, the Concept UFO can be hooked up to an external display for big-screen gaming, just like -- you guessed it -- the Switch.

However, for all of the parallels we could draw between the two gadgets, the Concept UFO does have one key thing that sets it apart: it's a full-fledged Windows 10 gaming PC. Indeed, Alienware is positioning the UFO as the PC gamer's Switch alternative -- it's just as portable (from what we can tell), but presumably far more powerful, and with access to a far bigger game library.

We're not sure exactly how much more powerful it will be, but those who have gotten hands-on time with the UFO at CES this year say the device managed to tackle a decent array of games with ease.

Titles like Rocket League, World War Z, and Mortal Kombat 11 were among the games tested by journalists on the Concept UFO, and by all accounts, they looked and ran well. Or, at least, they performed significantly better than the average Switch title.

To be clear, we aren't bashing Nintendo here. The Switch came out years ago, so dated hardware (by modern standards) is to be expected, and it remains an impressive device regardless (primarily due to its fantastic game library). Further, without testing the Concept UFO for ourselves, we can't verify the performance or gameplay claims Alienware and members of the press are touting.

Regardless, Alienware says the Concept UFO will pack 10th-gen Intel chip hardware (no word on its GPU), which will apparently deliver "uncompromised" on-the-go performance and excellent battery life.

Alienware also claims the Concept UFO will ship with an 8-inch, 1900x1200 display (with an unknown refresh rate), which is pretty good for a handheld console. For reference, the Switch has a 6-inch, 1280x720p screen.

Unfortunately, that's about all we have for now. Alienware hasn't given the public much information to go off of here, so we have no idea how big the UFO's battery will actually be, nor do we know what kind of real-world gaming performance we can expect from it.

Details like pricing and availability are also up in the air, which is to be expected, since the UFO is effectively just a concept gadget at the moment. Regardless, it's an interesting idea, and we look forward to seeing what (if anything) Alienware does with it over the coming months.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83429-alienware-concept-ufo-prototype-brings-switch-like-handheld.html

 

[Squid Surprise]

The reason the Switch was (and remains) so popular is due to the great game library it has - which have been designed specifically FOR THE SWITCH. They take advantage of the unique control scheme (much like it's wildly successful predecessor, the Wii) and therefore, the "dated hardware" is largely irrelevant as the games generally play flawlessly.

The main hurdle Alienware (and any Nintendo imitator) faces is that the majority of games they will support were made for either a fully-fledged PC or a PS/XBox and will be optimized accordingly. Naturally, I'm sure some games will play great - but don't expect the same enjoyment with your entire PC games library.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The reason the Switch was (and remains) so popular is due to the great game library it has - which have been designed specifically FOR THE SWITCH. They take advantage of the unique control scheme (much like it's wildly successful predecessor, the Wii) and therefore, the "dated hardware" is largely irrelevant as the games generally play flawlessly.

The main hurdle Alienware (and any Nintendo imitator) faces is that the majority of games they will support were made for either a fully-fledged PC or a PS/XBox and will be optimized accordingly. Naturally, I'm sure some games will play great - but don't expect the same enjoyment with your entire PC games library.

The vast majority of new PC games are either portable to consoles or ported from consoles: Fallout, Call of Duty, Witcher, GTA, Mortal Kombat, etc...

What ultimately needs to happen - and what will happen - is that a "UFO PROFILE" will be made which organizes these controls the same way you'd see them if you were to use an Xbox One controller.

It's so good to see this because I was never happy with Switch or Vita and I absolutely think this will make a huge splash as an alternative.

You can count me in.

After all, I'm an Alienware biggie.

 

[kira setsu]

The reason the Switch was (and remains) so popular is due to the great game library it has - which have been designed specifically FOR THE SWITCH. They take advantage of the unique control scheme (much like it's wildly successful predecessor, the Wii) and therefore, the "dated hardware" is largely irrelevant as the games generally play flawlessly.

The main hurdle Alienware (and any Nintendo imitator) faces is that the majority of games they will support were made for either a fully-fledged PC or a PS/XBox and will be optimized accordingly. Naturally, I'm sure some games will play great - but don't expect the same enjoyment with your entire PC games library.

the switch on release was just a wii U but portable, but since ninty isn't dumb they didnt let its gimmick be its only strong suit and quickly followed up with games.

this thing could do the same, pc gamers need to let go of that elite attitude, pretty much everything can be played with a gamepad and all of its games end up on console or come from it(sometimes even run better), shoot, the witcher 3 which was a benchmark now runs on the lowly switch

 

[Vrmithrax]

Funny thing, anybody else remember Razer's Project Fiona (later renamed Edge) from 2012/2013? Gaming tablet, in that case with a dock that had more prominent ergonomic control handles on each side, that really didn't go anywhere. And I think it was for the exact reasons that have been laid out already - games need to be able to run effectively in the package. PC gamers are a discerning bunch, they (we) tend to not want to have to bump down in quality or fps, so it becomes hard to get a small form factor that can punch hard enough with current game engines. Lack of acceptably powerful mobile hardware/chipsets was a big factor with Fiona, let's hope Alienware can overcome the hurdles and get some of the PC master race to go portable.

 

[mattferg]

The vast majority of new PC games are either portable to consoles or ported from consoles: Fallout, Call of Duty, Witcher, GTA, Mortal Kombat, etc...

What ultimately needs to happen - and what will happen - is that a "UFO PROFILE" will be made which organizes these controls the same way you'd see them if you were to use an Xbox One controller.

It's so good to see this because I was never happy with Switch or Vita and I absolutely think this will make a huge splash as an alternative.

You can count me in.

After all, I'm an Alienware biggie.

Nothing needs to be done to make a "UFO Profile" - this things has identical controls to an Xbox controller and as such will work out of the box with any game which supports one... which is pretty much nearly all of them from 2010 onwards.

 

[mattferg]

The reason the Switch was (and remains) so popular is due to the great game library it has - which have been designed specifically FOR THE SWITCH. They take advantage of the unique control scheme (much like it's wildly successful predecessor, the Wii) and therefore, the "dated hardware" is largely irrelevant as the games generally play flawlessly.

The main hurdle Alienware (and any Nintendo imitator) faces is that the majority of games they will support were made for either a fully-fledged PC or a PS/XBox and will be optimized accordingly. Naturally, I'm sure some games will play great - but don't expect the same enjoyment with your entire PC games library.

Almost all PC games today are designed to work with an Xbox controller extremely well - something the UFO almost completely duplicates. Nearly every game from 2010 onwards has done this, and even auto-detects and switches control prompts and UI elements to match the Xbox controller buttons. As such, you install Steam on here and nearly every PC game (with the exception of things like City Skylines and MMOs) will work amazingly. Why on earth would a fully fledged PC be needed?

As this device uses the new beefy Intel GPU elements, it can likely handle most games made in the last 5 years at high 720p, if not 1080p. Literally on day 1 of launch this game has a better game library than the Switch, with most people already owning hundreds of games which will work flawlessly on it.

 

[Lionvibez]

The vast majority of new PC games are either portable to consoles or ported from consoles: Fallout, Call of Duty, Witcher, GTA, Mortal Kombat, etc...

What ultimately needs to happen - and what will happen - is that a "UFO PROFILE" will be made which organizes these controls the same way you'd see them if you were to use an Xbox One controller.

It's so good to see this because I was never happy with Switch or Vita and I absolutely think this will make a huge splash as an alternative.

You can count me in.

After all, I'm an Alienware biggie.

meh I'm not big on alienware just overpriced products.

I do however have hope for this. And if it meets all the checkboxes I may grab one.

Nothing needs to be done to make a "UFO Profile" - this things has identical controls to an Xbox controller and as such will work out of the box with any game which supports one... which is pretty much nearly all of them from 2010 onwards.

This if you are smart you design to meet a current layout. It would just be extra work and money chasing developers to create this profile in all their games.

 

[OptimumSlinky]

Honestly, this is awesome, and a great use of the Alienware brand. For a long time it felt like Alienwares were just becoming rebadged Dells, so I'm encouraged by the new Aurora and this UFO concept to see the Alienware team get experimental with the hardware while still taking advantage of the Dell mothership's supply chain.

 

[ShObiT]

Funny thing, anybody else remember Razer's Project Fiona (later renamed Edge) from 2012/2013? Gaming tablet, in that case with a dock that had more prominent ergonomic control handles on each side, that really didn't go anywhere. And I think it was for the exact reasons that have been laid out already - games need to be able to run effectively in the package. PC gamers are a discerning bunch, they (we) tend to not want to have to bump down in quality or fps, so it becomes hard to get a small form factor that can punch hard enough with current game engines. Lack of acceptably powerful mobile hardware/chipsets was a big factor with Fiona, let's hope Alienware can overcome the hurdles and get some of the PC master race to go portable.

With How powerful AMD's APUs has become, nowadays its really be possible, back in 2012/2013 we had FX and Intel IGP...

 

[Lionvibez]

Update: AMD's chief architect of gaming solutions, Frank Azor, wrote on Twitter that the UFO runs on Ryzen. It's unclear if it's an embedded chip or something else.

 

[mbrowne5061]

Funny thing, anybody else remember Razer's Project Fiona (later renamed Edge) from 2012/2013? Gaming tablet, in that case with a dock that had more prominent ergonomic control handles on each side, that really didn't go anywhere. And I think it was for the exact reasons that have been laid out already - games need to be able to run effectively in the package. PC gamers are a discerning bunch, they (we) tend to not want to have to bump down in quality or fps, so it becomes hard to get a small form factor that can punch hard enough with current game engines. Lack of acceptably powerful mobile hardware/chipsets was a big factor with Fiona, let's hope Alienware can overcome the hurdles and get some of the PC master race to go portable.

Mobile gaming has also come a long way since those years. I mean, we have COD on iPads now. Actual COD, and people play it. Even if this device (by chance) happens to be unsuccessful, I think we will see more attempts at mobile PC gaming in the near future. This is probably just the first, and may take several tries to figure out the right formula get PC gamers onboard.

 

[Irata]

Update: AMD's chief architect of gaming solutions, Frank Azor, wrote on Twitter that the UFO runs on Ryzen. It's unclear if it's an embedded chip or something else.

Thanks. Just read that, too.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Mobile gaming has also come a long way since those years. I mean, we have COD on iPads now. Actual COD, and people play it. Even if this device (by chance) happens to be unsuccessful, I think we will see more attempts at mobile PC gaming in the near future. This is probably just the first, and may take several tries to figure out the right formula get PC gamers onboard.

I agree. Hardware is catching up in the mobile sector faster than any other area in the PC arena. Razer had a great idea, just didn't have the technology to back it up fully back then. With the current state of mobile APUs and GPUs, the future has a chance of looking bright for mobile PC gaming.

 

[Morris Minor]

Meh rather use a laptop

 

[Squid Surprise]

Almost all PC games today are designed to work with an Xbox controller extremely well - something the UFO almost completely duplicates. Nearly every game from 2010 onwards has done this, and even auto-detects and switches control prompts and UI elements to match the Xbox controller buttons. As such, you install Steam on here and nearly every PC game (with the exception of things like City Skylines and MMOs) will work amazingly. Why on earth would a fully fledged PC be needed?

As this device uses the new beefy Intel GPU elements, it can likely handle most games made in the last 5 years at high 720p, if not 1080p. Literally on day 1 of launch this game has a better game library than the Switch, with most people already owning hundreds of games which will work flawlessly on it.

It's not JUST the controller... from the DS, Wii and Switch, there are specific ways to play games that only those platforms provide (or provided at the time). This may yet succeed - but all it really is... is a cool gaming laptop with XBox-like controls.

There are Nintendo games programmed specifically to make use of the unique hardware (like motion sensing joysticks, dual screens, etc) that will probably be few and far between when it comes to this Alienware device. After all, Alienware doesn't actually make any games and, as far as I know, there are no partnerships signed between Dell and and big name game companies (I'm sure that would have been trumpeted out if it was so, much like Google did when they released Stadia). This would have to be a success for a few years before game developers invest in tuning their games towards it - by then, it might be too late.

 

[yeeeeman]

Hopefully it is Tigerlake U with Xe graphics.

 

[Evernessince]

Update: AMD's chief architect of gaming solutions, Frank Azor, wrote on Twitter that the UFO runs on Ryzen. It's unclear if it's an embedded chip or something else.

Yep, Tom's hardware have already updated their article to reflect this.

 

[Jimster480]

Update: AMD's chief architect of gaming solutions, Frank Azor, wrote on Twitter that the UFO runs on Ryzen. It's unclear if it's an embedded chip or something else.

This makes perfect sense.
They said that this uses an Intel chip; which would make no sense due to the atrocious performance of Intel's GPU's (even the new Icelake ones).

 

[Jimster480]

Update: AMD's chief architect of gaming solutions, Frank Azor, wrote on Twitter that the UFO runs on Ryzen. It's unclear if it's an embedded chip or something else.

This makes perfect sense.
They said that this uses an Intel chip; which would make no sense due to the atrocious performance of Intel's GPU's (even the new Icelake ones).

The Ryzen mobile chips can definitely power a device like this. In having multiple laptops with the first gen of them already; they are quite powerful for everything and actually fit into the power envelope unlike Intel's offerings of the past years.

 

[Jimster480]

Hopefully it is Tigerlake U with Xe graphics.

It will be using AMD