Microsoft Corp. is introducing a series of enhancements for its Xbox videogame system, including music software and online-gaming options that underscore the software giant's plans to use videogames to move more broadly into digital entertainment, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported.

Presenting to members of the videogame industry assembled for a convention here this week, Microsoft described software that can let consumers record, mix and organize digital music on the Xbox. The company also announced enhancements to its online-gaming service, called Xbox live, that lets players set up online games and check scores from their personal computers and cell phones as well

Desert Law, PC: Desert Law is a new spin on the traditional real-time strategy that immerses players into a post-apocalyptic world where gasoline is the new world currency. Players can have anything if they have gas to pay for it, or gamers can loose everything with one tactical mistake. Mankind is rebuilding civilization off the scattered remains of pre-doomsday technology, with unfamiliar equipment and knowledge, which it inherited from ancestors. Disorderly gangs roam the wastelands, and if gamers want to survive, they will have to fight to stay alive in this mad world. Players can choose from more than 50

Get the Quake Wars: Enemy Territory trailer off WP (26mb)

Serving as the prequel to id Software’s legendary QUAKE II, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars is the ultimate online team and objective-based multiplayer experience. Set within the epic QUAKE® universe in the year 2065, the game pits the Allied troops of the Global Defense Force (GDF) against a new Axis of Evil – the barbaric and technologically advanced Strogg - during their initial invasion of Earth.

Gamers choose to play as Human or Strogg in one of five unique character classes. Employing an arsenal of weapons, vehicles and deployable armaments,

BorderZone, PC: BorderZone is an action role-playing game that challenges players to assume the role of Olaf, one of the few remaining humans on the planet Terra. Forced to leave the safety of their outpost, gamers venture on quests and into battle, controlling up to five characters simultaneously while amassing weapons, survival skills and magic. Players create Olaf from several disciplines, including thief, magician or soldier. Characters are further developed in the game through group affiliations, moral classes and professions. Developed by Saturn-plus.

Aquanox 2 (PC)

Chaser (PC)

Cold Zero (PC)

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (PS2)

McFarlane's Evil Prophecy (PS2)

Bloody Roar 4 (PS2)

Bloody Roar Extreme (Xb)

Time to race...no wires attached. The acclaimed Mario Kart series has gone wireless, letting players race and battle with up to eight karts at once, regardless of whether everyone has a game card. An all-star cast that includes Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Wario, Bowser and Toad will round out a truly all-star lineup of more than 30 courses drawn from every Mario Kart game. That's right – players will tour courses from Super Mario Kart, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! , not to mention brand-new tracks and arenas. With all the

Get the GTR 2 trailer off WP (44mb)

Continuing the tradition started by such games as Mario Power Tennis and Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Baseball brings a new brand of fun to the world of baseball. The game combines an intuitive hitting system with easy-to-learn fielding and pitching controls – making it an arcade-like experience that will appeal to baseball novices and hard-core fans alike. Players can try their hands at Challenge Mode, where they must wander the land clearing baseball-related trials. Or they can sit down for a game in the Toy Field, where they hit balls at circles in the outfield to earn coins and

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In Electroplankton, art and music collide to create a wildly fresh interactive audio experience. In this freeform title featuring the striking visual style of Japanese artist Toshio Iwai, players poke, rub and draw on the touch screen to stimulate odd aquatic creatures and create their own music. Each of the 10 different types of Electroplankton features a completely different sound style, ranging from haunting melodies to head-nodding beats to funky Mario theme remixes. One Electroplankton even acts as a sampler, allowing players to record up to four sounds and layer them over drum loops. Players create new sounds and experiences

"Unreal Tournament 2004 is the next evolution of the greatest competitive computer game ever created," said Jean-Philippe Agati, senior vice president and general manager of Atari's Los Angeles studio. "The addition of new modes, mods and maps as well as the controllable land-, air- and space-based vehicles, means Unreal fans are getting an entirely new experience featuring devastating vehicular combat and wide scale warfare."

Key Features :

• Assault Mode: The much heralded single-player oriented gametype returns with all-out battles with land, space and air-based vehicles on the home worlds of various Unreal Tournament 2004 combatants. In one scenario, players will experience the

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World

Call Of Duty

Elite Force II

Rome: Total

Battalion Wars blazes onto Nintendo GameCube with a platoon of real-time strategy (RTS) action. Whether players are hoofing it across the plains as a lone infantryman or commanding an entire platoon from atop an armored tank, the challenge is real and the mission is critical. There has never been a real-time strategy title like this before.

• Command forces in the heat of

The Sanderson family just got the ultimate in high-tech, house-helper technology: Chibi-Robo. In this inventive, story-driven game, players guide a miniature robot as he completes chores and clashes with enemies in his epic quest to become the highest-ranked Chibi-Robo out there. The living room can be a dangerous place when you're a robot less than a foot tall, so players will need to team up with the native toys to overcome obstacles, rack up points and keep the family happy. Normally running on battery power, Chibi-Robo needs to plug into power outlets with his built-in cord when he runs low

"The work that Stormfront Studios have done in the past, most recently the acclaimed and highly successful The Lord of the RingsTM: The Two TowersTM, showed that they were the perfect team to bring all the action and intensity of the D&D® universe to the PlayStation 2," said Martin Spiess, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Atari Europe. "Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is a fantastic looking game, offering an incredible gameplay experience made possible by a vastly improved gaming engine and innovative gameplay features. The ability to switch between characters while in the middle of intense action is a