ROG Xbox Ally X Handheld Can Now Use AI to Capture Gameplay Highlights

Microsoft is inviting owners of the ROG Xbox Ally X to test a new ‘Highlights Reels’ feature that uses AI to automatically capture gameplay highlights to share with friends or on social media. The feature is currently only available on select games available on the Xbox app for Windows, including Fortnite, Overwatch, and Forza Horizon 5.

“This feature helps you easily capture your standout gameplay moments, like epic boss battles or victories, and share them as short replay clips with your friends online. With no additional downloads needed, highlight reels allows you to effortlessly clip memorable moments in-game without ever needing to leave your game so you can stay focused on the fun,” the Xbox team explained.

Highlights Reels is one of the new AI-powered features enabled by the neural processing unit (NPU) on the ROG Xbox Ally X (and not the base ROG Xbox Ally). This NPU also supports Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR), which uses AI to upscale games running at lower resolutions.

In practice, Microsoft’s new Gaming Copilot will automatically capture interesting gameplay moments while ROG Xbox Ally X users play supported games, and any created Highlight Reel will be visible via the Game Highlights (Preview) section within the game page of the Xbox PC app. This is an alternative to recording these gameplay moments manually using the Game Bar feature on Windows 11.

In some way, Highlights Reels is reminiscent of the early days of the Xbox One, when game developers could use the console’s Game DVR to automatically record captures when players unlocked certain Xbox achievements or did something special in their games. This isn’t something many Xbox game developers took advantage of, however, but Microsoft is now putting a different spin on this automatic recording feature using AI. However, it remains to be seen how well Microsoft trained its Gaming Copilot to identify interesting gameplay moments.