Yesterday, Microsoft provided its first public demonstration of Project xCloud, its coming cross-platform game streaming service. This one is personal for me: I was among the first, if not the first, to point out that Microsoft should evolve the Xbox platform beyond consoles and PCs. And that, in doing so, it could align these efforts with its cloud prowess and leap past traditional competitors such as Sony and Nintendo.

I still feel very strongly that this is all true, and when Microsoft revealed Project xCloud last October, I was ecstatic. Not so much about being right per se, but rather that the software giant’s plans so closely aligned with how I saw its future. On a deeply personal level, I want Xbox to succeed. I prefer this platform over those of Microsoft’s rivals, I’ve bristled at what I think of as pointless criticism of its strategy, and I’ve long felt that Xbox is the most gamer-centric platform available. Taking Xbox—and with it, Microsoft—to the next level with xCloud just makes sense to me.