If you only ever paid attention to its videogame efforts, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that Microsoft is constantly trading blows with Apple and Nvidia for the position of 'biggest corporation on Earth by market cap'. In our neck of the woods, Microsoft is a perpetual third to Nintendo and Sony in the console wars, and a barely tolerated necessity when it comes to playing games on PC (SteamOS' desktop version can't come fast enough).
Which is a big reason why everyone is wondering just what ol' Phil Spencer has up his sleeve when it comes to the future of Microsoft's hardware business. We know a handheld Xbox is coming, that once-exclusive games keep making their way to PlayStation, and that Microsoft is very keen to get you thinking of every screen in your home as a portal to the big, wide world of Xbox, but what if things get even weirder? What if the next Xbox is a Microsoft take on the Steam Machine—a Windows box with internal emulation magic that lets you play both the Xbox back catalogue and your PC games?
