Hercules launches Game Theater XP

Hercules (a division of Guillemot) have announced their latest soundcard for the hardcore gamer - the Hercules Game Theater XP. The soundcard includes a "powerful DSP for an unparalleled 3D sound gaming experience", with support for anything up to six speakers for those of you with a full Dolby 5.1 surround sound setup, hardware accelerated MP3 decoding, and Dolby Digital and DTS sound support for fellow DVD fanatics. As well as the soundcard itself you also get an external rack which includes a four port USB hub and a number of connectors for various audio devices, from gold-plated RCA outputs and S/PDIF through sockets to MIDI and optical connectors for musicians and those of us with MiniDisc players and the like.

The card is expected to reach stores some time in January 2001, but in the meantime check out the rather long-winded press release for a full run-down on the card's features.