OK I showed a few people at our meeting this week some of the XNA games on my Zune and they wanted to know how to do it.
They said they weren't programmers and the link I sent them was a bit confusing and was wondering if I could do a step by step for them so this is basically a repost from Nick Gravelyn's blog with pictures and a few additions to make it a bit easier to do:
Since a lot of non-developers are looking to get games on their Zune, I thought I’d take a moment and write up a brief “How To”. Note: If you have a 64-bit machine, the CTP is not able to deploy Zune games. The final version of XNA Game Studio 3.0 will, but for now you are unfortunately unable to participate.
1) Follow this link to download Microsoft Visual C# Express 2008. It is very important that you get C# and that it is 2008 or else you will not be able to build and deploy games to your Zune. Click on the Green Square and choose your language.
2) Next follow this link to download the Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 CTP. Take a moment to understand that a CTP is not a final release; it is a very early (pre-beta) release used to get feedback and bug reports from developers and users. If you experience some issues, that is why. The final release of Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 is scheduled for “Holiday 2008″. If you don’t want to use pre-beta software on your computer or Zune, do not install the CTP.
3) Now go to your Start Menu, go into All Programs, and find the entry for Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 (CTP). In that folder open up the XNA Game Studio Device Center.
In the device center click on Add Device when your Zune is connected to your computer.
Click on the Zune button and then select your Zune and click Next.
After the connection is completed click Finish and your Zune should appear in the main window. You can now close the device center.
If you have more than one Zune you will have to make the device you wish to install the application to the default device or you may have connection problems.
You should be ready to connect and you should see a status window of 'connected' or 'waiting for computer'.
4) Next find the Zune game you wish to deploy. For example you could download Alien Aggressors. Make sure you download and unzip the project to a standard directory such as the desktop or your documents folder. If you place the files in a location that has strange characters ($, %, #, etc), it may not work properly.
5) Open up the .sln file found in the download. This should open up Microsoft Visual C# Express 2008. If you receive an error, locate and open the .csproj file.
Then click on Build in the menu bar and find the entry for “Deploy <ProjectName>” where <ProjectName> is the name of the project in the solution you wish to deploy. For example in Alien Aggressors the entry is called “Deploy Alien Aggressors [Zune]”. You do not want to hit the option that says “Deploy Solution”. The proper Deploy option is down below the break line.
At this point the Output window for Visual C# should open to tell you how the progress is going. (I couldn't get it automatically show up so you an either click on the small tab at the bottom left of the screen labeled output, head to View-> Output or hit CTRL+W, O to display.)
Your Zune will also display the status during deployment of what is being installed and it should match up with the Output Window.
When completed your Zune should return to a screen stating either “connected” or “waiting for computer”. In the bottom left corner of Visual C# it will also say “Deploy succeeded”. You may now click the center button or unplug the Zune to exit XNA Game Studio Connect on your Zune. Then you can browse to the games option and play the game you deployed.
When you go to your main menu you will now see Games.
Select it and you will see a list of all the games and applications you loaded on your Zune, just like you do album art.
When you choose a game you will see info and a description about the game.
When you choose to play the game it will display the Zune logo and load animating the logo.
Not only are there games there are some cool applications like a calculator and a clock that allows you to play music, which is great for runners that have been dying for this feature like iPods have.
The only downside is that when you end a game or application the device basically soft resets itself and then brings you back to the main menu.
That should get all of you non-Visual Studio people up and going with playing these Zunes. If you run into issues, check out the XNA forums because there have already been some problems people have had and solutions given.
Some other places to go to get some info on making and creating games or even getting some are the XNA Creators Club Online, Zunerama and Zuneboards for applications and games and other info.
Thanks Nick for providing the groundwork for this step by step and I hope this clears things up for those that asked.