How to Install the New Games on Zune [Hexic, Texas Hold 'Em]

This information should just be out there and readily available, but it’s not. So, I’m hoping this will help a few frustrated souls.

With Zune 3.0, Microsoft included 2 new games on the Zune player. What I like about what Microsoft is doing is that any previous hardware version of the Zune player can install a firmware update and get the same functionality as the new Zunes being sold in stores today.

The problem was, after installing the new Zune 3.0 software for my ol’ blackbox Zune 30, I found it didn’t include the two new games, Hexic and Texas Hold ‘Em. Upon searching the interwebs, I found instructions regarding installing games on the Zune through the XNA Game Studio software (which, if you’re a DIYer, I would recommend taking a look at), but nothing telling me where the heck where my new games.

I finally search the Microsoft Knowledge Base, limiting the search to just “Zune Digital Media Player,” and I found my answer:

If you have already updated your Zune device, follow these steps:
1. Connect your Zune device to your computer, and then start the Zune software.
2. Click Settings, click Device, and then click Device Update.
3. Click Install Games.

So, in other words, once you update to Zune 3.0, you gotta go back an update again.

Time Wasters Mixed with Complex Programming

I can’t remember how I found this site, but I’ve had it bookmarked for years. Arkitus.com (by Seyed Mohammadali Eslami) looks simple on the outside, but the programming behind it is fairly complex. If you know anything about programming, you’ll have a greater appreciation for the site. The site is split into two separate sections: a blog and a “playground.”

The blog is self explanatory, but the play section is the interesting part. The (currently) 25 pages are each different experiments presented in a playable flash form. A lot of the experiments are simple and show a proof-of-concept or the results of a basic function that can be built upon. However, some of Arkitus’s more interesting experiments are playable and will have you wasting time before you know it.

Some of my favorite experiments / games:

• Ball Collision (#15)
  • Here, the balls realistically bounce of each other and their boundaries. The user can click and hold to grab a ball and move it. The plus and minus on the users keyboard will increase and decrease the size. Apparently increasing the size too much will crash your browser.
• Curtain (#16)
  • I enjoy this one because of how smooth the object recognition (ball) is by the environment (curtain).
• Line (#18)
  • Probably one of the bigger time wasters, this one provides physics, collision detection and user options.
• Angular V1 (#20)
  • Described by its creator as his first real game, this one bears some resemblance to Asteroids. However, instead of a triangle ship shooting large floating rocks, there’s a computers controlled (and a heck of a good one, too) ship shooting back at you!