| | Rock the House
It slices, it dices … it even cleans your house. Okay, it does none of that, but the fact remains: Your Xbox is an incredibly versatile machine that could put any of those infomercial products to shame.
Everyone knows the graphics found in Halo, Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball and Splinter Cell are extraordinary, but it’s often forgotten how much you can do with an Xbox. Feel like watching a movie? Great, just plop in a DVD, grab your Xbox DVD Movie Playback Kit, and you’re ready to go. Feel like listening to a CD? No problem; just put one in the Xbox, and sit back and listen. Don’t feel like putting a CD in your Xbox? No big deal, just fire up the Xbox, click the music tab, and select one of your favorite soundtracks right from the hard drive. Tired of carrying around memory units? No worries; Xbox has it covered, thanks to its ability to store nearly unlimited game saves. Sick of beating up the in-game A.I.? Easy solution—just grab an Xbox Live Starter Kit, connect your Xbox to a broadband internet connection, and the next thing you know, you’re fragging Chuck_Wagon in Boise.
Still not enough for you?
Well, get ready to kick your Xbox capabilities up another notch with Xbox Music Mixer. Xbox Music Mixer brings your music and photos out from the back room and adds power to your party with an enhanced media player, incredible visualizers, Karaoke, and a photo album viewer.
Maybe you’ve got your Xbox hooked up to an awesome stereo system in your living room, but all your favorite music is stuck on your PC. Not a problem for the Xbox. Just grab an Ethernet cable, connect your Xbox to your PC or home network, and transfer your favorite MP3 and WMA audio files to your Xbox with Xbox Music Mixer’s PC transfer tool to maximize your music’s potential. Have a massive CD collection? Don’t worry. Xbox Music Mixer has that handled too. No more manually entering track info or artist name with your Xbox Controller S. Now, just pop in the CD, close the tray, and BAM! You've got the artist name, album name, and track info populated right there. Rip the CD to the Xbox hard disk, and all that goodness is still there. That way, the next time you’re playing Project Gotham Racing, you’ll know exactly which track and artist you’re listening to. No more guessing what song is “Track 7” or “Track 12” on Debbie Gibson’s greatest hits album.
Xbox Music Mixer also makes it easy to customize your music with a built-in soundtrack manager and an equalizer that allows you to create custom music pre-sets or use one of the dozen included. You can even add cross-fades to your music, so that you can really bring down the house at your next party.
Like to keep your hands busy when listening to music? A little light dusting of that awesome stereo system might help pass the time, but why bother? That stuff is just going to get dirty again. Instead, fire up Xbox Music Mixer, grab your controller, hit play on Xbox Music Mixer’s built-in music player, and start creating some of the most incredible visual effects ever seen. Xbox Music Mixer comes with a half a dozen 2-D visualizers that are beat, frequency, and user controlled. You can also spend hours tweaking your senses with two 3-D visualizers. Here you can interact with dancers in a rave and night club environment, changing the characters’ dance moves, clothing, and appearance as well as camera angles and even the videos that appear on the club’s walls.
Perhaps you want to unleash your inner VJ and boost your audio experience to a higher level. Easy enough, since Xbox Music Mixer ships with more than an hour’s worth of “tripped-out” video. Just check out the Rave Mode feature, and create the ultimate party atmosphere as you mix multiple video sources together.
You’re probably thinking, “Dang, I could throw one heck of a pajama jammy jam with this thing!” Well, the fun doesn’t stop there. Grab the microphone that’s included with Xbox Music Mixer, fire up some Karaoke, and showcase your vocal talents for all to admire. With 15 classic Karaoke tracks, from Y.M.C.A. to Love Shack, you’ve got plenty of weapons to make yourself look ridiculous. If you’d rather sing a personal favorite, Xbox Music Mixer has got that covered too with digital vocal-stripping technology. If you always thought you could scream better than Jim Morrison or belt out tunes better than Frank Sinatra, there’s no time better than now to prove it. Fire up “Light My Fire,” hit the vocal-stripping button on the media player, and no more Jimbo. Now you can kick it with John, Ray, and Robby without Jim stepping all over you. Think you might be good enough for their reunion tour? Great. Just save your performance to the Xbox hard disk, call a few friends or your agent over, and play it back anytime.
Karaoke, an enhanced music player, PC-to-Xbox music transfers and visualizers—oh my! Still not enough, you say? Have no fear; no party really gets rocking until the slide show breaks out. Want to relive your trip to Lollapalooza with your friends? No need to stop the party as people huddle around your PC’s crappy little monitor to view your digital photos. Just transfer your JPEGs to the Xbox hard disk, fire up some music, and you’ve got the ultimate slide show right there on your big screen TV. Just be ready to call “Shotgun!” on that Lazy Boy™ in your living room.
But, wait, there’s still more! Obviously you’re going to need a break after that wild midnight slide show. The perfect medicine is probably a little online gaming via Xbox Live. Xbox Music Mixer has your back. Sign into Xbox Live with Xbox Music Mixer, and you won’t miss a beat as you relax on that Lazy Boy. Receive game invites or check your friends’ list, so you know who’s playing what. And, while you’re signed into Xbox Live, why not download some new Karaoke tracks, a few new visualizers, or even new music for your next party?
Now, go grab some friends, crank up your stereo, and get ready to bring down the house—your house!
By Craig Evans |
