It’s been almost eight years since Microsoft unleashed the the Xbox 360, their video-gaming flagship, upon the world. Since then, the gaming industry has seen a great deal of upheaval, with players continually turning either toward competitive online play or novelty motion capture hijinks. In addition, gaming consoles have gone well beyond their initial purpose, now serving as DVD players, Blu-Ray machines, Netflix hubs, or even audio jukeboxes. And Microsoft, the computer/software giant who joined the gaming fray in 2001 with the initial Xbox, are aiming to take the lead in the NextGen console war and become a central household entertainment center.

Of course, the new Xbox won’t have an easy climb to the top. Nintendo’s Wii U and Sony’s Playstation 4 will be right there alongside it. Nintendo did a lot to revolutionize gaming last time around, adding the motion capture element into the mix and inspiring casual gamers to pick up titles like Wii Sports for house party occasions. Conversely, Sony played their hand in the same vein they have since the first Playstation, delivering quality content with killer single player campaigns and a growing emphasis on the online world.

But console gaming is beginning to lose ground. According to a recent article from Reuters, the big consoles only account for 42% of the gaming market, with simpler gaming content on smartphones, tablets, or social media networks rapidly grabbing a larger share of the industry’s $65 billion value. Worse, sales for consoles and the games they support have fallen gradually over the past four years, a product not only of the aging platforms, but also of the shifting market. And the Wii U, the first of the next generation of consoles to hit that market, failed to meet expectations after its November launch.

So where does that leave Microsoft? Unlike Nintendo, the software corporation only earns a fraction of its profit from video-games, with most of its earnings coming from operating systems, office software, or other similar computing stand-bys. However, according to Reuters, the new Xbox is still the best chance Microsoft have of pushing their household presence beyond just software. And with major companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google successfully earning ubiquity across many entertainment and lifestyle fields, Microsoft may need that push to keep up.

“This (new Xbox) is of massive importance to Microsoft,” said P.J. McNealy, CEO and founder of Digital World Research. “It is a piece of a larger war for the consumer that it is battling. They want to be fully integrated with the consumer whether it’s in the living room or mobile. Arguably the battle is against both Apple and Google for dominating a consumer’s time share more so than taking on Sony and Nintendo directly.”

Whether that battle for entertainment time share is won through Cable, phone, or television integration, increased reliance on the Kinect (the Xbox’s own motion capture system), or on games that blur the lines between casual users and hardcore gaming veterans, the world will find out Tuesday when Microsoft unveils their new console.