Microsoft Should Bring Back the Metro UI for Handheld Gaming
While the Metro UI wasn’t the best way of interacting with your desktop or laptop computer, it could be the best way to interact with Windows on your handheld PC. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, Microsoft should unretire Metro and unleash it on handheld PCs, here’s why.
The Windows Struggle on Gaming Handhelds Is Real
Windows gaming handhelds are mostly great, but they all share one major issue: Windows itself. As someone who owns an ASUS ROG Ally, I can attest that navigating around Windows on a daily basis with an analog stick playing the role of a very poor mouse replacement is one of the worst gadget-related experiences I've ever had.
While nowadays it isn’t that bad, because I mostly use Moonlight to locally stream games and Armoury Crate to launch games and set up gaming-related stuff, it was pretty bad during the first month of owning the device because I had to actually use and navigate around Windows, a lot.
Setting up the device, debloating Windows, disabling stuff such as Memory Integrity that hampers gaming performance, and installing game launchers and games was a proper struggle because the Windows UI is in no way whatsoever optimized for thumbsticks and D-pads.
In all honesty, ASUS could’ve included a trackpad on the right-hand side that would immensely improve the whole experience, but even then, the regular desktop UI of Windows 11 would be far from ideal and only frustrating instead of infuriating.
Other issues with the Windows handheld experience include updates messing up gaming performance, Windows occasionally overwriting GPU drivers, or installing apps that bring more harm than good without the user's knowledge.
Like the time when a Windows update had quietly installed the OpenCL, OpenGL, and Vulkan Compatibility Pack app, which then started crashing games left and right until someone on the ROG Ally subreddit had identified the perp and saved many ROG Ally owners with their PSA post.
That said, these issues are a
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