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Portables (Games) Entertainment Games

Nokia's N-Gage Officially Launches 97

Posted by simoniker from the not-a-glowing-report dept.
Thanks to Reuters for their article summarizing the "mixed response" to today's launch of Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck'/phone hybrid. According to the piece, "The Finnish firm said it aims to sell between six and nine million units between now and the end of 2004 as it seeks to break the grip on a market dominated by Nintendo's GameBoy", but many are less convinced, with CNN Money suggesting "N-Gage might sound great on paper, but it's a disaster in execution", an earlier San Jose Mercury News piece criticizing the N-Gage as "...a hopeless muddle - lacking in quality games, too confusing in regards to service plans, too expensive and crippled by a series of stunningly bad design decisions", and GameSpy advocating a "wait and see" approach, although they also have the inevitable contrarian view.
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Nokia's N-Gage Officially Launches More

Nokia's N-Gage Officially Launches

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  • banana taco pizza frisbee (Score:5, Funny)

    by HeroicAutobot ( 171588 ) * on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @01:32PM (#7155303) Homepage
    I'm starting a collection of descriptions of what it looks like to use the N-Gage as a cell phone.

    So far I've got " a slice of pizza sticking out of your head [bayarea.com]", "a taco surgically grafted to your head [cnn.com]", and "like talking into a banana or Frisbee." [hp.com]

    Any others?

    You can see a picture of someone using the phone here [cnn.com].

  • Sing along, you know the words... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Another one bites the dust
    Another one bites the dust
    And another one gone, and another one gone
    Another one bites the dust
    Hey, I'm gonna get you too
    Another one bites the dust

  • PA comics say it best (Score:5, Informative)

    by Trillian_1138 ( 221423 ) <slashdot@ f r i d a y t hang.com> on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @01:42PM (#7155393)
    See subject.

    They've covered the N-Gage in detail, making fun of it since it was announced, and this pretty much sums their position:

    "I really wish that these media outlets would stop pretending the N-Gage is a real game system."

    (that quote was in response to this article [gamespot.com] about the worldwide N-Gage launch and the 'parties' at different stores)

    They also have this insightful comic [penny-arcade.com].

    -Trillian
    • My favorite N-Gage slam is this one. [penny-arcade.com]
    • more importantly than gaming system, it's the CHEAPEST series 60 phone available(now), and only going to get cheaper. i already know several people who are going to get it just because of this.

      (and what's so good it being series60? it's not a real pda yadda yadda, but it's something thats with you always and you can run for example c64 emu and other software on, like, fuck lara croft when you have games like STUNT CAR RACER, RICK DANGEROUS 1&2 & etc from c64, mmc cards are so cheap you can have 120
    • "I really wish that these media outlets would stop pretending the N-Gage is a real game system."

      But then they'd have to give back the wads of cash that Nokia doubtlessly gave them to add separate sections for the N-Gage to their sites well in advance of the launch.

      Seriously, Nokia is desperate to sell these. They had an offer going to pay people to sit in public places, play games on an N-Gage, and try and convince others to buy one. What does that say about the quality of it as a gaming system, that the
  • I did. It sounded neat. It looked neat. It seemed like it was going be a lot of neat toys in one little package.

    Instead, it's a covert plot to make gamers look like jackasses if they dare use this as a phone in public places or teach them there's better ways to spend $30 on a flimsy little memory card you're more likely to lose than figure out how to insert it in.

    Jesus, this isn't Nokia - I think my dad might be behind this.
    • Yes, they've made mistakes, but one must remember that this is their first real shot at the handheld gaming thingy business. The next version is already in the works, and one must only hope that they'll absorb the criticism and smarten up next time.

      If anything, Nokia should be known for the ability to make very dramatic business moves when situations require them. Did you know that the company has its roots in rubber boots and car tires?

  • from the another-lame-comment dept. (Score:3, Funny)

    by InsaneCreator ( 209742 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @01:51PM (#7155478)
    The Finnish firm said it aims to sell between six and nine million units

    OK, who is the wise guy that inserted "millions" into their press release?

  • They're not going to succeed because ... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by snowtigger ( 204757 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @01:55PM (#7155515) Homepage
    ... they have missed the most important feature: Changing game

    Changing a game in a GameBoy is a matter of changing cartridge. Sounds easy and natural, doesn't it ?

    Changing game on a N-Gage a means removing a cover, opening the phone and changing some internal component. I think you even need a screwdriver to do this.

    People have been complaining about this from the start and Nokia still doesn't seem to care. Good work ...
    • "I think you even need a screwdriver to do this."

      My God.

      You haven't actually seen an N-Gage yet, have ya?

      I'd heard all of the bad comments, all of the "What the f were they thinking?"s, and then I actually went down to EB the other day and asked about it, and the guy showed me how to change a game.

      Yes -- you have to remove the back cover and the battery. These are two steps you don't have to do with a GBA. But they take all of 1.78243 seconds to accomplish. Really. Snap, pop.

      You still have to remove/replace the cartridge and turn it on/off. But then, you have to do that with a GBA, too!

      It is almost, but not quite, as complicated as wiping your ass.

      Screwdrivers, indeed!
      • It is almost, but not quite, as complicated as wiping your ass.

        Judging by my racing stripes, I'm not ready for an N-Gage.
      • You still have to remove/replace the cartridge and turn it on/off. But then, you have to do that with a GBA, too!

        yes, but see, i don't try to talk to people or wait for calls on my gameboy advance. the gba also does not have boot sequence to run through since it is simply loading cartridge runtime data.

        i don't necessarily agree that changing the game is the most important feature they screwed up. i think their design team was so absolutely pitiful that they managed to screw everything up on an equal l
        • I wholeheartedly agree with you. I don't want a cell phone that's going to limit me to only GSM providers, and frankly, I want my cell phone to be as small as possible and my portable gaming device to be a lot larger.

          I think Nokia's ad campaign has offended a lot of people (including me), and that's a big reason right there for people like you and me, who really can't wait for this thing to sink. As a result, I think we've exaggerated the negative aspects of it. This guy thought you needed a screwdriver
      • To sum up (paraphrasing) the atmosphere about it at EB (the only gaming store in the city):

        'The N-Gage is coming in early, but we won't sell it before the street date because we'd get sued. We won't sell it after the street date either though, because then we'd get lynched.'

        'The marketing and games for the N-Gage are right here, just so you know.'
        'Yeah, in case anyone wants to buy one.'
        *both laugh*

        (Customer) 'What the heck is that thing?'
        'That's the Nokia N-Gage. It's a game system, and a cell phone and-
      • You're correct that you don't need a screwdriver, but you do need to remind it of the time (UK phones don't remember the time when you remove the battery, nor do they take time from the network), and spend the best part of a minute or two while you wait for it to boot, handshake with the network again, drill through three levels of menu to the game, and then wait for the game to load from MMC.

        Seriously more annoying than just using a GBA, particularly when both a GBA SP and an 8210 together take up about t
      • I was at EB the other day, and I saw the most disturbing peripheral for the GBA SP. It was a device that plugged into the cartridge slot, and allowed you to plug *3* GBA carts into it, with a hardswitch so you could select which game you wanted to play without having to swap cartridges. Cost? $10.

        If there's a market for that, then the N-Gage is most certainly doomed.
        • I saw one of those, too! I use an old-style GBA so I can't use one.

          The market for that accessory and the market for the N-Gage may not intersect very much. Also, ten bucks is probably the max most would pay for that accessory -- it's not that valuable of a feature. So I don't think the existence of the market for this necessarily means that the N-Gage is doomed.

    • ... they have missed the most important feature: Changing game

      How is this the most important feature? Who changes their games that often? I've had advance wars practically soldering into my GBA since buying it.
    • I haven't changed the game in my GBA in at least two weeks. I have it here with me today and I have only the one game that's in it. Friend's usage is similar. Buy game, insert game, play game, (weeks pass), finish game/get bored with game, buy new game...

      I've come to the conclusion that, while stupid, the fact that you have to take the battery out to swap games isn't a show-stopper.

  • GameSpy -- Wait and See?!?!?! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by petronivs ( 633683 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @01:56PM (#7155520) Journal

    For Pete's sake, GameSpy's been pumping this as the Second Coming for a while now. They even have a section dedicated to the N-Gage--putting it on the same level as PCs and the various consoles!

    That's the first article from them that I've heard that questions the feasibility of the N-Gage. I was beginning to think that Nokia offered them some lucrative package in return for pimping their product.

    (Don't get me wrong--I like GameSpy. I just wanted to speak out against the injustice.)

    • Yeah but GameSpy has been a bunch of corrupt sellouts from day one.

      GameSpy's just a huge advertising network and they've been desperatly trying to crush any other gaming newssource to control the opinion of the gamers.

      • I actually like a lot of GameSpy's content. They do their best when they're not trying to be serious, but they do often have good reviews.

        It's just times like this when I feel compelled to speak out.

        • Having had a friend who worked for Gamespy (supported one of the "planet" sites) get fired because he disagreed with some the reviews on Gamespy I'll maintain my view that GameSpy is an evil company with biased reviews.

          When I tried to get an official response on why they got fired by starting up a shitfest on the forums my posts got removed for "Violating the Rules". When I demanded to know which rules I was violating I was told that the boards do not tolerate harassment and I was "harassing GameSpy" by de
          • Look at the reviews. It's consistant that all major publisher games NEVER score below 70%, all others can get as low as 50%.

            One of the important things you must do when reading a review is calibrate the scale they are using. As you observe, you can even get different scales for different things.

            Gamespy claims to rate on a 100 point scale (using percentage points), but clearly, they rate on either a 50 or 30 point range, depending.

            Now, when I rate things on a 1 to 10 scale, "10's" make up roughly 1% of m
    • Wel, no doubt Nokia probably did participate in a little payola scheme.

      I too am just completely surprised at how the media outlets have taken the N-Gage so seriously. Even GameSpot elevated it to the same level as the other game systems. These people, one would think, should know better. The N-Gage is hopelessly flawed and the butt end of constant jokes. The treatment of the N-Gage as the Second Coming is such a joke.

    • "I was beginning to think that Nokia offered them some lucrative package in return for pimping their product."

      They did. But then GameSpy read the fine print and realized their kickback was a percentage of N-Gage sales.

  • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • While there's lots of problems with the Nnanang that have been beaten over repeatedly, none of them would matter so much if the processing/video capability were truly a break from that of the Game Boy Advance. If I could play modern-era games on a portable system with a reasonable screen/controller, that would be something.

    Even if I did have to use a soldering iron to change games.

    Who's giving me this? Snoy! Sony promises PS2 level power (and an analog stick, and a magnetic monopole) in the upcoming PS
    • And that's the only way the GBA will be superseded - by a machine with compellingly more gaming power.

      yea, because games and gameplay have nothing to do with it, right?
      • Good games follow good hardware. In a few years, someone will say "Nnannag failed because of poor game support". They'll be making the same mistake - the correct thing to say will be "Nobody made good games for the Nnnanag because it was a horrible console released at the wrong time. Thus nobody bought it.".

        The PS2 survived an early dearth of good games because it was good hardware released at the right time. The Dreamcast wasn't bad hardware, but it wasn't good enough for its time - thus we see medioc
    • Yeah, right. PSP will kick my tiny foldable pocket-sized GameBoy Advance SP out of the water. Sure.

      PSP can pry FFTA and Advance Wars and Crystal Chronicles and Metroid Fusion and Lufia and Zelda and my collection of GB/GBC games out of my cold dead hands.
      • I have an AfterBurner-ed GBA - and I just went through Zelda and Yoshi's Island. Great games. Even though I botched the AB, it really is a great console - and I appreciate the 15 hour battery life (especially on long flights).

        Still, I think the PSP could do very well if its hardware is solid. Its success will also depend on what Nintendo does, as any future GB is going to be big news as well. It'll be interesting to see their strategies going into next round.

        I wonder if they could build a handheld aro
    • and what's the zodiac [tapwave.com]? mashed potatoes?
      • ...might have had a chance if it had a little fancier hardware. Rudimentary hardware 3d would have been a good start - at least they could have made a reasonable THPS4 instead of the isometric style one they appear to have as a flagship game.

        As it stands, it's not going to deliver compellingly more than a GBA in terms of game functionality. And at $300 (the price of a GBA and about 8 games) it's going to need to do something compellingly (besides non-starters like its media features).

        Ever met someone wi
        • ah, but you can install liberty [gambitstudios.com] or Phoenix [palmgear.com] on it and play a good chunk of the GBA game library :)

          and and i would that 200 MHz CPU would capable of pulling off a GBA emulator, or at least a GBC (but i don't know for sure)

  • Great Idea, but... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Gothic_Walrus ( 692125 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @01:58PM (#7155529) Journal
    ...unfortunately for Nokia, it looks like a bomb. I'll admit that I have yet to hold or play with an N-Gage, so most of what I know about it is from news stories.

    The apparent design flaws are, for the most part, inexcusable. God knows what posessed Nokia to use a vertical screen - I can't recall seeing any games, with the exception of arcade games, run on a vertically-aligned screen. Having to hold the phone's narrow edge to your head to talk is reason enough to ignore the phone function. Beyond that, that orientation means finger prints galore on the screen. And having to take the battery out to change games...that was just a horrible idea.

    Nokia is also missing quality games. While the games they've remade or ported are good ones, I haven't heard anything about N-Gage games beyond the launch titles.

    The N-Gage has nothing going for it and will probably fail very early on. Better luck next time, Nokia.

    • Don't worry... you're not missing too much...

      I went down to my local GameStop today and tried out one of their demo units, out of curiosity. The only complaints I had to voice about the gaming experience are that 1) the screen is too small and 2) the frame rates are too low (making the games choppy). If I were a casual gamer who just wanted something to pass time that was somwehere inbetween other mobile phone offerings and a dedicated gaming device like a GBA, I would probably get one. But as a gamer, I'

    • having to take the battery out to change games...that was just a horrible idea.

      At least you said up front that you haven't tried it yet... Having tested it myself, I can tell that this game change problem is nonexistant: It takes about two seconds to do it.

      You are right about Nokia missing quality games, but I think we could give 'em the benefit of doubt, right? I mean, how could they have a Nintendo-class games arsenal right from the start when it's their first game machine?

    • - I can't recall seeing any games, with the exception of arcade games, run on a vertically-aligned screen.

      Tetris!!!! Nokia's going to corner the "falling puzzle bricks" market-- oh wait....
    • Of course, you know that biggest irony about the screen? While so busy hyping its ability to play EA and Activision-produced 3d pap, they neglected to persuade a single Japanese vertical shmup producer to write anything for this device. Its the perfect screen for a handheld Psyvariar or Ikaruga, but we won't be getting one.
  • GamersHell [gamershell.com] has a review of the N-Gage as well, but it's a pretty obvious shill. It reads like an advertisement, and they don't even review the gaming aspect of it, saying that it will be published in a forthcoming addition to the advert^H^H^H^H^H^Harticle.

  • Why They Cannot Fail (Score:5, Funny)

    by jvmatthe ( 116058 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @02:26PM (#7155777) Homepage
    Some of you are forgetting who we're talking about here. This is a company that's got the money and technical resources to burn on this initial step into the gaming market.

    They're going to shower developers with hardware, software, and cash bonuses to bring truly revolutionary games to their platform.

    They're going to snap up all kinds of free talent to put together daring and innovative first-party games.

    Their integrated online gaming is second-to-none, with the kind of features that Playstation2 and GameCube players only dream of.

    And they've got a terribly impressive hardware platform, on which they're probably already building the next generation.

    That first step made, they'll crush the competition with the momentum they're gaining every passing week, and then we'll see Sony weeping over poor sales of the Playstation3 and Nintendo having a going-out-of-business sale where they auction off Donkey Kong to the highest bidder.

    Yes, just wait. Microsoft and the Xbox cannot be stopped. THEY ARE THE FUTURE OF...

    What's that? Nokia, huh? A phone? YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE BATTERY OFF TO CHANGE GAMES?

    Sorry, everyone. Wrong thread. Yeah, N-Gage is doomed.
  • I am so getting one just to sit on a shelf and sell 20 years from now. I am sure very few people here in the states will actually buy one (~100,000 units) so it will become an instant collectors item.

    The reality is that I am waiting for the PSP. The N-Gage could be cool if they fix the list of problems.
  • Maybe after these things die out I'll buy one to place next to my Atari Lynx and Turbo Express.
  • Other reviews, such as this one [netjak.com] at Netjak complain about the N-Gage having simply too many features. Supposedly it's very battery-demanding, and you'll need to charge it more often than a GBA. In addition, somebody already mentioned here that changing the games is a pain. According to the review, you'll need to remove the battery for that, which supposedly is not encouraged.

    To make matters worse, Gamerankings shows [gamerankings.com] that the games for N-Gage are simply disastrous. Who would want to buy a $300 console w

  • N Gage? (Score:3, Funny)

    by SoCalChris ( 573049 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @03:23PM (#7156391) Journal
    So Nokia's making model trains now? Is it going to be like the old sport's illustrated shoe phone, except it will be the Nokia train phone?
  • "The Finnish firm said it aims to sell between six and nine million units between now and the end of 2004 as it seeks to break the grip on a market dominated by Nintendo's GameBoy"

    NOKIA

    Special Guest Star
    Dr. Evil as CEO
  • Going up against Nintendo with this is like Trying to gut a bear with a Choco-Taco. Say "Hello" to the Atari Lynx Jr., ladies and gentlemen.
    • Oddly enough, the N-Gage looks quite similar to a choco-taco. Coincidence?
      • Now I'm hungry. And definitely not for a N-Gage. Forget looking like a choco-taco. That's just insulting to the choco-taco. Put it beside a GBA SP and just witness the ugliness of the N-Gage.
    • I implore you to not liken the Nokia N-Gage to the Atari Lynx.

      The Lynx was a technical marvel for it's time. It had a backlit color screen and was capable of doing hardware scaling and rotation. The original 4 shades of green Nintendo Gameboy was the only competition and beat the Lynx simply because of Tetris and Atari's terrible mismanagement.

      Heck, the Lynx was hands-down superior to the Game Gear and the Gameboy Color. It could even outperform the Turbo Express and the Nomad!

      If you want to compare t
  • I think Nokia is overlooking a BIG market for portables... the children, or rather, the parents who buy the stuff for the children. How many parents are gonna get their kids a mobile phone?

    "But Dad, it's a game console!"

    "Uh, yeah, but so's that one. And it's $200 cheaper, and it has some good games, and you won't break it while changing games."

    "But it's a phone too!"

    "Are you gonna pay for the 200-minute plan? Oh, I forgot, you're ten. You're getting a GBA. Shut up and play Pokemon Fuschia. That's
  • ...There's only one thing that really bugs me about the N-Gage, and that's the screen size.

    I could excuse poor design choices like the battery compartment thing, and even the poor placement of the phone hardware, but honestly, the screen is what, 1.25" diagonal?

    That and the level of promotion they're running in retail outlets. I've had multiple EB employees tell me "No, the N-Gage acutally has a bigger screen than the GBA," and "You don't really have to remove the battery cover to change games." Both st
    • I agree, EB is pumping it to hell.

      At a store near me, they even took down the EB magazines because it slammed the N-Gage. People were reading it and seeing through the marketing bullshit.

      Obviously, they have gotten an order to SELL THIS THING OR DIE. May god have mercy on them. Or not.

  • "and GameSpy advocating a "wait and see" approach, although they also have the inevitable contrarian view."

    What? They don't have a Top 25 Reasons Not to Get an N-Gage page yet?

  • no restless sleep for Mario (Score:3, Informative)

    by imperator_mundi ( 527413 ) on Tuesday October 07, 2003 @06:33PM (#7158253)
    I played today Super Monkey Ball and Tomb Raider... SMB isn't all evil, even if the field of view is too tight and controlling the ball is sometimes quite difficult, TR has quite massive control problems, so I can say it has bdeen ported with a good degree of fidelity...

    I live in Switzerland where it retails for 99 francs (~70$) by signing up a new contract, so if I were to get a new cell phone I suppose I would possibly give N-Gage a chance, it still a cell phone after all, while keeping the GBA for the serious gaming stuffs.
    • I played today Super Monkey Ball and Tomb Raider... SMB isn't all evil, even if the field of view is too tight and controlling the ball is sometimes quite difficult,

      I can't speak for the GameCube version but IMHO "Super Monkey Ball" is a control disaster and the fact that more people didn't notice is a testament to how thoroughly people think inside the box.

      The reason is simple: Controls are camera relative and the camera perspective is constantly changing. The Gameboy's digital controls exaggerate this
  • Disclaimer: I collect weird video gaming stuff.

    I've been looking at the coverage of the N-Gage, and while it's obviously going to fail to gain any signigicant market share, will struggle to attract developers and doesn't actually have a 1st-party development team to compensate like Nintendo does with the GC... what was my point again? Anyway, I need a new phone. Well, need is a strong word. Want a new phone. Okay, I admit, I want to be able to use Firestarter as a ringtone. That there's a Sonic game av

    • at least someone thinks the same as me ... i dont think its going to be the greatest thing in the world, but i am going to get one, mainly for the same reasons, i want a new phone, and i want to be able to play Smack My Bitch Up as a ringtone, so im close to your line of thinking :)

      sure, its got design problems, but the fact that a lot of the biggest complaints from from the whole 'taco against your head' thing just highlights the fact that you can probably ignore the game changing problems, the screen p
  • "There's no going back."

    exactlly... nokia is going to lose money either way... might as well go forward with it.
  • Has anybody noticed that the Neo Geo Pocket Color has "relaunched". Head on down to EB and ask them, you can get a new system with like 5 great games for about 50 bucks or a pack of 4 for about 30. And that's all you need as far as handheld gaming goes.

    I support the way of talking into the device. It will urge people to use their cell-phones less. Peer to peer interaction is best when there aren't electronics involved.

    Way to make a single thought
  • ...misses the single funniest disaster in this phone. Nokia are trying to promote just about every single feature on this phone above its ability to make phone calls, but mp3 playing is only just below game playing.

    Anyone care to guess how much memory it has to store mp3s in? I'll give you a clue, its smaller than an iPod's 20Gb.

    Try 3Mb. Yep, a whole song's worth. What is the effing point of that?
  • Disclaimer - I didn't have a cellphone at all up until about a month ago, and don't really now - the wife got one from her work, so we sort of have a family one, but I almost never use it. To my mind not being accessible to the telephone has always been one of the fringe benefits of going outside, and while I appreciate the benefit of having the OPTION of access to a telephone now, I guess I'm not really a cellphone guy.

    But an issue that seems to not be addressed much is, what's the point of having your

  • As near as I can tell, the cell phone feature (and Internet, and WAP, and...) only work with Cingular, AT&T, and T-Mobile. I have two cell phones (one personal, one work), and neither are through any of those providers.

    There's Sprint and Verizon (at least), and a number of local cell carriers that haven't been bought out yet (Cricket, First Cellular, etc.) Those people are even more screwed than the rest of the N-Gage buyers...

    I can't find any official mention of how hard it is to set up the cell phon

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