(77 characters) Ever since Nintendo released the original Game Boy, they've dominated the handheld ... but it wasn't until their second console, the Xbox 360, that the Washington-based company ascended to the top of the mountain. Introducing achievements ...

Case in point: the Xbox handheld. Rumors of some kind of Microsoft-made competitor to the Game Boy have been floating around since the original Xbox launched more than 20 years ago. And for even longer, anyone who tries to step up to Nintendo on its stomping ground — including Sega, Sony, and Nokia — gets, well, stomped.

On Wednesday, Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed Microsoft is working on Xbox handheld gaming prototypes, though such a device is "years out."

Microsoft gaming head Phil Spencer has made no secret of his interest in an Xbox handheld to compete with the best handheld gaming PCs, such as the Steam Deck OLED and Asus ROG Ally X. But in an interview with Bloomberg,

Xbox chief Phil Spencer said that the hardware team has created prototypes and is researching the market to solidify plans.