Awesome!!!!!!!1

nice nice.....always great to hear Zune news

*phil looks outside* Still looks like winter but spring is around the corner!!! I cant wait to see more zunes in the hands of canadains!!!!!

Are we going to need a subscription to run these, like with Xbox 360 XNA games? Because that XNA Club price is steep a shell man.

if this is true....

"Zune is a wireless music and video player first and foremost."

then start adding gapless playback, full OTG playlist, auto-playlist, TV and movies shows on marketplace, etc..etc...etc ASAP.

Anyway, great news.

any comments as to the 30GB version? will it be able to support games in the future?

Great first step.  I'm glad that the XBox team is forcing other MS entertainment platforms to keep up and deliver new innovations.  Actually I was hoping there would be some sort of NetFlix announcement today but that didn't pan out.  I think monthly rental subscriptions available on XBox, Zune and Media Center would go a long way to offset the Entertainment & Devices Divisions mishandling & loss of the HD format war.

and please, improve the battery life 'cause those games will eat that battery for lunch....if not breakfast....

so much for the Apple-like announcement...

"Zune will have games AND they are available right NOW on Zune marketplace."

"but Zune is a wireless music and video player first and foremost."

Along those lines, are you going to modify the Zune desktop software so we can regain some features we lost with the new software version: be able to modify meta data of multiple songs at once, view the the details of the sync list, be able to sort videos by type/genre/etc, be able to view videos by their show name and not their episode name. I'd also like to be able to modify the meta type of a video from within the Zune software.

Stop concentrating on the Zune social and concentrate more on the software and adding more features of the Zune device. It's already been about 4 months. Please give us some updates soon. :-)

Pictures of Zune playing games and information here:

http://www.jeftek.com/media/zune/xbox-live-games-now-on-zune/

Will these games be able to play on the flash Zune devices? (Zune 4 & 8)?

yes, Jaxim..

here is the XNA for Zune FAQ

http://forums.xna.com/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=46553

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.

Q: Can I transmit the game to another Zune device wirelessly?

A: No, you must deploy the game to your Zune through your device connection on your PC, using XNA Game Studio 3.0 to deploy.

Q: How does the wireless support work?

A: The Zune device can support multiple Zunes that have wireless turned on.  If all the Zunes have the game deployed, and the game is written to work in a multiplayer mode, you can join in and play games with other Zunes.

Q: How much memory is available for Zune games?

A: Games on Zune are limited to 16Mb for code and content.

Q: What kind of gameplay limitations do I have?

A: With a 240x320 display and a design for one-handed usage, building games on the Zune requires some creative thinking that aligns better with mobile games.  The XNA Community Game Platform team has worked hard to give you the broadest access to the XNA Framework API.

Forget using the XNA development platform for making games on the Zune... I'm hoping that the Xbox Live Anywhere announcement also involves the Zune. If I could browse my achievements, Halo 3 service record, etc. via Wi-Fi on my Zune, I'd be pretty damned stoked....

Seriously, we need to have the Zune and Xbox Marketplaces get a lot more cozy together... I'm talking about being able to purchase and download from the marketplace on the Zune via Wi-Fi, and downloading the TV/movie content already available to the Xbox Marketplace.

everyone, i think if he could ANSWER those questions he would? Hey cesar, can this clean my room? let me know ASAP thanks....lol

"Seriously, we need to have the Zune and Xbox Marketplaces get a lot more cozy together"

I second that to also include Media Center. The trifecta (Xbox, Zune and Media Center) need to be more cozy with each other.

If there was a strong synergy with those 3 MS elements, then the Zune would be a real contender to take on Apple's marketshare, which most of us who visit this site are hoping Microsoft can accomplish.

"The trifecta (Xbox, Zune and Media Center) need to be more cozy with each other. "

Quoted for emphasis.

Also, Alfonso, there was no Live Anywhere announcement.

Awesome!

Cesar, I'm not sure if you remember but at the Seattle meet up I was asking you if you guys were ever going to put games on the Zune.

Well, you just made my day. :) I can't wait to get started creating some things. If only I would have gone to GDC this year instead of last year... Rats!

You may have heard a little announcement today - that developers now can develop a (multiplayer!) game

hey Cesar aren't you supposed to be on vacation...?

but thx for the news nonetheless

this is huge. You guys should be throwing this around everywhere!

@Jaxim:

Don't forget Windows Mobile...Xbox+Zune+Media Center+Windows Mobile.

@Espiox

Whoops, I think I misinterpreted rumors this morning that Live Anywhere was going to be part of the keynote...

Now think about this...

From a programmers standpoint (a.k.a. me), if/when we get a hold of the XNA toolkit; this will mean not just games for the Zune, but calculators, clocks/timers, possibly minor graphics editors, and a whole slew of usable tools for the Zune - ones that have been asked about for a little while now.

Paul, I doubt they you'd be able to develop utility apps under XNA.  Besides, it would be odd to find utility applications under the Games menu.  Don't forget these apps are going to be distributed by XBox Live back-end.  So you have no control over which menu it falls under.  In addition, user created games have to go through a peer review.  I doubt non-game titles would pass peer review.

Paul, I'll just add that I'm not against utility functions on Zune at all.  I've been promoting the idea of a MSN Direct type of capability on Zune since day 1.  I can only speak for myself, but the utility I'm looking for is being able to retrieve & display from the outside world..short of a internet browser, MSN Direct accomplishes that.  Interestingly Zunester (David Caulton) makes a random reference to MSN Direct several months ago.  I can't help but think some on the Zune team are considering it.

This is great news!  Games will make the zune great.  From the movie it looks like it processes so much faster than the ipod, even when playing music at the same time.  I hope it doesn't take a year to get some games out.  If music and video media is the key priority of the zune, why is there no updates to make this part of the zune better?

I completely agree with everything Ricardo Dawkins stated. MS will have to improve the battery to handle games.

Sounds great!  For me, making the Zune open to XNA developers is a major selling point.  I bought my iPod Touch because of all the user-created content available for it (after a simple 'jailbreak') and a lot of the content is really good, especially since the iTouch has a touch screen, wi-fi, and an accelerometer to utilize.

Según César Menendez, confirma la noticia que la gente de XNA lanzó en el GDC la noticia que XNA Studio

It appears that with the demonstration that Xbox Live XNA games are coming to the Zune! These are the community developed games using the XNA studio 3.0 tools, but I would venture to expect 1st party published games as well. Cesar on the Zune Insider