Back in March, we outlined six features we wanted to see on what was then just a rumored Xbox-branded, Windows-powered handheld gaming device. Today, Microsoft's announcement of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally hardware line looks like it fulfills almost all of our wishes for Microsoft's biggest foray into portable gaming yet.

Inside the Xbox Ally X is an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor, a custom version of its Z2 Extreme chip with eight Zen 5 CPU cores, 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores, and 50 AI TOPS from the onboard NPU to help with a range of AI tasks. It'll have Copilot built in, too, so expect some chatbot integration.

Microsoft has proven that Windows 11 comes with bloatware that impacts gaming performance through its new PC gaming handhelds, which do not have the bloat.

Microsoft has needed to respond to SteamOS ever since the Steam Deck launched three years ago, and it has steadily been tweaking its Xbox app and the Xbox Game Bar on Windows to make both more handheld-friendly. But there was always a bigger overhaul of Windows required, and we’re starting to see parts of that today.

First informally shown in a blog post, the logo has now appeared in an official trailer for a third-party upcoming game. Will we be seeing more of this as we get closer to the Xbox Showcase?

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) continues to provide investors with earnings beats and strong growth in its cloud, AI and gaming segments.

We asked Seeking Alpha analysts Kenio Fontes and Daniel Jones for their picks. Kenio Fontes: Two companies stand out for me in the industry, Nintendo ( OTCPK:NTDOF) and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO ), and both have interesting catalysts.