This Week’s Tech Roundup

Sony and Valve are testing new ways to surface game information, while Microsoft and Asus are changing how players track progress and buy handheld hardware. (polygon.com) (store.steampowered.com) (news.xbox.com) (microsoft.com) On PlayStation 5, Sony is beta-testing a revised home screen that moves PlayStation Store, PlayStation Plus, and Game Library into an upper navigation row. Users in the beta program began reporting the change on April 7 and April 8, 2026, and Polygon said the redesign makes the dashboard less cluttered. (polygon.com) (ign.com) Steam’s change is more technical but easier to explain: a frame-rate counter is the number that shows how many images a game draws each second, and Valve is expanding that tool into a fuller performance monitor. In the June 17, 2025 Steam Client Beta update, Valve said the overlay can now show frame-rate detail, central processing unit data, graphics processing unit data, and other metrics, with some information limited to Windows and certain hardware. (store.steampowered.com) (steamcommunity.com) Microsoft’s console update is aimed at Achievements, the badges Xbox awards for in-game milestones. On April 8, 2026, Xbox Wire said select Xbox Insiders started testing refreshed achievement notifications, a profile option to hide games from achievement history later in April, and a new highlight for games players have completed at 100 percent. (news.xbox.com) Those Xbox features are arriving through the Insider program first, which Microsoft uses as a public test ring before wider release. Xbox Support says the Beta ring is limited to members with at least three months in the program and Level 5 Insider status, and Microsoft says the new achievement tools will expand to more testers before reaching all players. (support.xbox.com) (news.xbox.com) The hardware piece is the Asus ROG Xbox Ally, a Windows 11 handheld built with Xbox branding and controls. Microsoft’s store listing describes the base model with 16 gigabytes of memory, 512 gigabytes of storage, a 7-inch 1080p 120Hz display, and an Advanced Micro Devices Ryzen Z2 A processor. (microsoft.com) (shop.asus.com) Reports of a $499.99 price for that base handheld appear to reflect retailer discounting rather than a clearly announced permanent price cut. The Outerhaven reported this week that Amazon and Best Buy were showing $499.99 while Asus and Microsoft listings were still aligned with the higher regular price, and neither company had posted a formal price-change announcement. (theouterhaven.net) (microsoft.com) (shop.asus.com) Taken together, the updates point to the same pressure across gaming platforms: make menus easier to scan, make performance easier to read, and make progress easier to display. The pieces already in testing have dates attached — April 8, 2026 for Xbox Achievements and June 17, 2025 for Steam’s expanded monitor — while Sony’s PlayStation 5 redesign is still circulating through beta users without a public release date. (news.xbox.com) (store.steampowered.com) (polygon.com)