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Portables (Games) Wireless Networking Hardware

N-Gage Future in Doubt? 30

Posted by Zonk from the wouldnt'-surprise-me dept.
srashdotu writes "The Inquirer is reporting rumors that the plug will be pulled on the N-Gage due to the complete closure of the Nokia's Germany production facility by Q1 2006. Nokia has refuted this, however, claiming "We're looking at the strongest line-up of games yet for N-Gage. There's been so much money and effort poured into the system we're not going to pull out now."." Given recent events it is not hard to imagine this being true, though.
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N-Gage Future in Doubt? More

N-Gage Future in Doubt?

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  • Ooo... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Dehumanizer ( 31435 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @05:39PM (#11412870) Homepage
    ... here come dozens of anti-N-Gage comments by people who never touched one! :)
  • What's there to doubt? The (lack of) future of the n-gage has been blindingly obvious since (at least) it's release.

  • Terrible design (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @05:43PM (#11412922)
    Ol' Ma Bell perfected the 4 x 3 phone button array decades ago. Why does Nokia feel it has to curve them just for a swoopy look, while ignoring that it makes it so the buttons are in non-standard locations so you have to look and hunt for them? (example: 3 key above 1 key, while pound key below star key...pretty bizarre). Looking at this [webtechgeek.com], there is no reason a standard non-curved array of button would have fit here. They have yet another hard-to-use non-standard version of the 4 x 3 array on many of their phones. Aside from that, you look like a dope if you try to use this as a phone and hold it to your ear.
    • Uh-huh. Now load the C64 emulator onto your standard 3660 or 6600 and try to play an action game. Then load the same game onto the N-Gage and you'll find out how much nicer the layout is.

      Also, the N-Gage does actually use the standard 4 x 3 layout you're describing. Perhaps you're thinking of the 3650?

      • Which is still a great phone btw. I have gotten use to the circular key pad but I still need to look at it to enter numbers. It was a one time sexy-ness attempt that failed.

    • You've never used one of those "hard-to-use" keypads before, have you?

      I use the one on the 7610 every day without any problems. The keys are in the right places, they are just different shapes. Which actually makes it easier for me to type without looking at the keypad.

      • Yes, I use one on a Nokia cell phone. The middle numbers in the row are way below the left and right ones in the row. Pretty obnoxious: you have to look and think when you dial (which you do not have to do with standard layouts). The keys in the N-Gage image I linked to are in the wrong place as well. You will see that I did mention wrong places, not wrong shapes of the keys.

        • Which Nokia phone? Not all Nokia keypads are the same.

          I don't see how the N-Gage keys are in the wrong place. They are in the standard 4x3 grid. 123 / 456 / 789 / *0#. Just like every single phone I have ever used before.

      • I've never used the 7160, but I found images on Google. The keys are not in the standard layout (like the Nokia I use), but the control area of the phone would have allowed a standard layout anyway. An example of style clobbering function.

        • My keys are in 123 / 456 / 789 / *0# order. Is there something not normal about this? The control keys are in the perfect place for one handed operation (either left or right, I use either depending on which hand is free). It took no getting used to for me.

          The one flaw in the design is the send/end buttons. My sister and a few other people couldn't figure out which was which. One is green and the other is red and they are on the normal sides of the keypads but the icons are a bit weird so I can see how th

  • Never really believed in it... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by WaZiX ( 766733 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @05:53PM (#11413041)
    Phones get outdated much too quickly for the N-Gage to stay attractive long enough to create a market. Quite frankly ive never been interested in buying one, its big , unhandy and there are much cooler phones out there. Now the gameplay might not be bad, i never tried it so i wouldn't know, i think the problem was that there never was a market for such a gadget.
  • Doesn't matter how much you've put in, it matters how much it will take to get more out.

  • Good luck with that... (Score:4, Funny)

    by IndiJ ( 842721 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @06:29PM (#11413460) Homepage
    We're looking at the strongest line-up of games yet for N-Gage.

    Me: (while flipping between pages about the Nintendo DS and the PSP) Good for you, Nokia! You might want to work on your timing, though...

  • Too Bad (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pathwalker ( 103 ) * <hotgrits@yourpants.net> on Wednesday January 19, 2005 @06:30PM (#11413472) Homepage Journal
    It's too bad if it's true.

    I picked up a Ngage-QD over the summer ( Cameras are forbidden where I work, and it's the only phone I could find with the features I wanted, but no camera) and I've been very happy with it as a phone.

    As for the games? Well, Rayman 3 is a nice platformer, and Pocket Kingdom is a real time sink, but besides that nothing has really caught my eye.

  • Um... the source is The Enquirer? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Have they resorted to taking stories from tabloids now? Enquiring minds want to know.
  • Their initial release was just a complete joke. It didn't attract phone users, it didn't attract gamers. They flubbed the product design so badly, that by the time they got around to fixing people stopped being interesting.

    Dying? It was dead before it started.
  • Obviously, it's future is in doubt due to the fatuous elimination of its greatest feature--sidetalking [sidetalkin.com].
  • because devs and Nokia were finally starting to realise the platforms potential.

    When they were treating it like a mini Playstation 1 at the start, trying to make it run thru 3D hoops it clearly didn't want to, the games were slow and ungainly, and just downright bad. Not to mention the launch lineup was terrible and betrayed their complete lack of understanding of where the game industry is at at the moment.

    Tomb Raider? gimme a break. the comic is more impressive than the latest few Tomb Raider games, and Lara Croft has becoming less a gaming icon and more a warning sign that the people you are dealing with are about 2-3 years behind the times gaming wise.

    It's only lately, a good year plus after the platform was released that they are finally starting to realise it's potential and starting to tailor the games to the phone, instead of trying to tailor the games to what they think people want while paying no heed to the what the hardware itself is capable of.

    One of the latest games, Pathway to Glory [gamerankings.com] is the first game in what appears to be a developing trend of Nokia, or whoever is responsible for selecting games to be ported/developed, of realising that the games have to suit the platform, not the ideal. And with other games of late (Pocket Kingdoms [gamerankings.com], X-Men Legends [gamerankings.com], Worms World Party [gamerankings.com]) showing the same logical thinking behind developing for the platform, things are not necessarily looking up, but at least looking better.

    And besides, those bastards managed to buy the Rifts [gamespot.com] licence before anyone thought to pick it up, so I have to stick with the console.

    And last but not least, it's actually a very good phone in it's own right. I almost guarantee that the all the people that constantly dump shit on it have either been crying about that initial admittedly pathic oversight of having the game cart behind the battery, or have never actually touched the phone at all. All told, ignoring the terrible games library that's only now slowly improving, the phone itself isn't that bad, and was very cheap for such a featured filled phone.

    If it's canned I won't miss it (it's not like I really own it for games anyway although a purchase of Pathway to Glory is looking very likely), but if it's canned now, just as it was starting to show some promise, I'll be honestly disappointed.
  • If anyone didn't see this comming they are either ignorant to the fact that the N-Gage ever exsisted or are developing fusion reactors, whether it be either my point has been made.
    • I saw it from day one too. If I really want to play games my Gameboy SP does fine. I dont need an over priced phone to do it.

      I learned my lesson from the first palm phone it was over $500 and a few months later when I left that service provider the phone was useless.
      • Overpriced? I paid $25 for my QD (hurray for rebates) and have found it to be well worth it... I've got a MP3 and movie player with several emulators and some damn good official games to boot, and a 1 gig MMC to throw it all on. And they didn't make it more expensive with a crappy camera or anything else I don't need. Show me another phone that can do all that for the money.

  • Nature of the business? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Reapman ( 740286 ) on Thursday January 20, 2005 @01:34PM (#11421333)
    Although the QD actually seems like a decent product, it's definitly a case of too little, too late... when I was looking at getting a new phone, I did consider the nGage QD(ended up going Treo 600), but could'nt get over the fact it's an nGage... I mean a lot of ppl I know would think I totally lost my marbles if I bought it. Had the QD been the initial product I think the reaction would have been totally different.

    I think a conversation I heard in EB Games (true) sums it up best:

    Customer: So, have you actually sold any of these nGages?
    Store Clerk: Nope, and honestly I'd feel pretty guilty if I did

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