Microsoft has Zune HD owners falling in love all over again by releasing 3D games and a Piano App for the Zune HD. Free! And no, we don't mind the pre-game ad (no ad for Piano app).
http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/learningcenter/zuneplayers/whattodo/hdapps.htm?campaignID=MNHD111109
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
ZuneHD Apps Are Here! (somewhat)
As we patiently wait for additional apps to become available in the Zune marketplace, I am happy to report that thanks to a thriving XNA development community lots of games and apps are being developed for the ZuneHD. Totally and completely unofficially that is. Scouring the web tonite I found several sources of games and apps. A site that kind of acts as a repository for some of these games and apps is http://zhdapps.com/.
Installing these requires Microsoft XNA Game Studio along with C#, and the Zune HD extensions. If you choose to install any of these, do so with care. It helps to have a basic understanding of what XNA is. I'm not a coder but I would consider myself a 'ultra extreme plus master power user' when it comes to PCs. My point is, if I brick my Zune HD, I will take my lumps and point the finger at yours truly. And hey, my first computer was an Atari 800XL, so I am pretty comfy around computers. Anyway...
At this time I have the following installed on my Zune HD:
Acceleromoter (app) (a basic 'bubble level' type app)
Alculator (app) (calculate a person's BAC level)
Alien Blasting (game) (self explanatory)
Calendar (app) (buggy but displays current month and day plus date)
Chopper (game) (the classic chopper game)
Flashlight (app)
Flick Obama (game) (goofy image of Obama that you flick around)
Ice Hockey (2 player game)
Marblets (game)
Paint (app)
Platformer (game) (some fella added additional levels)
RetroRacing (game)
Tap Tap Defense (game) (buggy but it is so fun)
Teeter (game) (addictive and can use more levels)
XNA Pong (game) (addictive)
Guitar Tuner (app) (tune a bass or standard guitar)
Zune 15 (puzzle game)
Zune HD Stopwatch (an amazing looking stopwatch application)
Zune HD Draw (etch-a-sketch type app)
Interesting that the Zune HD was released 9/15/2009 and in addition to the official 9 games/apps from Zune Marketplace, we are already seeing all of these others being worked on. Some of these are no joke - the stopwatch app looks amazing as well as some of the others. Furthermore, the Zune HD extensions for XNA were not released until days after the ZuneHD was released. This is promising but please provide an outlet for the developers Microsoft!
Installing these requires Microsoft XNA Game Studio along with C#, and the Zune HD extensions. If you choose to install any of these, do so with care. It helps to have a basic understanding of what XNA is. I'm not a coder but I would consider myself a 'ultra extreme plus master power user' when it comes to PCs. My point is, if I brick my Zune HD, I will take my lumps and point the finger at yours truly. And hey, my first computer was an Atari 800XL, so I am pretty comfy around computers. Anyway...
At this time I have the following installed on my Zune HD:
Acceleromoter (app) (a basic 'bubble level' type app)
Alculator (app) (calculate a person's BAC level)
Alien Blasting (game) (self explanatory)
Calendar (app) (buggy but displays current month and day plus date)
Chopper (game) (the classic chopper game)
Flashlight (app)
Flick Obama (game) (goofy image of Obama that you flick around)
Ice Hockey (2 player game)
Marblets (game)
Paint (app)
Platformer (game) (some fella added additional levels)
RetroRacing (game)
Tap Tap Defense (game) (buggy but it is so fun)
Teeter (game) (addictive and can use more levels)
XNA Pong (game) (addictive)
Guitar Tuner (app) (tune a bass or standard guitar)
Zune 15 (puzzle game)
Zune HD Stopwatch (an amazing looking stopwatch application)
Zune HD Draw (etch-a-sketch type app)
Interesting that the Zune HD was released 9/15/2009 and in addition to the official 9 games/apps from Zune Marketplace, we are already seeing all of these others being worked on. Some of these are no joke - the stopwatch app looks amazing as well as some of the others. Furthermore, the Zune HD extensions for XNA were not released until days after the ZuneHD was released. This is promising but please provide an outlet for the developers Microsoft!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Protect Your Zune HD
Finally!
Zagg.com comes to the rescue with their invisibleShield for the Zune HD. This is exciting because from what I have been reading in different forums as well as my own experience scouting web sites and retail locations like Target, Wal-Mart, Staples, and Best Buy, there is no real offering of Zune HD cases or much else in the accessory category. One Best Buy location had the silicone skin from MLO but that was about all.
I hope that this offering from Zagg.com is a sign of more to come for the holiday shopping season. I will be ordering mine immediately. Expect a mini review soon.
[update 10/15/09] Visited a BestBuy location in NJ today. Found many more Zune HD accessories in the 'Mp3 Player Accessory' section, just down from the iPod section. Some of what they had: Zagg invisibleShield, Zune HD Dock, MLO Jam Jacket, MLO Jam Jacket with strap, Leather Zune Case. This was great to see. I just wish they were displayed more prominently.
Friday, October 2, 2009
ZuneHD Cases by Incipio, Vaja Choice, & DLO
DLO has a few nice offerings (personally, I could do without the cord saver)
ClickMe
ClickMe
INCIPIO has many more offerings but many silicone cases appear 'out of stock'
ClickMe
Vaja Choice has the nicest most customizable cases with engraving
ClickMe
I'll be purchasing one of these sometime soon. I'll let you know what I go with and why.
ClickMe
ClickMe
INCIPIO has many more offerings but many silicone cases appear 'out of stock'
ClickMe
Vaja Choice has the nicest most customizable cases with engraving
ClickMe
I'll be purchasing one of these sometime soon. I'll let you know what I go with and why.
Tricked
Tricked! No treat here...
I asked the CaseMate company if they had any case offerings for the Zune HD and their 'customer experience lead', Kim A., replied:
"Thank you for the inquiry. Unfortunately, we do not offer a case for the Zune HD at this time."
I asked the CaseMate company if they had any case offerings for the Zune HD and their 'customer experience lead', Kim A., replied:
"Thank you for the inquiry. Unfortunately, we do not offer a case for the Zune HD at this time."
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Treats: FREE DVD Ripper & Video Converter for Zune HD
www.winxdvd.com is offering a fully functioning download of a few of their products. Apparently there are no strings attached to this deal. I scanned the download for Spyware with Microsoft Security Essentials and found nothing.
I tested the ripping software and video converter software on my 'I Love You, Man' DvD, (hey, I own it after all).
The software gives you several choices of video formats to convert to. There is even a Zune option. That used WMV and for whatever reason, I couldn't sync the WMV file with my Zune. Zune 4.0 reported it as a corrupt or invalid file type.
I finally did something ingenius by selecting the output as MP4; Zune 4.0 liked this apparently because it allowed me to sync this one to my Zune HD.
AWESOME! So far, so great! It looks amazing on my Zune HD and sounds amazing as well.
Have yet to test output to a TV but will update this post if and when I do test it.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Treats: Apps for Zune HD
I keep saying (posting) that it would be only a matter of time and from this article I think it is safe to say that we are about to witness something amazing (forgive me, dramatic effect if you will).
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