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Sing Along With Your Xbox

Game console gains multimedia features, new online tools.

Tom Mainelli, PCWorld.com

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LOS ANGELES -- Microsoft keeps pushing into the living room, announcing add-ons for its Xbox game console that let users view photos, listen to music, and even sing along to karaoke.

The Xbox Music Mixer, announced on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo gaming conference here, is expected to be available before the holidays priced about $40 (including microphone). The package is further proof that Microsoft expects the $199 console to play more than just games when it comes to home entertainment.

Microsoft wants to be a major part of what it calls the "evolving digital entertainment lifestyle," according to Robbie Bach, senior vice president of the Home and Entertainment Division and chief Xbox officer at Microsoft. "Xbox is designed to enable this lifestyle," he says.

Xbox Gets Funky

The Music Mixer lets users access the digital music and photos stored on their PC through their Xbox--which is usually in the living room. That's where most people want to experience their multimedia, says J Allard, vice president of the Xbox platform.

The software lets users mix their own playlists, customize soundtracks, and store them on the Xbox's built-in hard drive, he says. Plus, they can add interactive digital 2-D and 3-D on-screen visualizers that pulse with the music.

The Music Mixer also offers a feature called digital lyric-stripping. The technology removes the words from a song creating a customized karaoke allowing users to inflict their own singing voice on friends and family.

More Live

In addition to the Music Mixer, Microsoft plans to significantly expand its Xbox Live service in coming months. A handful of new features designed to foster both community and competition will be available, Allard says.

Chief among the new features is a Live Now, an online area where Xbox gamers can chat about past exploits and plan future campaigns, Allard says. Live Web will let Xbox Live subscribers access Live Now features from any Web-enabled PC. And Live Alerts will send out messages about breaking Xbox news and events to a user's PC, PDA, or cell phone via Microsoft's MSN Messenger.

Here at E3, Microsoft is also announcing plans to launch XSN Sports, which lets owners of Microsoft sports titles create real leagues using the Web-based service XSNsports.com (a part of the Xbox Live service).

Finally, Microsoft is rolling out an impressive lineup of upcoming games. Among them are anticipated titles such as Doom 3, Project Gotham Racing 2, Conker: Live and Uncut, Counter-strike, and Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge.

The live demo that brought the largest response from the industry crowd was Halo 2. A sequel to the popular shooter that helped establish the Xbox as a legitimate console contender, the game is scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 2004.

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