Microsoft announces games for Zune via XNA Studio

Looks like games are coming for the Zune after all! Microsoft just announced XNA Studio developers will be able to use the Zune as a multiplayer wireless mobile gaming platform. Details are sparse at this point, but it looks like it's going to be second gen Zunes only, since it was specifically mentioned that it'd take advantage of the touchpad controls. We'll let you know more as we get it.

Update: Microsoft hasn't made any final decisions as to whether the specific hardware will be necessary, and has hinted that it would be up to the game developers to decide whether to make use of the Zunepad in second-gen models, or make controls work with first-gen Zunes as well. More on that here.

Gallery: Microsoft announces games for Zune via XNA Studio

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[Boywithhair @ Feb 20th 2008 2:10PM]

....I sold my zune....why....why did i do that...

[Chebwa @ Feb 20th 2008 2:24PM]

I seriously have no idea. I have never been happier with an MP3 player. Sell whatever you got instead and RE-BUY! eBay power.

[Greg @ Feb 20th 2008 3:30PM]

Because it sucks ;)

Although, I'll be honest, using the wifi access for multiplayer games would be pretty cool.

[muyiwa @ Feb 20th 2008 4:34PM]

@ greg
and outrightly contradicting urself in a statement is pretty dumb

[Greg @ Feb 20th 2008 4:56PM]

Well, I still believe the Zune to be a sub par piece of equipment, but I like the idea of using the built in wifi for something more than their foolish sharing programs.

[Abuzar @ Feb 20th 2008 6:39PM]

How is it sub-par? Give me a reason.

[Greg @ Feb 20th 2008 8:32PM]

We'll start with bad support, Zune points, sharing bites, lack of additional apps or media on the zune store, it's fugly, and we'll go from there.

[Abuzar @ Feb 20th 2008 9:12PM]

It's FUGLY? You have no sense of Style. It's one of the best looking MP3 players even made, certainly better looking than an iPod. Zune points are fine to deal with, and they have community games now. More additional apps will probably follow soon.

I have friends with Zunes so sharing works pretty well. At least it HAS the ABILITY to share songs.

[thatulsta @ Feb 21st 2008 12:41AM]

because your zune was crap and you needed money to buy an ipod

[Homeboy @ Feb 20th 2008 2:13PM]

F*ckin fantastic. I knew Balmer wouldn't let us down. Now I'm waiting for the details. Got plenty of space left on my z80 for games.

[aaronbareford @ Feb 20th 2008 2:18PM]

LOL Too excited...

[Andrew @ Feb 20th 2008 4:39PM]

Z80 games? Now THAT brings back memories...

[Flit @ Feb 20th 2008 4:49PM]

Fingers crossed for Phase on the Zune... I hope Ipod Didn't Pay too much for exclusivity rights.

[Tony @ Feb 20th 2008 5:39PM]

Really, the Zune is so much better than everything else out there right now (aside from its looks, imo).

Who heads the Zune department at Microsoft? I have to send him a cookie.

[Tony C @ Feb 20th 2008 6:28PM]

Makes total sense now, if you didn't see it coming already... Who's the head of Zune? Xbox360-meister J. Allard.

[Abuzar @ Feb 20th 2008 9:16PM]

The looks are pretty good. To most people that have seen mine, it looks bad ass to them, but I guess it's a personal thing.

[mattclarkie @ Feb 20th 2008 2:15PM]

Now just bring the Zune to the UK. I want a brown one please.

[Homeboy @ Feb 20th 2008 2:20PM]

Buy one on Ebay. I live on London mate and I have a Zune 80.

[Chris @ Feb 20th 2008 3:20PM]

I imported mine for £157. That includes shipping.

[pallavnarang @ Feb 21st 2008 1:04AM]

I am in India and i paid $250 for a zune originals piece, f*cking fantastic!
Three cheers!

[aaron @ Feb 20th 2008 2:17PM]

wow thats pretty badass.... the only question will be how many games are made for them. this makes me even happier i got a zune for xmas.

[Tiptup300 @ Feb 20th 2008 3:41PM]

XNA lets ANYONE create games. Which usually means, there will be plenty to go around.

[Bryant @ Feb 20th 2008 8:06PM]

My question is this: can it let you create non-games? It's worth a try...

[Jamma @ Feb 20th 2008 5:57PM]

I'm pissed off now - the Zune gets game support and a Dev Kit for making games, completely out of the blue

And my iPod touch just sits here, taking £12/$20 off me while I wait for the SDK which is supposed to arrive FEBRUARY 2008!!!!!!!!

Darn you Microsoft- sell the Zune in the UK!!!!!!!!

[aaronbareford @ Feb 20th 2008 2:18PM]

LOL it will probably suck, i mean c'mon games on a ZUNE! It's an MP3 player for gawd sake...

Ballmer i still protest, get your people working on windows none of this zune, xbox, and windows live crap.

[Mr. Snuggle Bunny @ Feb 20th 2008 2:20PM]

I have a feeling its going to be better than games on the iPod though.

[Ronald Vargo @ Feb 20th 2008 2:23PM]

Wasn't one of the comments by the Apple Fan Boys that the Zune doesn't play games or have a clock?

[Darkest Daze @ Feb 20th 2008 2:29PM]

Yes because you can just add 7000 people to work on one OS. If they do that, they'll end up running out of stuff for people to work on at a single time causing a case of "too many cooks in the kitchen" syndrome.

Just look at EA. They have like 2000 employees and their games are usually only about half as good as games that come from studios that have 40 people. I don't see an issue with them having different teams to work on different stuff. Plus, people like Zune and Xbox and it's nice to have support to go along with these quality products. You're not the center of the world and MS won't focus just on what you want.

[Harbo @ Feb 20th 2008 2:37PM]

that zune is running windows mobile, my windows mobile runs doom!

[josh @ Feb 20th 2008 4:20PM]

"that zune is running windows mobile, my windows mobile runs doom!"
It is running on top of Windows CE, not Windows Mobile. Both have CE at their core, but WM has its own shell and a great deal of other additions (like ACLs) running on top. You would likely need to do a bit of porting to get your WM copy of doom running on the zune (and just dropping a cab file on the device isn't going to do anything).

[Mr. Snuggle Bunny @ Feb 20th 2008 2:20PM]

This is awesome. I can't wait for this to be released. One question though; what's up with that Zune being...a midget..? Anyone else think it looks odd?

[Chebwa @ Feb 20th 2008 2:27PM]

It's kind of sad when a tech company projects a 4:3 image in a 16:9 ratio.

[derX @ Feb 20th 2008 2:23PM]

YAY! Nothing for 1st gen Zune owners, the faithful first adopters of Microsoft's foray in the world of PMP.

Ouch, Microsoft, ouch. Couldn't even hook us up with some PacMan lovin'?

[Chebwa @ Feb 20th 2008 2:25PM]

Hey man, they threw you guys a huge bone with the Gen2 firmware. You got more than most early adopters get.

[jbhitter24 @ Feb 20th 2008 2:26PM]

where does it say no zune30? and zune owners should be the last to complain about being early adopters. i don't recall paying $20 for the last major firmware update.

my apologies if that was sarcasm.

[derX @ Feb 20th 2008 2:31PM]

Of course I was kidding, I don't give a damn.

I really do only use my PMP for Music playing and Video watching.

[RC @ Feb 20th 2008 2:33PM]

You got the firmware update last year.

[kastonie @ Feb 20th 2008 3:09PM]

At least its not as bad as having bought a HD-DVD player and movies to go along with it...

[stephenbratz2 @ Feb 20th 2008 3:40PM]

From the FAQ at http://creators.xna.com

Q: Will this feature only work on newer Zune devices?
A: XNA Game Studio 3.0 currently will support Zune 4/8, Zune 30, and Zune 80 devices.


Opening your mouth before you even try to find out the facts is not a good idea.

[derX @ Feb 20th 2008 3:47PM]

One, that was merely a joke, again, I could careless if my Zune 30 plays games or not.

Second, "Details are sparse at this point, but it looks like it's going to be second gen Zunes only, since it was specifically mentioned that it'd take advantage of the touchpad controls."

I'm just reading the article here. Also, see point one.

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I sooooooo sorry that my rash comment offended you. Next time I'll do some serious research before posting. Which format do you prefer APA or MLA?

Tool.

[Ruben @ Feb 20th 2008 4:08PM]

One: Jokes should be funny.

Second: "Details are sparse at this point" should tell you to look for more information before making a statement like: "YAY! Nothing for 1st gen Zune owners, the faithful first adopters of Microsoft's foray in the world of PMP."

Im an asshole, i know.

[Mitch @ Feb 20th 2008 7:22PM]

I don't expect all games to work as well if at all on the 30 just because of the lack of touch support on the pad. But some games will be made for Zune30's too.

[JoeT @ Feb 21st 2008 1:35PM]

@ Mitch

Gameboy classic only had a 4 way d pad too. :)

While the "A" and "B" buttons might have an odd placement its definitely workable.

[JoeT @ Feb 21st 2008 1:41PM]

actually now that i think about it game boy had 8 way

oh well...

[joe @ Feb 20th 2008 2:29PM]

The Zune 30 is running the new firmware, so why couldn't games be made for that as well? Is it not powerful enough? I wouldn't mind playing games with just a d-pad.

[Mr. Snuggle Bunny @ Feb 20th 2008 2:31PM]

Maybe it has to do with it's specs. I remember reading somewhere that the new Zunes had a faster processor. Still I doubt they're really THAT much faster. Also, keep in mind they never officially stated that this wouldnt come to the Zune 30. It is only speculated.

[John @ Feb 20th 2008 2:42PM]

I think the 2g has the somewhat touch sensitive squircle too.

[Homeboy @ Feb 20th 2008 2:49PM]

You haven't seem to have heard of the word obsoletism. Manufacturers often don't update old products with new feature in order to make people upgrade to the new products rather than picking up an old one for cheap.

The only reason why MS updated withe Z30 with the new firmware is because when the Z80 was launched there were a gazillion of unsold Z30s stocked up in stores around the US. Offering the new firmware to the z30 was the only way to get people to pick up all those unsold Z30s.

[Anton @ Feb 20th 2008 2:39PM]

Zune - 1
iPod - 0

[Scott @ Feb 20th 2008 2:50PM]

You know the ipod has had games for a LONG time right?