Although it’s been known for a while, Microsoft recently admitted that they are working on a portable media device. In the hyperbolic words of geeks, it’s an “iPod killer”. It’s called the Zune, and looks to have some nice features. Most exciting for me is WiFi – that is, you can transfer songs to it over a wireless network, or even buy songs directly from the iTunes equivalent, right from device. It also promises social music features, such as sharing music collections with other people and getting recommendations; probably something like Mog or Last.fm.
That all sounds good. But here is my completely insubstantial, unsupported rumour to add to the already excessive hype: The Zune will play Xbox Live Arcade games. You will be able to transfer them, wirelessly, right from an Xbox 360 to the Zune, free of charge if you’ve already bought the game. For those who don’t know, Live Arcade is a collection of crappy little games that you can buy for $5.00 – $15.00 each, and are usually highly addictive (check out my Xbox 360’s blog to confirm that I play way too much Zuma). They’re good for sitting down to play for a few minutes at a time – perfect for portable gaming. So why would Microsoft create a portable gaming system with an entirely new set of games, when they already have a whole library of games that are perfectly suited to portable gaming? It makes so much sense, that I’ll just take the initiative and move this from the rumour box to the FACT box. That’s right, you heard it here first, on this non-tech blog from a person not associated with Microsoft in any way: the Zune will play Xbox 360 Live Arcade games.
Now lots of people will probably find my blog while searching for Zune rumours. Sorry to disappoint you, people.
But in all seriousness, I’m looking forward to this thing. I’ve been wanting to buy an iPod for a while, since my iRiver H120 is so outdated now that it’s 2 years old. If the Zune can actually offer something better than the iPod though, who knows, maybe they can brainwash me and make me buy it like they did with the Xbox 360. Assholes.
Oh, and check out ComingZune.com, the “viral marketing site” for the device. Depending on your perspective, it either features a giant rabbit, a giant person, and a normal person; or a normal person, a normal rabbit, and a very little person. In either case, there is much hugging and rubbing, and not much about electronic devices. Awesome.
Phronk.com 
Comments
16 responses to “Microsoft Zune Will Play Xbox Live Arcade Games”
Would they let that happen though? I mean, that’s the point of developing new platforms, right? To force people to buy new games only compatible with said new platform. I don’t know much about the Live Arcade Games, but are they different from regular xbox games? How would they prevent the big expensive games from getting put on the Zune? And how would they stop you from putting a game on all your friends’ respective Zunes if they haven’t bought it? I’m raining on your parade, but I don’t really know enough about it… but anyway, yeah, it looks totally cool, rumours unsubstantiated or no. We’re excited for you, Phronky! Yay for video games!
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Would they let that happen though? I mean, that’s the point of developing new platforms, right? To force people to buy new games only compatible with said new platform. I don’t know much about the Live Arcade Games, but are they different from regular xbox games? How would they prevent the big expensive games from getting put on the Zune? And how would they stop you from putting a game on all your friends’ respective Zunes if they haven’t bought it? I’m raining on your parade, but I don’t really know enough about it… but anyway, yeah, it looks totally cool, rumours unsubstantiated or no. We’re excited for you, Phronky! Yay for video games!
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Don’t forget that Zune and Microsoft will RE-PURCHASE any songs you have ALREADY BOUGHT from iTunes in order to play them on your Zune for free. That’s a spectacular promotions strategy.
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Don’t forget that Zune and Microsoft will RE-PURCHASE any songs you have ALREADY BOUGHT from iTunes in order to play them on your Zune for free. That’s a spectacular promotions strategy.
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Sarah: I’m sure they could handle those problems. Arcade games are quite different from regular games, since they’re cheap and usually very small. I think it would increases sales of these games if they could be played on more than one device. They could prevent copying with crappy technology that limits it to one device or something. Sorta like when you buy music legally.Bee: Yeah, that’s awesome! I think they NEED that if they want people to switch from the iPod. No iPod user who’s bought music would switch if their entire collection suddenly became useless. So yeah, good move Microsoft.
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Sarah: I’m sure they could handle those problems. Arcade games are quite different from regular games, since they’re cheap and usually very small. I think it would increases sales of these games if they could be played on more than one device. They could prevent copying with crappy technology that limits it to one device or something. Sorta like when you buy music legally.Bee: Yeah, that’s awesome! I think they NEED that if they want people to switch from the iPod. No iPod user who’s bought music would switch if their entire collection suddenly became useless. So yeah, good move Microsoft.
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Is everyone paying for their music and being all honest and stuff?
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Is everyone paying for their music and being all honest and stuff?
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Neat!
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Neat!
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I am here because of search results for blogs with a related topic to mine.Please,accept my congratulations for your excellent work!I have a games reviews previews site.Come and check it out if you get time :-)Best regards!
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