Zune Games FAQ

[Omnidragon]

I thought I'd try to compile a list of the current things that are known about Zune gaming. I will try to update this as questions are asked, well the ones we have answers for anyway.

Q: Which Zunes will support games?
A: Currently all zunes will support games as far as we know.

Q: When will zune games become avaliable?
A: XNA Studio 3.0 will come out in thfe spring with games "out for the holidays" so no firm dates for this as of yet

Q: How will zune games be made?
A: Zune Games will be made using XNA studio which is a free games development tool from Microsoft

Q: How will the games get on to my zune?
A: At first the games will have to be compiled and transferred to your zune via the XNA Studio. This is most likely so the games can be signed. After that there has been hints that they will be distributed via XBL but nothing has been confirmed yet.

Q: Could we make other apps with the zune like a web browser?
A: No to the web browser the zune will not support the HTTP hook ins required to make a web browser. but other type of apps my be doable. XNA can be used to create visualizations for the zune while it is playing music as well.

Q: What size will the games render at?
A: 240X320

Q: Will the games support multiplayer?
A: Yes they will use the Zunes wifi to connect to other zunes so you can play together. No word as of yet as to how many players can play together.

Q: Can I share games with my friends via the zune's wifi?
A: Not to start with no but that is something they are planning to add at a later date.

Q: Is there a size limit to the games?
A: Yes there is 16mb limit for the code and assets of the game. *UPDATE* We have now had it confirmed that the 16mb limit is size in RAM so games could be bigger as long as you have dynamic asset loading

Q: Will the Zune support 3D games?
A: No. the zune section of XNA is limited to 2D only

Q: Will games shorten my battery life?
A: Yes it will as the CPU of the zune is being used alot more than normal and you will constantly supplying input to the zune. I would guess that it would be less than the current movie playback time but this is just a guess.

Q: Will you be able to use the 2nd Gen Zune's touch pad?
A: Yes the 2nd gen will have touch pad support and it is omnidirectional as well so you are not limited to just up, down, left and right.

Q: Will I need a "Creator's club" subscription to make the games?
A: No Zune games will not need a CC subscription.

Q: I heard that I can listen to the music on my zune as I play, is this true?
A: Yes if the programmer lets you and if the music you are playing doesn't have any DRM on it.

I cant think of a question for this bit of info so I'll just explain.
By the sounds of it you wont be able to just send the compiled version of you game to other so they can place it on their zune you will need to make the source files available so they can compile it on their own machine and sync it to there zune. this is planned to change later and the reason for this are unknown at the moment.

Currently Known controls and their mapping in XNA:

Up, Down, Left and Right click on the zune will be mapped to the D-Pad input on and xbox 360 controller
Squircle touch input will map to a thumbstick on the xbox 360 controller
Back will map to the back button on an xbox 360 controller
Center click will map to the A button on an xbox 360 controller
Play/Pause will map to the B button on an xbox 360 controller

The hold switch is not mapped to any control and its not planned to be added.
All the hold switch will do is flip and "IsActive" bool so you can pause your game
eg at the top of your update thread poll the IsActive method and if it returns false you know to pause the game.

There has been now word as of yet to say if this disables the input from occurring or not.

Well I think that about covers everything that I can think off please if you have questions I haven't given answers to post them and I will see what I can find out and update the FAQ

[mr.handsomeman]

wow, this is very nice man! answered a lot of the questions that I had, this is amazing! I'm so excited!

[nathanlawliet]

You think they could crack the Zune with this now? Or could they find out how the files are digitally signed or something? That's what I'm interested in..

Though since I'm learning Visual Basic(it's supported too according to the XNA site) I could make a little program that played on my Zune That'd be cool.

Hurray for open source on something useful for the first time ever!

Micro$oft: 2
Apple: 0

[carnealse]

So why yes to the games, and no to the web browser and http plug ins?
Although I can easily get on my PC at home, once in a blue moon I get the urge to get online else where.
This thing has so much potential. Microsoft knows it can do more, but always seems to be the company that holds out or just does not take full advantage.
As much as I love my Z80, I have to give it to apple, they know how to use their products throughly.

[Omnidragon]

Originally Posted by nathanlawliet

You think they could crack the Zune with this now? Or could they find out how the files are digitally signed or something? That's what I'm interested in..

Though since I'm learning Visual Basic(it's supported too according to the XNA site) I could make a little program that played on my Zune That'd be cool.

Hurray for open source on something useful for the first time ever!

Micro: 2
Apple: 0

XNA will do the signing for us so we wont really know how its done, but there is no reason why we cant code our own memory overflows which may lead to a hacked zune. but remember the release date for all this is a way off yet

Originally Posted by carnealse

So why yes to the games, and no to the web browser and http plug ins?
Although I can easily get on my PC at home, once in a blue moon I get the urge to get online else where.
This thing has so much potential. Microsoft knows it can do more, but always seems to be the company that holds out or just does not take full advantage.
As much as I love my Z80, I have to give it to apple, they know how to use their products throughly.

Most likely caus it would be horrible to use i guess it doesn't have a virtual keyboard, but that's not saying we couldn't program one but it wouldn't be nice and easy to use plus with only 240X360 res the web pages would be hard to read. but that's just my opinion there was no reason given as to why they are not adding HTTP hook ins to XNA. It could also be that XNA was designed to be purely a games creation API

[Jon]

Good job Omnidragon.

[thresixty]

it would be cool if they could add like widgets to zune

[Trogdor]

Originally Posted by thresixty

it would be cool if they could add like widgets to zune

if you find a widget like program with source in C# or C++ post it in requests

[somedayawaits]

Nice.

[Xodus]

Originally Posted by Trogdor

if you find a widget like program with source in C# or C++ post it in requests

What people don't understand, the only namespaces that you can use, are namespaces that are compiled within the Microsoft.XNA framework, and the System base namespace.

[Omnidragon]

*Updated FAQ to include know controls and their mapping*

[mincho]

This should be stickied.

[Gregory]

It is.

[Alex]

Thanks for the FAQs
i got a lot of my questions answerd
now we play the waiting game

[133794m3r]

So when can I see meh games coming?

[Nayer]

Originally Posted by 133794m3r

So when can I see meh games coming?

I believe you mean 'mah' as the Zune games will be anything but meh. XD

[133794m3r]

well yes, but I say meh instead of mah b/c mah is too common.

[Gregory]

There is no official launch date for games.

[133794m3r]

Ok, is there an official launch date for the release XNA 3.0?

[Lare2]

WOW Finally all my questions answered in one page ... Cool