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Portables (Games)

N-Gage Here To Stay? 44

Posted by Zonk from the good-money-after-bad dept.
Joystiq has commentary on the possibility that Nokia plans to keep the N-Gage around for the forseeable future. We've previously discussed the waning N-Gage market impact, but with statements like "Our approach to this is, let's continue to take what we've learned, what we've done right, and where we need to make corrections, and that's in retail, in games development and in the deck itself...", it's possible that Nokia plans to try another iteration of the cell phone/game deck.
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N-Gage Here To Stay? More

N-Gage Here To Stay?

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  • It needs SO MUCH MORE (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MBraynard ( 653724 ) on Thursday March 03, 2005 @01:54PM (#11835810) Journal
    This thing is really nothing more than a re-packaged series 60 phone. While the Series 60 phone (based on Symbiam OS) is excellent, and I intend to replace my Nokia 3650 with another series 60 phone, to make a good gaming deck/cell phone combo, they need to completely repackage it as a portable gaming tool and then slip a phone in there- not the other way around.

    Or at least bring back the original model's best [sidetalkin.com] feature. [allaboutsymbian.com]

    • Re:It needs SO MUCH MORE (Score:5, Informative)

      by Dehumanizer ( 31435 ) on Thursday March 03, 2005 @02:22PM (#11836150) Homepage
      One reason to have an N-Gage is that it's one of the few Series 60 phones without a camera. An increasing number of places are banning camera phones.

      Another reason is Pathway to Glory. That game would be awesome on any platform, but only with an N-Gage can you play it online... wherever you are. :)

      It's a pity that so many people can't get past the console's initial reputation ("it suxxors, so why even look at one?").

      I admit, though, that I use my QD more as a Series 60 phone (ebooks, shopping lists, calendar, Opera, e-mail, and, sometimes, even talking to someone) than as a game console - and when I do play, I play a lot of non-N-Gage games (like those from Gameloft, or those at Handango, or emulators (NES, Spectrum and others). But Pathway to Glory rules. :)
      • I'd also like to add that my Palm Zire 71 has been gathering dust since I bought my N-Gage (yes, it would be the same for every S60 phone). I can't find a reason to have a PDA these days... and I used to be a Palm fanatic.

      • I think that the main problem with my n-gage is that most of the launch games were crappy ports from other consoles. When nokia started publishing games customized for the strong/weak points of the console (I can't stop playing Pathway to glory) they started to receive good reviews from game sites/magazines.

        One good point about the n-gage is the SD slot; I can load software easily (arcade/console emulators).
        And there are loads of Series60 software.

  • Good For Them (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BigDork1001 ( 683341 ) on Thursday March 03, 2005 @02:00PM (#11835874) Homepage
    I say good for them. I don't see much of a down side for them to keep trying with the N-Gage. I'm sure some stock holders might not be happy with the decision but me, as an average gamer, has no problem with them trying again and again and whatever until they get sick of it. At it's worst it'll be a waste of money for Nokia and at best it'll add something new to the video game industry. I doubt the N-Gage will ever succeed but if it does I'll be there to get one.

    • Re:Good For Them (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Chi Hsuan Men ( 767453 )
      I agree with you, to a certain a degree.

      While I believe Nokia should keep trying, if they continue to release models that fail, they will completely tarnish any sort of name for themselves in the gaming / mobile phone hybrid market.

      They MIGHT get it right with the NGage "X" (insert any integer / letter combination), but if all of the others flopped before it, who is really going to pay attention?

      The article does not indicate whether or not the N-Gage is going back to R&D or they are planning on relea
  • I wouldn't mind the N-Gage becoming a big hit, it would be great for Nokia and also great for competition with other handhelds.

    But to be realistic, I seriously doubt that they will succeed with it though.

  • NGage needs more but it's still not bad... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by rwrife ( 712064 ) on Thursday March 03, 2005 @02:16PM (#11836072) Homepage
    I've been generally pleased with my NGage (I had the original and used it as a taco phone and now I've got a QD and use it only for games/development). I think the NGage's use of S60 was kind of a bad idea since most gaming consoles (don't know of any besides the Vectrex) that use a tall screen instead of a widescreen....don't get me wrong, it's a nice OS. I think the NGage would have had more success had they either not used S60 or modified it for widescreen use and it would have been nice to have 1) faster processor, 2) more internal memory, and/or 3) some kind of 3D accelerator. As for the games, I feel that NGage has quite a few quality games (only portable system in the US right now with a real playable version of Tony Hawk) and if they continue the trend I can't imagine them not being successful...I'd like mention that I actually have more fun with my NGage than my Nintendo DS. Overall it's not a bad system. What I'm hoping to see from future NGages is: more mem, faster proc, true 3D, and less emphasis on that fact that it's a phone. It would also be nice if they would offer an alternative means to getting online with the device...using expensive, slow GPRS isn't really acceptable for online gaming. Perhaps they should offer wifi and/or strong arm cellular companies into offering discounts on GPRS (or better yet CDMA).

  • hmm (Score:1)

    by nomadic ( 141991 )
    I have no plans to get an nGage, and I don't really care whether it succeeds or not, but I will say that from the little I've tried the store display models, it gets an unfair rap. It's really not a bad system.

    • Re:hmm (Score:3, Interesting)

      by superpulpsicle ( 533373 )
      They are the perfect example of what happens when you don't market. I consider myself a fairly knowledgable video game fan, and I had to dig deep online to find out any info on the system.

      This thing is not a regular console, it's something very different requiring some commercial edumacation. To wait this long after the launch to market is committing business suicide.

      • Well from what I remember they tried to market it, they just did a lousy job. Like whoever came up with this [gamespot.com] should have been fired. Out of a cannon. Into the sun.
  • It might not be wise for Nokias to keep to N-Gage going. With the advent of the DS, PSP, and maybe even the GBA2 the market will be flooded and most likely people will go with the more well known names of Nintendo and Sony. Other handhelds in the past like the NeoGeo Pocket Color failed even though they were better than the competition simply because they were not well known.

  • more, n-gages, more jokes. (Score:4, Funny)

    by scottind ( 838186 ) on Thursday March 03, 2005 @03:37PM (#11836951)
    How many n-gage developers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

    Two.

    One to screw it in. And the other to unscrew it just to change the GamePak.

  • For your market impact to "wane" you have to actually have to IMPACT THE MARKET. N-Gage has not. In fact the only time I hear about N-Gage news is on /. and I consider myself to be a pretty big game player.

  • Collatoral Marketing (Score:4, Interesting)

    by blueZhift ( 652272 ) on Thursday March 03, 2005 @04:35PM (#11837554) Homepage Journal
    Interestingly enough, N-Gage might be a collatoral beneficiary of the coming PSP vs DS war. Why? Because Sony and Nintendo are going to focus the public's attention on mobile/wireless gaming like never before. That means that the casual gamer is going to be thinking about it a little more than usual. So how does N-Gage benefit from this? They benefit the same way that Xbox and Game Cube benefit from PS2 shortages. There won't be enough PSPs and DSs to go around when things really heat up, but people are always buying cell phones. The casual gamer probably already has some cell phone games. When he can't get a PSP or DS, he may opt for an N-Gage. Nokia may not move a lot of consoles this way, but since the casual gamer may not appreciate the differences and wants a phone anyway, N-Gage may do okay.
  • N-Cage here to stay... selling poorly
    N-Cage here to stay... unplayed
    N-Cage here to stay... thrown in a drawer
    N-Cage here to stay... without games
    N-Cage here to stay... dead
  • Yeah, this N-Cage console you're talking about seems doomed. Where can I buy one of these N-Cages? Are they actual cages, or is that just part of the name?

  • Nintendo and Sony aren't the competition... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...Other cell phone manufacturers are. Nokia never thought they could beat the Game Boy... They're just doing their part to keep up in the race to develop features. The R&D spent on the N-Gage is far from a waste. Eventually the engine will be absorbed into other phones in the Nokia line, and games will be downloaded like ring tones.
    • Nokia never thought they could beat the Game Boy

      Nokie clearly considered the game boy their primary competitor, and much of the pre-release hype they put out regarding the N-Gage was aimed at touting the N-Gage as a much superior, more mature machine. Just check out this gem of a quote from Ilkka Raiskinen, head of Nokia's entertainment and media arm:

      "Game Boy is for 10-year-olds. If you're 20 or 25 years old, it's probably not a good idea to draw a Game Boy out of your pocket on a Friday night in a pub
  • Nokia has revealed that in the future, Series 60 phones will not be restriced to the portrait orientation and low resolution of current phones. They will use vector graphics in their GUI to achieve resolution independence.

    I'm pretty sure that a major factor for this decision was to get a more traditional display to the NGage.
  • If Nokia plans to continue their attempt on the handheld market, they need to change the name. N-Gage QD or whatever it was isn't going to cut it. When a common internet insult is "You bought an N-Gage, didn't you" in reply to somethign stupid, you may as well give up. Their next one had better not have that name.

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