Transcribo la nota de prensa americana enviada a todos los medios de USA (bueno tan s?lo la segunda parte, que la primera la he publicado antes en Spanish). Si hay alguien con problemas con el ingl?s, preguntar en los comentarios y se os traducir?:

- Xbox Live Is Evolving and Growing the Gaming Community

"With a community of over 500,000 gamers worldwide, the Xbox Live service is growing strong and helping us learn a lot about how gamers want to interact with Xbox," said J Allard, vice president of the Xbox platform. "We're continually innovating and expanding the Xbox Live gameplay experience, leveraging what we've learned about what gamers want and allowing the most-talented developers in the industry to take advantage of the endless possibilities that Xbox Live enables."

As Xbox Live continues to evolve over the next year, the growing worldwide community of online gamers will be enticed by a host of new features:


Xbox Live Alerts. Gamers can receive invitations to play on their personal digital assistant (PDA), cell phone or PC with MSN? Messenger Service.


Xbox Live Web. Xbox Live stats and friends lists will be available to view through a new Xbox site that links to the service.


Xbox Live Aware Games. More games will allow users to be "logged on" while playing, even as a single player, so they can receive invitations and keep up with what their friends are doing.


Teams and Competition. New features on Xbox Live will make it easy for gamers to form teams with friends, and create and participate in structured competitions on the Web and in games.


Xbox Live Now. Gamers will have a place to meet and can use voice chat to determine where to begin their gaming experience. They can decide which game to play and how to team up, and chat after the game.

By this time next year more than 100 Xbox Live games are forecasted to be available, including the most-anticipated game in the industry, "Halo 2," as well as games such as "Counter-Strike," "Project Gotham Racing 2" and every sports game from Microsoft Game Studios.


- Innovative Digital Entertainment - XSN Sports and "Music Mixer" - Debuts

XSN Sports
Microsoft unveiled XSN Sports from Microsoft Game Studios, the first lineup of Xbox games in which sports fans compete beyond the game. For the first time ever, gamers will challenge real people to create their own leagues and build their own rivalries. Launching in August, XSN Sports will change the way the industry develops sports games. XSN Sports features include these:


Virtual leagues. Teams, leagues and schedules can be organized easily from a centralized Web site, XSNsports.com.


Check stats on a virtual sports page. Xbox Live will automatically broadcast up-to-date scores, standings and stats to XSNsports.com every 15 minutes. For the first time, gamers can scout the career stats of their next opponent.


Competition for the digital lifestyle. XSN Sports will keep gamers plugged in - on the Web, on their cell, on their Xbox - where their game is the center of the action.


Train to be a multisport champion. The XSN Sports lineup will enable gamers to be a one-sport star or even an eight-sport superstar.

Combining the power of Xbox, Xbox Live, PC and mobile devices to redefine the way sports gamers compete, the XSN Sports network will include "NFL Fever 2004," "NBA Inside Drive 2004," "Top SpinTM," "AmpedTM 2," "Links? 2004" and "NHL Rivals."

- "Music Mixer"
"'Music Mixer' unlocks the digital entertainment capability of Xbox," Allard said. "'Music Mixer' demonstrates how we can use the Xbox to connect gamers to other favorite activities of the Digital Entertainment Lifestyle, enabling players to access DVD playback,* CD playback, photo viewing, gaming, music storage, online gameplay, enhanced party visualizers and even karaoke."

"Music Mixer" expands the way people play, share and interact with music, allowing any player to be a producer, VJ or American idol. Features include the following:


With digital lyric-stripping technology, "Music Mixer" will provide a limitless karaoke experience, letting Xbox players sing along to millions of songs.


Players can mix, match, shuffle and customize soundtracks, setting the mood for any situation. Players can enhance the music experience with the addition of interactive 2-D and 3-D on-screen visualizers.


With PC media sharing, Xbox players will be able to easily transfer their digital music and photos from their PC to their Xbox system, creating the ultimate multimedia library to be enjoyed in the social center of the home: the living room.

Xbox "Music Mixer" will debut this holiday in the United States for an estimated retail price of $39.99