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Xbox Media Centre Extender due soon

Microsoft's efforts to gain a stranglehold on American lounges continue apace.

Tom Bramwell avatar
News by Tom Bramwell Former Editor-in-Chief
Published on
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While Sony continues to flap around with the PSX in Japan, Microsoft is planning to launch its own multimedia add-on for the Xbox this November in the States, allowing gamers to hook up to media libraries on their PC via network and stream the results through the console.

Windows Media Centre Extender for Xbox, announced earlier this year, is due out in the US on November 15th, priced $79.99, and comprises a software disc and a custom remote control and infrared receiver (ala the DVD playback kit) for controlling the streaming action from the comfort of your settee. You can also order your PC to record and download things using the remote control, which should prove useful.

Anybody wanting to make use of the Extender kit though will need to have a PC running Windows Media Centre Edition 2005, serving as a media library, and the ability to network the Xbox and the PC, raising the price of entry somewhat.

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