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Encryption Portables (Games) Security Entertainment Games

N-Gage Debuts New Bundle, Vows Action Against Crackers 35

Posted by simoniker from the is-it-enticing-yet? dept.
Thanks to GameSpot for pointing out that Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck' has effectively descended in price further, since the company "is letting consumers pick three game titles to bundle with the N-Gage for $299, provided they order them at EBGames and GameStop", and "those two stores are offering their own instant rebate of $100", making the N-Gage $199 with 3 games. In other N-Gage news, following the cracking of N-Gage software, a Nokia spokesman indicated they would "aggressively pursue" the perpetrators, as well as those spreading the crack online, and "...noted that future N-Gage releases are more likely to take advantage of platform-specific features that will make cracked games either impossible to play on other Series 60 devices, or at least play with a very poor user experience."
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N-Gage Debuts New Bundle, Vows Action Against Crackers More

N-Gage Debuts New Bundle, Vows Action Against Crackers

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  • Gamestop (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gedanken ( 24390 ) on Saturday November 15, 2003 @02:48AM (#7480089)
    At the local gamestop there is a huge stack of n-gages for $199 without rebates. This was last week. I don't think it is very popular with retailers :).
  • N-Gage fails from lack of hype.

    It already has failed with little or no info told about it. Looks like another game boy clone with little to no games. But did you know you can

    mp3 player
    surf the net
    and its a phone

    Now that sound a tad better when you see the $300 price tag for what looks to be nothing but another GB. They should put out some better commercial fast if they want to sell them.

    People pay $300 for a reg phone that can do most of that but without the cool color games.

    But I think they failed big
    • Too bad it's also a crappy phone and you'll likely have to pay through the roof to browse the web on it's tiny screen.

      They hyped it plenty, it just isn't a good product.

    • Re:N-Gage fails from lack of hype. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb&gmail,com> on Saturday November 15, 2003 @04:17AM (#7480299) Homepage
      Everybody knows what the thing's capabilities are, and certainly anyone who actually considers buying one finds them out very quickly - at the very least, it's instantly identifiable as a cell phone.

      The one feature that intrigued me was the wireless multiplayer but with barely average games and the high pricetag, it just can't entice me...And considering I enjoy spending money on video gaming, don't have a cellular phone and don't have a portable MP3 player, this SHOULD be a device that sucks me in. It hasn't, and I'm thinkin' it won't...

      • " Everybody knows what the thing's capabilities are,"

        I had no idea until my free monthly STUFF mag showed up and it had a blurb about what it could do.

        Nokia even has a nice big color add for it in the mag but no mention of what it can do. Every commercial I have seen just show it and the game splinter cell and thats it. No one knows what this sucker can do unless they look for it.

        That is a big big mistake that will hurt them in the end. Screw show casing the game splinter cell and bring up the hype/specs
    • "mp3 player
      surf the net
      and its a phone

      Now that sound a tad better when you see the $300 price tag"

      When I get my "technology assurance" check next month, I can get two out of three for $50. Now, I admit that $300 isn't all that bad for getting all three of those, except I'm really not interested in changing cellular service providers. Mine has yet to do anything to piss me off, and I'm not interested in a new provider having another 6 to 8 weeks before my opt-out request has any effect.

      If they expand t
    • N-Gage fails because it sucks.

      It tries to be everything to everybody and does none of them well. Between my cellphone and my PDA (which together didn't cost as much as an N-Gage) I can do everything it does only better. ...and I don't have to take the batteries out to switch games.

    • 'Now that sound a tad better when you see the $300 price tag for what looks to be nothing but another GB.'

      Thats not the point. The argument we [gamers] are trying to make is that is sucks as a gaming system ITSELF. You can strip the mp3 player, the net surfing capabilities, and the phone capabilies and we still wouldn't like it! You can price it at $75 USD (cheaper than the GBA:SP) and we STILL wouldn't like it!! They can PAY US to simply own one and we STILL WOULDN'T LIKE IT!!!

    • N-Gage fails from lack of hype.

      It already has failed with little or no info told about it. Looks like another game boy clone with little to no games. But did you know you can

      mp3 player
      surf the net
      and its a phone

      Now that sound a tad better when you see the $300 price tag for what looks to be nothing but another GB. They should put out some better commercial fast if they want to sell them.

      People pay $300 for a reg phone that can do most of that but without the cool color games.

      Everyone already knows abo
  • How did this thing ever get off the drawing board?
  • Clearly they're going to be losing a lot of money on this package deal; and being heavy-handed with relatively innocent hackers has, AFAIK, rarely done any good.

    Upshot: Nokia stock falls following reports of huge losses on the N-Gage, Nintendo continues its handheld monopoly at least into the PSP's release. Not a bad thing in my opinion, since I've always liked what Nintendo does.

  • Good Emulation (Score:4, Funny)

    by Andy_R ( 114137 ) on Saturday November 15, 2003 @05:51AM (#7480478) Homepage Journal
    a very poor user experience

    sounds about right to me
  • I've not seen any retailers drop prices or offer bundles here -- possibly because we're GSM friendly so getting connected it painless. One EB's said it was selling well and another had run out of two of the games I wanted when I bought six last night [optusnet.com.au] -- five of which I shoe-horned onto my 64MB MMC along with all my other data.

    I think perhaps it is only the US where the N-Gage has failed so completely.

    • Groovy! So now we know who bought the third N-Gage in OZ!
    • well.. considering how poor the user experience with any phone seems to be in states it doesn't wonder me too much that ngage does so piss poorly there in public view(that's available to the net, that's not the full story ever though).

      though, 199$ for a series60 phone would be a frekkin good deal(now don't bitch that you can get phone x for free with plan y, you're getting ripped off _always_ in such deals unless you unlock the phone and get another provider with no lock in phone deal) and easy way to get
  • Yeah it was cracked and people can play the game on other phones too now. And now nokia decided to follow those crackers to the end of the world to find them. costing a shit load of money. they better spend that money on user friendlyness of the the thing itself (battery has to be taken out first before you can switch games) and better games. Then they have the issue of exploding batteries. I would suggest to leave those crackers alone and spend that money on other FAR more important things. I wouldnt worry
    • they're just staying so(that they'll go to the end of the world).

      like valve & hl2.

      of course they say they'll do anything to catch them.

      series60 isn't a bad phone system though(and ngage is still the cheapest series60 device). however i do think that it's a bit stupid for them to not officially support the games on all series60 devices as it's very unlikely for anyone who owns another series60 phone with mmc slot to buy the ngage(owners of 3660, 3650, 6600...)
    • > Then they have the issue of exploding batteries

      Nokia does not have an issue with exploding batteries. All cell phones have issues with exploding cheap-ass third party batteries. Lithium Ion batteries are volatile suckers if you don't have the proper circuitry in them.

      Nokia has issues with designing a crappy handheld game system for their first try, then when they get called on it, rather than admit honest failure and trying again, they act like a cornered animal. Too bad, I really like the phones
  • "...[The spokesman] noted that future N-Gage releases are more likely to take advantage of platform-specific features ..."

    Ha ha ha, FUTURE releases! That's a good one. He he he! I laughed so hard I think I peed a little.

    Seriously, even if a publisher had something nearly finished, releasing it for the n-gage would probably bring the company more PR damage than profit.
    If you're still interested in the n-gage, check out some totaly awesome pictures at www.sidetalkin.com
    • They don't need copy protection! They have an extremely unique combination of hardware...I believe they are one of the few cell phones or pdas to actually use ATI's imageon 3D pda processor. All they have to do is change the API to remove some of the 3D abstraction, just write to hardware...better games from developers, and the neat side effect of simply not working on other systems.
  • Try a portable console that doesn't suck:

    [ http://www.tapwave.com/ ]
  • Hey Nokia, instead of annoying customers who bought other series 60 devices by deliberatley breaking compatibility, why not try to recoup some of your losses on the N-gage debacle by selling the games to them?
  • ...is letting consumers pick three game titles to bundle with the N-Gage...

    That would only work if there were three games worth buying for the damned thing. Or will they let you pick three games from any system? Then it'd only be worth it if they let you pick Steel Batallion (Costs $200 due to specialized controller.) Otherwise you're still wasting your money.

    or at least play with a very poor user experience.

    They don't do that already?

  • Yesterday I was at a Gamestop, and I saw a demo N-Gage machine. I put my GBA into sleep mode so I could go make fun of the N-Gage. I tried to turn it on and play a game or do something, but the machine wasn't working.

    The guy at the counter said it hadn't worked for a couple weeks, and he knew what was wrong but there was really no point in fixing it. We had a good laugh.
    • Funny, that's the same thing I've seen myself. I've been curious about the N-Gage in the same way most people are curious about a fatal car/train/plane/etc wreck, but every time I see a demo unit in a store-- and, I might add, I've checked about half to three quarters of the malls in the area of where I live-- the demo unit is DEAD. I have YET to see a functioning demo unit. Even on the launch day, I could not find a single working demo unit.

      Doesn't say much about the hardware reliability, does it?

      I'm def

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