Games for Zune details, hands-on
By Ryan Block 
posted February 20th 2008 6:52PM
posted February 20th 2008 6:52PM
- For starters, first-gen Zunes don't appear to be ruled out by any means, but it's going to be dependent on the game controls. Zauri, the sample space shooter game demoed today, uses the Zunepad, thus wouldn't work (as well) on a Zune 30. Nothing has been decided as to whether games will universally require 2nd-gen Zunes, though.
- Use of the Zunepad in Zauri was as a trackpad and omnidirectional -- it wasn't just up / down / left / right, as in the menus.
- Right now the system partitions a mere 16MB for storing games, although this might change.
- Right now there isn't a professional-grade SDK to announce; all titles should initially be done up in XNA Studio.
- Means of distribution (i.e. games loaded through an installer, through the Zune desktop app, or through Zune Marketplace?) has not yet been decided.
- The first beta development tools will be out this Spring.
- There are no plans for Zune game sharing (yet), so to play with a friend wirelessly you both must have the game on your Zune.
@pismodude: I'm not a developer of any kind, so usually news of such isn't at all my cup of tea. I know that the iPhone/Touch SDK hasn't come for awhile, and it's made some disappointed.
So I don't know that the SDK for the iPhone and Touch is the same. John doesn't either, if he's saying iPhone SDK, but not Touch SDK which would apply to him more, since he's not an iPhone user.
So give up already. At least I'm not trying to throw insults as much as you and John are. Read through the previous postings, and you guys are the ones sparking all this. So stop already. I usually don't get dragged into such long responding, but I think I'm going to call it quits today. You can keep up the childish backlash if you wish.
@Pismodude
It doesn't matter that your replying to the comment on a iPod touch. My touch is sitting next to me charging. I'm replying on my computer because it's a hell of a lot quicker then hunting and pecking the touch screen.
But how many games can I play on my touch right now? Answer: none. Zero. Unless I want to jailbreak it. I did that once and it reset on me. I had nothing until I was able to get home to restore it.
As for the Zune. I'll be picking one up. I need something for when I'm working out. And I don't think I want to test if the touch can handle it.
When the SDK comes out for the Touch / iPhone I'm sure we will see games. However it's not out so I don't see any games.
@CaptCaveman
IS EVERYONE ON ENGADGET TODAY A TOTAL MORON??? I DON"T EVEN OWN AN IPOD TOUCH!!! WTF GUYS?????
@michael
THE IPHONE SDK IS THE IPOD TOUCH SDK, IT IS CALLED THE IPHONE SDK (probably because the iPhone and iPod Touch will run the same apps) AND YOUR PREVIOUS ARGUMENT TELLING JOHN THAT HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN ABOUT THE SECOND KIND OF ZUNE APPLIES HERE. YOU CAN"T DIS SOMETHING IF YOU DON"T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS IS MY LAST POST, GOOD DAY!
@John who said: "The Zune may have had wifi first, but my iPod touch is allowing me to comment on this pathetic comment. I dare you to respond from your Zune."
I dare you to quote me when replying (c/p LOL)
What's a 'Zune'?
By definition: it is a type of particularly unattractive brick used to make homes for the poor.
question: can you brick a brick?
Good one Frank, you have me rolling on the floor with the originality of your comment. I'm proud to say I just ordered mine on Amazon and it's shipping the 21st. Putting my Gigabeat to rest after 3 years of good service.
Ah, smug fanboys at it's finest.
http://zune.net/
Type "Zune" into any search engine like Google, Live, or Y!, and it will spit out this link.
Good one Reader, you had ME rolling on the floor by saying you just bought one! Oh my, stepping up from a gigabeat too. Gonna be some sleepless nights at that house.
Sorry you feel the need to bash other products because you're bitter about spending money on an iPod like an idiot.
Seriously grow up, there are other choice out there. You can make Zune vs iTouch comparisons all day long, but the fact of the matter is that the Zune is better than the iPod classic no questions asked. It also happens to be competing with the iPod Classic, it's nothing like a iTouch.
lol, cmon, lowest rank on making a brick out of brick? that's not a fanboy statement it's a joke. you zune fanboys need to get out of the house more.
choice in portable music players FTW. fanboyism and no sense of humor = FAIL
a zune is a poor mp3 design, that when you try to watch a movie you have to turn side ways also leaving all the navigation keys sideways, it's good for music but as a movie player its kind of awkward
I don't see how it's awkward. When you turn it sideways, the touchpad works the same because it changes what direction volume is, etc.
Has anyone wondered if the trackpad could eventually function as a touchpad that could be used for internet browsing on the zune?
it was one of the first things to pop into my head. screw games, this is a first class devkit. port me a browser, dammit.
i wonder how long it'll take to make a Facebook app?
One day we over at Rockbox will have our Zune breakthrough. We just have to figure out the legality of cracking a VeriSign signature on a drive.
Rockbox + Zune = Perfection.
or, more simply:
Rockbox = Perfection.
To really understand what this means, if you have any interest in programming, go here:
http://creators.xna.com/
You will find out that you can develop, with applications and utilities provided for free by Microsoft.
From that aspect alone, there will be more developers on XNA, as opposed to studios being created for SONY, which just dropped it's dev kit prices last November 2007.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=30736
Microsoft just makes things more accessible for new developers, and those are the ones that will bring out crazy ideas, because large companies sometimes can't take the risk on burning money on ideas that MIGHT make money.
I'm going through the headache of porting Johnny Lee's C# code to Visual C++ with Dark GDK, I hope I can finish this year.
Wow, the apple fanboys sure got their panties in a twist tonight. This is great news for Zune owner (Zune 30 here) & fencesitters and meh news for everyone else that isn't an XNA dev. It kills me how the fanboys (M$ and apple alike) start barking at each other in posts like this. If you have a touch/iphone and love it, good for you. If you think Zunes the shizzle, enjoy. But the flame wars are just plain stupid, your not going to change each others mind. It's like trying to convince an 80 year old racist the error of his ways. He wraps his hate around him like a warm blanket, much like fanboys fan the flames to keep their frozen hearts beating.
Christ, do they let people over 12 years old post here?
I sure hope so, I'm many multiples of that age now.
definitely getting an 80 now
tax returns FTW
goddamn romanian spam GO AWAY
Yes, XNA is built upon .NET, which was built by Microsoft, but is also part of the Mono project to bring .NET to Linux.
This does mean it will have the largest developer footprint for potential games. Microsoft's Live Anywhere strategy is really starting to take shape, as you can develop for all major platforms today with the .NET framework.
I'm posting what I find on the net about games for Zune at:
http://www.jeftek.com/media/zune/xbox-live-games-now-on-zune/
Here's my point, i bought an itouch, but honestly its just far too much money for me to feel comfortable having it be an mp3 player that gets internet and whatever. so i got a zune 80, why did i get it? Is it because i have to only like Microsoft or Apple products? No, its just because i like the zune better and it fits my wallet. Cant we all just get along?
I love how no matter what topic( as long as it's a major vendor ) there are always arguments. I find myself actually reading these posts for the story's less than the news. God bless Apple's mono. BTW I like the idea of having games on a ZUNE and even though I know it would probably be utter crap, I still find myself waiting for the ZUNE to get web browsing like the iTouch.
Sony NWZ-A815 all teh way
i will kill someone if i can't add the games to my new 80gb zune when the games come out.it will also be a rip off too.i hope i can add the games to the zunes that are out now.
Ok so i heard about this, but my questions is....i have a zune and when i got to settings > about > zune i have version 2.3....will have to get a new zune to play games or is there a filmware patch waiting to come out to take me to 3.0.