Wow, it certainly is a zune-centric day of posting here, but what can ya do. Well, Microsoft’s latest attempt to take on the iPod launched yesterday in the form of the Zune HD. Notably, the Zune HD experience will not include an app store open to third party developers. Instead, all of the apps available for the device will be developed in house at Microsoft. As it stands now, there are 9 apps currently available for download. 2 of them are utility apps (i.e a calculator and a weather app), while the remaining 7 are games such as Sudoku, Goo Splat, Chess, and Texas hold ’em.
All of the apps are free, but users who download games for their Zune HD might be disheartened to see pre-roll ads running before their game actually begins loading up. I guess the games are free to the extent that you’re forced to sit through and watch paid advertisements before you can actually play them. Ars Technica was able to snag some video footage of the pre-roll ads in action.
To be clear, there are no ads for the utility apps, all 2 of them.
Wed, Sep 16, 2009
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