N-Gage Launch Hardware/Software Probed

Thanks to IGN Wireless for giving hands-on impressions of the hardware and some of the leading software titles for Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck' phone/handheld console, which will be released on October 7th. Games checked out include Sonic-N, which is "...a port of Sonic Advance released on the Game Boy Advance back in January 2002... [and] identical in graphics, gameplay and level structure to the GBA edition", as well as Tomb Raider, which they say has "very impressive visuals", though "navigating the environments takes some finesse", and Super Monkey Ball, of which they claim: "As well as the GBA pulled it off, the N-Gage can do it better" - the lack of brand new, non-converted launch titles does seem a little disappointing, though.

Great, the N-Gage has three good games.

[Anonymous Coward]

Great, the N-Gage has three good games coming out! Let's try them out.
*remove battery*
*put in Sonic*

*remove battery*
*put in Tomb Raider*

*remove battery*
*put in Monkey Ball*

FUN!

Re:Great, the N-Gage has three good games.

[Anonymous Coward]

THat's ok... given the life of a nokia battery in their phones, you'll have to buy a new battery anyway for every game you want to play. Not to mention the relative inability for them to maintain a stable connection to the battery leads over time.

Things wrong with N-Gage:
1. Already a sub-par fone is made even more mediocre.
2. You have to hold the thing sideways when talking on it
3. A whole face of buttons, you get a digital pad and 2 buttons for games, wth!
4. 3-d Graphics = battery drain
5. Fully 3D graphics on a screen barely able to draw one poly = waste of space
6. 6 hour battery life? WHEN NOT USING IT AS A FONE?!??!
7. No easy access to games for changes. It's hard enough changing a game when in a moving vehicle (such as plane train or auto) with limited flat space to put everything, now you have to juggle a battery with the games and system (in addition to a probable battery door).
8. Hey, you get to take the battery off every time you change the game, at least you won't get any important fone calls in that time!?!

I could probably think of a few more things wrong with the system. The only cool thing I've seen going for it is the cool cases for the games. Hello Nintendo, wake up. Stop using those silly desctructible cardboard boxes from the ancient days of cartridge gaming. Even if we don't carry them around with us, they would be nice to house our games when not playing and transporting them around.

Re:Great, the N-Gage has three good games.

[StocDred]

I seriously question playing Sonic on a small vertical screen. Seems like it will tough to anticipate jumps and such when he starts movin' fast. Same problem with Tomb Raider. These games have no peripheral vision.

Re:Great, the N-Gage has three good games.

[Mike Hawk]

Just some whats wrong with your whats wrong:
1. Your opinion. I have a nokia phone and I have had no problems.
2. Sideways? Its a phone. You should use a headset.
3. You note here is just incorrect. I don't know where you got that information, but please don't repeat it.
4. Yup, 3D graphics is definitely a flaw. You trying to say that reveals just how much haterade you had for lunch today.
5. Draw one poly? I have seen THPS1 running on it. It looked exactly the same, if not better, than it did on PlayStat

Re:Great, the N-Gage has three good games.

[Mike Hawk]

Wow, all AC replies. Kinda vindicates my points, slashdot works!

Try it out first before giving uninformed opinions

[Man In Black]

Things wrong with N-Gage:
1. Already a sub-par fone is made even more mediocre.

How does making it play video games make it less of a phone? The two abilities are mostly seperate. If anything, the fact that it's able to play (decent) video games likely means that the screen on it is much nicer than most cell phones I've seen.

Not only that, but even though this is meant as a games machine, it might be a smart idea for them to make a cartridge that provides some PDA functionality... could be useful. Seems li

Obligatory Penny Arcade reference

[dragoncortez]

Funny, Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com] had a similar opinion.

Give It A Chance

[Gothic_Walrus]

So far, the backlash against the N-Gage has not been a pretty thing. On most of the video game sites I frequent, the N-Gage has been written off as a failure. Seeing as most people haven't seen it in action yet, that's not a good thing.

While it would be nice to see the N-Gage succeed (and give Nintendo some serious competition for the first time in years), I honestly don't think it will be able to. The attitudes that most of my gamer friends have about the N-Gage are set, and facing strong negativity from the start is never a good thing. Beyond that, the unit's initial price is too high for most of the people I've talked to. And the fact that you have to remove the battery to switch games or memory cards is a huge strike against it. I'd love to see the N-Gage succeed, but I believe it's been doomed to fail...much like the Dreamcast was.

Re:Give It A Chance

[ziggles]

It had a chance. It's not like everyone saw a new system and immediately wrote it off without considering it. They heard about all of it's bad design decisions, lack of games, and the attitude of Nokia, then wrote it off. You don't need to experience something yourself to make a good decision about it.

It would not be nice to see the N-Gage succeed because it's not a good system. I would like to see some competition in the handheld market too, but not from a system like the N-Gage which brings nothing p

Re:Give It A Chance

[Fammy2000]

The removing the battery to switch games thing is huge, as you said. That and all the buttoms everywhere. I wouldn't know how to pick up one a friend owned and play.

As for competition to Nintendo, I think Sony and the PSP will do that just fine.

I'm holding out for the TapWave Helix/Zodiac (but only because I'm looking to replace my Palm, not my GBA).

Sadly, TapWave and Nokia will likely lose against Nintendo and Sony. Maybe next time.

Re:Give It A Chance

[neostorm]

Most people have seen it in action, including myself. I have written it off, and I know of no one who has tried it out and actually liked the system.

It's a stupid thing to jump on the bash-product-X bandwagon, no matter how poor it is. I appreciate your attempt to make people think with a more critical perspective instead of doing just that. We need more people who think for themselves instead of collecting and regurgitating others opinions.
I don't think this applies to the case of the N-Gage, but eithe

Not cool at all...

[Tadrith]

I had a chance to play this at E3.

The system is extremely unimpressive. The graphics are squished on a screen that's much too small for the kinds of games they are trying to pull off. Because the system is also a phone, the buttons are not located in any sort of comfortable position for playing games. I asked one of the reps at their booth, and they didn't seem to have many games coming up, either.

This is an idea that could have been big, but there's simply a huge lack of effort, and I think Nokia's inexperience in the gaming market doesn't help either.

I dunno..

[NanoGator]

... about that tall screen. I'm really curious how one would play a fighting game that way.

Re:I dunno..

[NanoGator]

"Simple. By throwing it in the garbage and buying a Gamecube and a copy of Soul Calibur II. (: "

I know you meant that as funny, but you have touched on an interesting point. The more generalized the system, the less good it as at any particular game. Maybe there's other genres of games that phone will excel at?

Anyway, I appreciate the comment, it made me think more about the realities of this system. Maybe it won't be so bad? Honestly, I think that this gives more reason for multiple systems to be on

Re:I dunno..

[PainKilleR-CE]

The only type of game I can think of that really benefits from this type of screen is a top-down shooter. On the other hand, that type of game isn't really very popular any more, and has gotten to the point where the extra space on the sides is usually used for status info (though there's often still wasted space). I wonder, though, whether the N-Gage can push enough polys for them in the first place (though I'm sure sprite-based games would be fine, poly-based shooters really took a while to come into thei

Nice Sim ;)

[BrookHarty]

Nice review, but he shouldnt show his sim card numbers [ign.com] in the screenshots. ;)

The N-Gage is just going to join all the others!

[Cap-America]

Nintendo has gone up agenst; Atari Lynx, Sega GameGear, Sega Nomad, Neo-Geo Pocket, Wonder Swan, Wonder Swan Crystal, Wonder Swan Color, Turbo Express, Game.com, and Tiger Handhelds Games. and is still #1 And they were all much better products then the N-Gage too (during the time).

Heres something I did this Just for fun, For $300 the price of an N-Gage (without any games, or Celphone activation, or monthly Celphone fee or anything else I'm going to need to buy in order to uses this piece of junk) I can ge

also a s60 device..

[gl4ss]

you shouldn't forget that while it is a handheld gaming system it also is a series60 phone running symbian 6.1, so you can use it for other things than gaming too, like web browsing and irc(and other im services) for example.

-

Re:also a s60 device..

[gl4ss]

dunno, with the 9 pad, the one you use to type sms messages? the way i've irced for the summer, and written numerous slashdot posts with? you can use it pretty well for typing text with some practice, which you would know if you lived somewhere where sms messages have gotten extremely common(teens have switched to those for chitchat mainly, which is mostly the same thing nerds use irc for, except ircing is of course way much cheaper).

I still remember..

[Rudy Rodarte]

The Nokia people saying [slashdot.org] how embarassing it is to have a Gameboy with you. Not the best buisness plan. I've said it before [slashdot.org], I'll say it again:
1. Design a new gaming system and insult all of your potential customers.
2. ???
3. Profit!!!

I even combined step 1 and 2 for Nokia. What a guy!

Re:I still remember..

[BTWR]

I agree 100%. It's what I call the XFL marketing strategy...

You have a new and potentially interesting product that is going to compete with an established and well-loved by the public juggernaut. Instead of offering your product as an ALTRERNATIVE or ADDITION to the mainstread item, you go out and say that everyone who likes said established thing is a loser. Why did the XFL have to say the NFL is a bunch of pussies? Do they not realize that the football fan who loves the NFL does NOT like to be call

What's this got to do with Model Railroads???

[advocate_one]

???

"N" gauge is a model railroad track scale. In American spelling it would be "N" Gage. I think they may confuse some people with this name. I know it's snappy, but ...

Bah!

[neostorm]

Just you all wait for the Nokia N-Gage SP!

Just kidding...

Sideways widescreen

[evilhayama]

The 'tallscreen' seems to be one of the strangest choices for the N-gage. In a time when almost everything else is trying to be widescreen they go tall, making some game genres less playable than they could be. I can't imagine playing sonic without the maximum amount of horizontal screen room.

I predict that the designer of the N-Gage is a Shoot-em-up fan! Die-Hard Shmup fans have been turning their TV's on the side for years to get this aspect ratio. I look forward to a port of Ikaruga and radiant silvergu

Gabe and Tycho say it best

[TheGreatGraySkwid]

The marketing [n-gage-spe...forces.com] for these things promises to be intensely annoying.

There's only one solution [penny-arcade.com]...