N-Gage QD - Nokia's Answer To The Critics? 249
JayBonci writes "According to CNET News, Nokia is preparing the N-Gage QD for release at the end of June. The redesign is an attempt to address design criticisms; such as 'side-talking' and the need to take out the battery to replace the game. Will this signal new life for the console, or is it too little, too late?" We linked to leaked pictures of the N-Gage follow-up late last week on Slashdot Games, and there's further information at GameSpot, which mentions: "When bundled with a service contract, the QD is expected to sell for $99. Without subsidy from a service provider, the phone will go for $199 (with the platform's Tony Hawk title bundled in at that price)."
Finally! (Score:2, Interesting)
As now there a few decent games for it(and some experienced developers), it's cheapish, and actually usable.
I just hope it is compatible with the old games.
Have fun!
http://www.holepit.com/ [holepit.com]
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:5, Interesting)
One problem is the fact that they are treading into an area where actual console producers, such as nintendo, would love to smash them in. They could go for another year or two and finally perfect the technology but Nintendo is known for success late in the game, and doing it cheaply.
Nokia doesn't understand yet that their production and licensing is draining their investments and at the same time Giants who specialize in the field of gaming are looking at similar and alternative investments in the field of Mobile gaming....including microsoft. (keep that on the hush hush)
Convergent products (Score:4, Interesting)
It's too little, too late. (Score:4, Interesting)
The Gameboy. Perhaps problem is the wrong word. The Gameboy is awesome at what it does. It's a handheld video game console. It's not a bastardized cell phone pretending to be something it's not. It does one thing and it does it very very well. It's hard to unseat a product like that.
The downfall of hybridizing products like this is two fold. You're targeting two different customers. One's who want a badass cellphone and will occasionally buy games. They're not hardcore gamers, they're just looking for diversion from time to time. You're not going to sell massive amounts of carts to them. Then you have the other type of customer: the ones who don't need a cell phone, don't want to change their current cell phone, or can't get a cellphone. Children fall into that latter category. People/Parents aren't going to buy the thing just to play games on and ignore it's functionality as a cellphone.
There are two ways Nokia could have pulled it off. They could have either hooked up with Nintendo and sold a phone that also played Gameboy Advance games. Thus they'd have a huge library of games, and both audiences are tailored two. Or if they really wanted to compete, they should have created a standalone console that wasn't tied to the cell phone.
I'm a good example. I've got a Gameboy Advance and it's great. I've also got a Motorola v120 that I love. I'm not going to trade up my favorite cellphone just for another portable. Now, if it played GBA, I'd be tempted. I don't often carry my GBA with me, except on travel, but I always have my cell phone. If it played GBA games they might stand a chance of convincing me. Or if they had badass games, they could probably convince me to buy a stand alone unit. But as it stands, their hybridization model just isn't appealing. And they don't really have any titles that are must haves... That's just not a formula for success.
Sony may have something though with the PSP though. If they or Nintendo tried to do a hybrid with a cell phone, they'd probably do alright.
Re:It's too little, too late. (Score:3, Interesting)
It *still* lacks shoulder button, but it fits so nicely in the hand, way better than GBA or GBA SP. Of course, it still lacks decent games...
Also, it's smaller than the Nokia 6600, so for a phone it's a good size, compared to the first model.
In any case I hope to see competition in the handheld gaming market! :)
MP3/FM Support? (Score:2, Interesting)
Poor product presentation (Score:3, Interesting)
N-Gage (QD) value (Score:5, Interesting)
The fact people are almost fanatical with their dislike with the N-Gage has never made sense to me. I guess one problem was that it was marketed as a game console even though it's still primarily a cell phone (with an innovative SideTalking (tm) interface
I can understand that people prefer the $100 Gameboy as portable console or that they don't wan't hybrid device or that they just don't like the design, but people seem to take "hating the N-Gage" very personally.. Is this just another episode of the "One True Console"-wars, or what?
N-Gage was a cool platform. QD won't be. (Score:5, Interesting)
From a computing standpoint, the thing was awesome. It ran Java apps, so that meant that within 24 hours of owning one, I had already downloaded a messenger client so I could be on all the IMs 24-7, no matter where I was.
Then there was the ogg player, the Gameboy emulator, etc. All for free.
Plus, it could understand Palm Pilot files, so no need to carry around both if all you use in the Palm is the address book. With a 512MB card, it was like carrying around a giant USB key, one that I used both under Linux AND Windows.
However, this new one looks as if it takes all the funcionality away with it's awkward button layout. It's never been easy to type on a cell phone. With this design, it'll be practically impossible.
And since I never played any N-Gage games on it, 'cause they were terribly boring and the platform was no good as a game machine, I agree with an earlier poster-- QD= Quiet Death. I won't be buying another one, that's for certain.
Re:N-Gage (QD) value (Score:3, Interesting)
A Series 60 phone with MP3-player, Bluetooth, Calendar, Java support, FM-radio and some Gaming capabilities for $200 (or even the original $300) was IMHO never that bad a deal..
Yes its a phone, but talking on it not only makes you look silly its also very difficult due to poor placement of the speaker and mic. Yes it plays games but the button layouts are poor and the screen flickers making playing for more than 10 mins painful on the eyes.
The reason it got such bad press it that it was a very poorly thought out product with some serious and blatant design flaws. They just fixed 2 of them, the game changing one is crucial to its success as a gaming system. But unless they have made it usable as an actual phone its not going to do well. Its only real advantage over the GBA is that it is a phone hybrid, if the phone part is crappy then sticking with your existing phone and buying a GBA for considerably less money is a much better plan.
Re:It's all about the applications support (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:5, Interesting)
Is the N-Gage suffering the same sort of bad press in Europe that it's suffering in the United States? Here in the US, it's been the butt of gaming magazine and website jokes for months, to the point where just mentioning it to any gamer would probably elicit laughter. It's really to the point where the only way they could possibly be less popular is if they sent out a press release announcing that "9 Out of 10 Convicted Child Molesters Agree: The N-Gage Kicks Ass". I'd say that they have a much bigger PR problem to tackle than the Virtual Boy or the 32X ever had.
Two things Nokia got right... (Score:2, Interesting)
Over here in the UK, the N-Gage sells for UKP100 on a pay-as-you-go connection. That's under half the price of the 6600, which has fewer features than the N-Gage (no MP3, no radio, etc). Knock it all you like, but the N-Gage is the only device I can find for UKP100 that combines MP3 player, FM radio and phone. Never mind the fact that it lets me IRC on the train.
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:3, Interesting)
However, one German IT site reviewed it in November [golem.de] and gave it a failing grade because it wasn't good at either gaming or a cell phone.
They also report [golem.de] that a German discount chain [www.lidl.de] sold the N-Gage starting April 1 for 159 EUR, without contract binding. It sounds like Nokia is trying to clear out their stock to make way for the new, cheaper version that has fixed a number of flaws that the previous version had: sidetalking, 4k colors, etc.
I don't think that it's much of a liability that there's no MP3 player included: the comments on the original article pointed out that there is one available [helixcommunity.org].
Now, on a more offbeat note, if it indeed were the case that N-Gages were popular among child molesters, it would mean that N-Gages are popular among young people. It would not necessarily mean that such creeps like it for themselves. At any rate, I doubt a headline like that would ever make it to press, because there would be enough positive headlines to fend off a stupid attack like that. Come to think of it, I suppose 9 out of 10 child molesters agree that computers are an absolute necessity. And the internet, too. But that doesn't make either computers or the internet unpopular. But we do know how often people like that get caught by undercover police officers.
All in all, I think that Nokia is doing the right thing with this revision and that they have a chance to make right what they messed up last time.
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:2, Interesting)
As it has it's own operating system you can install new programs. It has an mp3 player, a radio, real one to watch movies and can play games, far more than any other handheld console. And it's a phone to boot, a perfect reason to carry it around with you at all times.
Fair enough, the games at the moment are pretty uninspiring but there's some great stuff on the horizon including quite a few n-gage only games.
I'm just a little annoyed that i got my phone at the weekend and they announce a revamp literally 3 days after!
As a console it's a lot better than the gameboy, it's comfy to hold and it's really isn't that large slipping into my pocket quite easily where i can hardly feel it.
Nokia really have thrown everything they've got at the n-gage it's got more bells and whistles than you can shake a stick at. I don't think it deserves to be slated as much as it has been.
Remember, everyone slated the Xbox when it came out for it's immense lack of games but now it's got a pretty strong foothold due to the slow trickle of games being constantly added to the range.
Re:Nokia and Software Patents (Score:1, Interesting)
A method for performing motion estimation in video encoding, a video encoding system and a video encoding device
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING VIDEO FRAME IN TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEM
METHOD APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR VIDEO FAST FORWARD PLAYBACK FUNCTIONALITY IN A MOBILE PHONE
VIDEO MESSAGE SENDING
Method for detecting errors in a video signal
METHOD FOR ENCODING AND DECODING VIDEO INFORMATION, A MOTION COMPENSATED VIDEO ENCODER AND A CORRESPONDING DECODER
Video compressing method wherein the direction and location of contours within image blocks are defined using a binary picture of the block
A MOTION ESTIMATION METHOD AND A SYSTEM FOR A VIDEO CODER
METHOD FOR ENCODING AND DECODING VIDEO INFORMATION, A MOTION COMPENSATED VIDEO ENCODER AND A CORRESPONDING DECODER
Video encoder and decoder using motion-based segmentation and merging
Method and arrangement for reducing the volume or rate of an encoded digital video bitstream
ADAPTIVE MOTION VECTOR FIELD CODING
APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COMPRESSING A MOTION VECTOR FIELD
Method and arrangement for combining video pictures
Error detection in low bit-rate video transmission
VIDEO DATA ENCODER AND DECODER
Re:N-Gage was a cool platform. QD won't be. (Score:3, Interesting)
It also has a faster processor. There's a camera too that can shoot movies (although the camera quality is a bit crappy so don't buy one for that).
Re:QD (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Too little, far too late (Score:3, Interesting)
How can that be when practically anybody can make games for series 60 and sell them on for example handango? however, this could be a reason why some companies don't like the platform, it's too open for anybody to enter the market. with gameboy the companies have privilidge of being the exclusive provider to even the most simplest shit(as it takes money to launch even the smallest title).
how can you justify the price of 20-30$ for a game some highschool kid can make just as well and sell for 1.99$ on the net?
good luck selling tetris for 30 bucks on n-gage! however it's easy to sell it for that price for gameboys when there is no competition that can sell simple stuff like that for 3.99 or better yet, provide it for free.
already true for several games for n-gage. the best I've tried so far is Sky Force [idreams.pl] a splendid shoot'em'up that's selling just for 10 bucks online(and it installs on an mmc you have, like the other games you can buy online, so no mmc swapping), demo version available as well.
besides, if you don't target JUST the n-gage you get a much bigger potential audience(from other series60 phones).
while at it, please buy my game. [handango.com](It's your basic arkanoid/breakthrough clone. compatible with all s60 devices installs either on phone memory or mmc) or download my freeware game from the sig. contrary to the rumours it's not a really _that_ hard platform to work on either.
Re:QD (Score:3, Interesting)
The parent said nothing of exploding batteries, they merely said the nokia platform would fade slowly, not vanish overnight.
By the way, any lithium battery will explode violently (and by violently I mean lethally) if you manage to short it out internally. Not just crappy 3rd party batteries This is why you are allowed to take only 2 lithium batteries on a plane, but not 3. The easiest way to test this would be to drive a nail through it. In actual life, extended use of a damaged battery could cause such a short.
Re:QD (Score:4, Interesting)
Only in Nokia phones though. No reports of aftermarket parts exploding in other brands of phone.
That's like saying "It's not your Ford that explodes, it's the non-Exxon fuel! If you use Exxon fuel your Ford won't explode.."
Even if the aftermarket batteries are the "explosives" where does Nokia get off making detonators?