XNA Game Studio 3.1 Zune Extensions Released – Get your Zune HD Dev On

XNA Team Blog - XNA Game Studio 3.1 Zune Extensions

“Are you as excited as we are at today’s arrival of the Zune HD? If you've already picked yours up from your local retailer or are eagerly awaiting your delivery from Zune Originals, we are pleased to announce the immediate availability of XNA Game Studio 3.1 Zune Extensions to support Zune HD.

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Barring the new input models available, your game should port over relatively easily.

Beyond the changes outlined here, all of the other XNA Game Studio functionality with the Zune HD remains the same as it did with earlier versions of the device.

…”

Microsoft Downloads - Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1 Zune Extensions

“This release adds extensions to XNA Game Studio 3.1 to target and develop for the Zune HD media player.

File Name:	zuneextensions.msi
Version:	3.1
Date Published:	9/15/2009
Language:	English
Download Size:	11.0 MB

This add-on for XNA Game Studio 3.1 adds the following functionality to the product:

1. The ability to target and develop for the Zune HD media player.
2. The addition of new Touch APIs to the XNA Framework for use on the Zune HD.
3. The addition of new Accelerometer APIs to the XNA Framework for use on the Zune HD.

Also included are documentation and examples integrated into Visual Studio help that will show you how to leverage the new APIs. You'll even find a tutorial on how to update the Platformer Game Starter Kit to use the new Touch API's!

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Instructions

1. Ensure Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1 is successfully installed before proceeding.
2. Download and run the Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1 Zune Extensions installer.
3. Follow the instructions displayed during setup.
4. Launch Visual Studio 2008 from the Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1 folder on the Start Menu.

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Related Resources

1. XNA Game Studio 3.1 Readme
2. XNA Developer Center
3. XNA Creators Club
4. XNA Game Studio 3.1

…” [GD: Leach Level:95%]

Interesting… kind of. Not as much released as I expected. Maybe more information will be released in the come days? (Like getting apps onto the Marketplace, etc)

Zune dev via the XNA Game Studio was okay to start, expect for the deployment story. Releasing/deploying a game previously was a major pain. I’m not yet seeing much yet to ease my mind there. Also I’m bummed there’s no internet API yet? MS will be releasing a Facebook and Twitter app, so…

I’m betting that there’s more to the Add Dev story, it’s just we’ve not heard it yet (and given how the XNA app deployment/marketplace story improved SO much for the 360, I think it’s a good bet)

 

Related Past Post XRef:
Zune 4.0 Software
As promised, XNA Game Studio 3.0 RTM’ed today
XNA Game Studio 3.0 RTM/RTW October 30th, 2008
XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP Available (Get your Zune Gaming on! :)