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Nokia N-Gage refuses to Die!
Kuta - Jan 31, 2007
  Kuta Jan 31, 2007
Here, read this article;

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Various/N-Gage+(nex...

They are going to release a next-gen N-Gage. I thought this platform have died years ago.

I got myself one of the original models and it works great but wasn't pleased with the small number of games available. People still make fun of me when I'm talking on it.

 vbt Feb 3, 2007
Nokia doesn't give up but I never see really ads about the ngage here so it doesn't help to sell it. How does it cost now ?

 Kuta Feb 3, 2007
Well the current QD model costs about $us100. I have no idea what the next-gen will cost. I don't think that information has been released yet.

 IceDigger Feb 4, 2007
People actually bought it?

 mtxblau Feb 5, 2007
I absolutely love my n-gage. I have the original model. The game gear emulator runs at full speed (with sound - yay Sonic Drift 2, Ristar) and the genesis emulator is decent.


It wasn't advertised well, but I love the handheld. Asphalt GT is an outstanding game for it, as was Fifa. Tony Hawk was a good diversion, as well as Tomb Raider, though they were old.


I didn't die - it's a cult classic phone, not just for the gaming but because it runs on Symbian.

 Kuta Feb 6, 2007
I found another article: http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=1515...

They say they have two major developers but doesn't mention who they are. Also it sounds like they are going to make quite a few Nokia models with N-Gage feature. Its funny while reading this, sounds like the same sort of hype they were giving the original N-Gage but look what happened to that one.

 VertigoXX Feb 6, 2007
I'm all for them simply building the N-Gage features into their cell phones. Just don't market it as a gaming device, market it as a cell phone with awesome games. Make it use a normal-sized memory card, such as an SD or XD card for the games, no fancy tiny disc drives. Sell a home-brew development kit to desktop game designers and have a YouTube-like site set up where people can download the home-brew N-Gage games for free*. That right there would get me to stop looking at that Kyoceria PDA for my next cell phone. Nokia is sitting on something that has HUGE potential, they just haven't approached it the right way yet. They do it right, and they have something that other phone companies will want to get in on and license rather than imitate. But they have to remember that it is a PHONE that plays games, not the other way around.

(*Free, being aside from having bought the phone in the first place and paying monthly service fees to your cellular phone provider.)

 mtxblau Feb 10, 2007
I don't know how many people on these boards have an n-gage, but it is quite literally a game deck AND a phone. I know there's a common perception that it's just a phone with good game handling - but it's actually quite good enough to compete with the Gameboy Advance, and some games are DS level.


There are a lot of homebrew games for the N-Gage, as it is a symbian phone, any symbian s60 program will run on it.


And therein lies the rub - Nokia botched the handling of the advertising so badly that they let the taco design get ahead of it. How many phones have mp3, video playback, bluetooth, usb connectivity, mmc capability, video game capability, stereo playback and fm radio capability for under $200?* Of those, how many are built on the vaunted symbian platform?


I can honestly say that I used the game features as frequently as the other symbian software - profimail to check my gmail, agile messenger to instant message, opera to browse the web.


But the only thing anyone ever really noticed about the n-gage was the side taco (I used bluetooth, never was an issue). *Nokia fixed it, but they took out the fm radio, usb connectivity, stereo playback and native mp3 support (easily fixed, but for a newbie, could be confusing).


---


I don't think there's any value in competing with Nintendo, however. Even if you have a killer app, it's also going to be on the gameboy because of its installed base. I love my n-gage because I don't have to carry multiple devices. Many developers aren't crazy about Symbian, either.

 vbt Mar 8, 2007

  
	
	

		
		

			Nokia's new N-Gage games platform will bring a premium mobile gaming experience to tens of millions of advanced mobile devices, ushering in a new era for the mobile games industry.



Source : http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?st...

 Kuta Jul 27, 2007
http://gamesindustry.net/content_page.php?aid=2707...


  
	
	

		
		

			Connected experiences are "the lifeblood" of new N-Gage approach



Scott Howard, network games product manager for Nokia, has said connected experiences are "the lifeblood" of the new N-Gage approach to mobile gaming.


They are going to adopt a system like what they have on Xbox Live.

 vbt Jul 28, 2007
It can be a good idea for the ngage. That's good to see Nokia supports its mobile/console.

 vbt Aug 25, 2007
They are developing 2 games for the N-Gage :


- World Rally Championship

- Super Mah Jong


Also other big companies are planing to release some games like EA, THQ, etc. It sounds a little better for this "console".


Source : http://www.developmag.com/news/28330/I-play-commit...

 Kuta Sep 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/technology/27nok...

Nokia have come out with more information on their future plans for the N-Gage platform. This will be their 3rd attept to launch the platform and take some of the portable gaming market. At what point do you quit?

 vnvx Sep 3, 2007
I never payed much attention to the N-Gage but to me it just seemed like it was plagued by a clunky design and lackluster development. Software companies these days are *still* trying way too hard to push console-like 3D graphics on platforms that can't handle them well. I'm sure if id software made a game for it, they'd know what they're doing, but most developers just seem to make the games clunky and half-assed.

If the N-Gage technology was is in a nicer package like the iPhone or Nokia's other great phones, and some truly great games were made for it from scratch (not cheap puzzle games or ports of PSX titles), maybe it would do very very well.

It's great to see that they're not giving up though. Sometimes it's that persistence and refusal to die that makes people take notice.