N-Gage
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Nokia outs HSDPA 5320 and 5220 XpressMusic candybars, wake us when it's the Tube
While we patiently wait for Nokia's current, "no major new products" fiscal quarter to expire, we'll have to trudge through releases like these 5320 (left) and 5220 (your other left) candybars. As members of the XpressMusic range the devices themselves are fine. Unfortunately, fine isn't going to win back that 1% lost market share. The 3G HSDPA 5320 (€220 / $351) features dedicated music and N-Gage gaming keys, a 3.5-mm headphone jack, up to 24-hours of play time, up to 8GB of expandable storage, and a "Say and Play" voice controlled playlist; speak the name of the artist or song you want and the phone will play it. The (€160 / $255) 5220 removes the HSDPA but adds a lanyard... hoorah!? Expect both to land in Europe sometime in Q3 2008.
N-Gage application finally launches
After months of delays and agonizing, nail-biting anticipation, Nokia's N-Gage platform has finally launched, with a handful of games supported on five different Nokia phones. The official announcement of the platform is due on Monday, but Nokia has gone ahead and flipped the switch before the weekend, in the interest of drumming up some early traffic. The application is compatible with Nokia's N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95, and N95 8GB phones, and at this time only five games are available, including Brain Challenge, System Rush: Evolution, and World Series of Poker. All games offer free trials, and can be purchased from directly from the computer once the N-Gage account is created on the mobile phone.More games are listed as "coming soon," including Worms World Party, Sims 2 Pets, and the ever-ubiquitous Tetris. If any of you have had a chance to install and try out the N-Gage app on your Nokia handsets, let us know your thoughts in the comments. We're quite curious if it was all worth the wait.
Nokia's new N-Gage gaming service goes live
It's apparently saving the full, official announcement until Monday, but Nokia just dropped word on its N-Gage blog that the final version of its new N-Gage gaming service / application is now live and ready for your taking. To take advantage of that right now, however, you'll need an N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95, or N95 8GB handset, although Nokia says that support for additional N-Gage compatible devices is "coming soon," including the N73, N93, and N93i. If that doesn't preclude you, you can download the application straight to your device from Nokia's mobile site (n-gage.mobi/d), or you can hit up the link below to download it the old fashioned way.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Nokia bringing N-Gage beta testing to an end, dishes out free game
Well, it looks like we're now one step closer to a full-fledged launch of Nokia's N-Gage First Access service, with the company announcing today that the beta testing phase will end on March 27th. As was announced before, that means all your scores and other data will be reset and, while you won't have to repurchase any games you've bought during the beta test, you will have to reinstall them when the final version launches. As a bonus for beta testers, however, Nokia is giving away a free copy of the upcoming Mile High Pinball game to anyone that completes a survey, along with 1,000 "community points." There's still no firm word on the rollout of the final version of the service, however, with Nokia only going so far as to say that it's coming in the "next few weeks."[Via All About Symbian]
Future N-Gage titles could utilize integrated GPS, camera
Truth be told, we could sort of see this one coming -- after all, why wouldn't N-Gage developers seek to use a handset's built-in functions to enhance gameplay? Nevertheless, the folks at Nok Nok were able to pick the brain of Will Shen, N-Gage Head of Production in North America, and found out quite a few tidbits about the future of the platform. Reportedly, Mr. Shen went so far as to confirm that it is "looking at creating games that harness the power of [a mobile's] built-in camera, GPS receiver and any relevant skill [that it] may possess that could help inspire and execute innovative games." Granted, location-based titles aren't anything new in the grand scheme of things, but Shen also noted that his team is looking to "focus on innovation" rather than "gimmick gaming." Marvelous -- now let's get this stuff rolled out en masse, shall we?
Nokia about rumored PSP phone: can Sony Ericsson really pull it off?
It seems that several years of taking their lumps on the long road to mobile gaming success has hardened the boys and girls at Nokia just a bit, and they're ready to come out swinging. The target? Fellow European manufacturer Sony Ericsson, of course, which has been rumored for eons to be cooking up some sort of PlayStation- or PSP-branded handset to go head to head with the likes of Nokia's N-Gage service. The head of Nokia's games division went on the assault at a recent press event for its brand spanking new N-Gage client, saying "I'm not scared about anybody. The real question is how do they do it? Can they create a link between the PSP games and a phone? Can they do the multiplayer and online stuff? We've been doing this for two years and it hasn't been easy." In other words: bring it, Sony Ericsson, because we don't think you can do it. Kind of funny to be lashing out against a product that hasn't been announced (much less launched) though.[Via Tech Digest]
Glu announces its N-Gage launch lineup
While we all wait patiently for a wide-scale release of Nokia's revamped N-Gage platform, it's always fun to get learned on just what sorts of titles will be available for the rest of 2008; after all, the titles available through the First Access beta -- Creatures of the Deep, World Series of Poker, Space Impact, and Block Breaker Deluxe -- are only going to take us so far. Seasoned mobile game developer Glu Mobile has come forward to announce its '08 contributions to the platform, and with just three titles in the wings, it seems the company has done a surprisingly decent job of covering the full gamut. Speed Racer is a (you guessed it) racing title on "extreme" tracks, Super Slam Ping Pong! puts an arcade spin on the classic table game, and The Dark Knight is an action title that follows the upcoming Batman flick. The one thing we don't have in our lives is enough productivity sinks, Glu, so by all means, let's get these suckers pushed out on the double.
GDC08: Nokia talks N-Gage, First Access, release date, N95
Following a short overview on the state of the N-Gage platform, we had a chance to ask J. Dan Scott – the Global Head of Production for Nokia Game Publishing – a few questions about the platform and the nebulous launch date. First up, Scott said there's no solid release date for the service -- the First Access program is supposed to help iron out any kinks in the admittedly ambitious launch. Launched earlier this month, the First Access program was initially limited to just the Nokia N81 handset, to limit the testing concerns, Scott said. Nevertheless, the internet had other plans, quickly enabling functionality on the N95 handset which, curiously enough, Scott said accounted for more than half of the connections to the service.Roughly 30K users have downloaded the client to date – far more than the 2K or so Scott anticipated – and those early adopters have purchased "thousands" of games, a conversion rate that also impressed Scott (though he did admit these consumers are particularly passionate about games). The largest challenge: getting out of the mobile industry's "landfill stage" and prove to consumers (and skeptical game bloggers!) that quality gaming is possible on a mobile handset, while proving to third-party publishers that investing in developing quality games can be a lucrative endeavor. Yikes, best of luck!
Nokia announces user-generated mini-games for new N-Gage
Personalization is all the rage in games these days, what with Miis, face-mapping and, er, laser-etched portables showing up all over the place. Now Nokia's jumping into the personalized gaming, uh, game with the Yamake initiative for the new N-Gage platform.According to the announcement, Yamake mini-games (because "ya make" 'em ... get it?) will lets users add "personal content such as text, pictures, sound clips and movies from the mobile device or PC" to create picture puzzles, trivia quizzes and more. Sure, it doesn't sound like anything you can't already do online, but the ability to create and share these little personalized games easily on your phone might be cool. Trust us ... even if you don't get it, your little sister will love it.[Via Engadget]
Nokia launches user created "Yamake" games on N-Gage -- bye bye Gizmondo v2
Sorry Gizmondo, your dreams of a resurrected user generated gaming platform were just usurped by Nokia. Straight outta Espoo comes Nokia's Yamake (a mashup for "you make the game") for their N-Gage platform. With it, Nokia says players can "create their own games" from a range of "mini games" by adding user generated text, pictures, sound clips and movies. Games can then be shared via the N-Gage Arena and via MMS between N-Gage compatible S60 devices. The press release specifically mentions the creation of mini games "such as" pictures puzzles and quizzes -- so no, we're not looking at user generated, 3D first person shooters upon initial release. In fact, without any images or video to accompany the press release, Yamake sounds more like a user customization platform than game creation platform. Still, we'll cut them some slack as they get this off the ground. One thing seems pretty clear though, this ain't your mama's sidetalkin' N-Gage; Nokia is playing for keeps this time around.
N-Gage First Access hacked for N95 8GB, others
That didn't take long. A mere day after the release of Nokia's N-Gage First Access gaming preview exclusively to N81 users, the app has been cracked open to work with any N-series device with enough horsepower. The hack was performed by Nokia regular P@sco, and comes in a convenient downloadable form, or an only slightly involved guide to hacking the app yourself. No rocket science here, and while we're sure Nokia could easily fight back, what we've really got to ask ourselves is why didn't Nokia just open it to everyone in the first place? [Thanks, Michael J.]
Nokia rolls out N-Gage First Access to N81 users
The delayed, revamped N-Gage client still isn't ready for prime time, but the First Access preview service -- which is just a little bit more functional than the preview shipping on some Nseries devices already -- has finally launched. The service introduces a full suite of social gaming tools (though with compatibility officially limited to N81s for the moment, that's a very small social circle indeed) and lets users download several game demos; Nokia promises that the service will evolve and expand as it ramps up for a full-scale release, so don't get too down on the lack of content and community just yet. Oh, and just a word of warning, downloaders: your data will get reset prior to the full-scale launch, so don't get too attached to your high scores, k?[Via All About Symbian]
Nokia delays N-Gage service ... again
Nokia's new N-Gage-as-gaming-platform concept was originally supposed to blow our minds in September ... and then November ... and then December ... and now – according to a Reuters report published today – it will be delayed into "early 2008" due to "delays in software testing." Nokia spokesperson Karen Tuutti explained, "We found one more issue which had to be solved before we could open the service." We presume that would be the issue of convincing gamers to pay any attention to the now comically delayed service.
Nokia's N-Gage First Access delayed to 2008
We suppose it was just too good to be true, having a solid release window and target device for N-Gage, even if it was going to be merely in the form of a "First Access" test service. Nokia has been going over the service internally with about 1,000 testers, and has uncovered an "issue" that it needs to address, but wouldn't elaborate much further about the problem, other than that the games and service are supposedly working smoothly. That means Nokia won't be releasing First Access for N81 users this week as promised, but instead will wait until the new year to finally make its new push back into the gaming market. Don't worry Nokia, it's not like we've got anything else going on. [Via Pocket Gamer]
N-Gage platform nearing relaunch; pre-release available on Nokia N81
They've certainly been taking their time with it, but Nokia is finally just about ready to re-launch the N-Gage gaming platform for mobile phones... kinda. This week, a pre-release version of the service will become available to owners of the Nokia N81 phone, along with at least one game title available for download.The revamped N-Gage service offers a consistent platform for mobile gaming, with features like profiles, friends lists, achievements, play history, and others seemingly "appropriated" from Microsoft's Xbox Live service.Nokia has not been more specific as to when the pre-release service will launch for the N81. The full service is also expected to start sometime this month, but Nokia has also not been more specific with this time-frame either.
Nokia's N-Gage hits the N81 next week in pre-release form
It's a good time to be an N81 or N81 8GB user, since Nokia's got some pre-release versions of full N-Gage titles just for you as of next week. Nokia's hoping for some feedback with this "N-Gage First Access" setup, since the full service isn't quite ready to go yet. Of course, the N81 has game demos on it out of the box, but this time it'll have "exclusive access to the pre-release version of the N-Gage application and one or more N-Gage games!" They're certainly taking their own sweet time getting the relaunch of N-Gage ready, but given the failure of its first two iterations, perhaps we should be grateful Nokia's waiting to get it right this time. But seriously, hurry up already. [Via NokNok; thanks James B]
N-Gage relaunch pushed back to December
Those of you clamoring for the glorious return of Nokia's N-Gage brand (both of you) will have to wait a little longer to enjoy the unified-cell-phone-gaming-platform goodness. Originally planned for a September launch, Nokia later announced a worldwide November launch for the platform, and now a Reuters story reveals the launch has been pushed back to December. "Software testing is taking a bit more time than what we had expected," Nokia spokesperson Kari Tuutti told the news agency. "We are talking about a couple of weeks."While the N-Gage name has become a bit of a joke in gaming circles, the new focus on standardized games that can play on a variety of handsets has some potential. Here's hoping Nokia manages to make us care about cell phone gaming again for the first time when this thing finally sees the light of day.
Nokia delays N-Gage service
Ugh, more bad news for Nokia. They just announced the delay of their revamped N-Gage service to December. Apparently, they've run out of Go-Go juice and Headshot bars for their developers as "software testing" is taking a bit longer than expected. It's not that bad though, we're only talking a few weeks delay and with any luck, they'll be up and running in time for the holiday gift-giving gaming season.
Nokia's N81 8GB now shipping with N-Gage preview
Nokia's N81 is now, at this very moment, "available globally" according to Nokia. Pre-tax, pre-subsidy €360 / $515 for the 2GB microSD model or €430 / $615 for that full 8GB of on-board flash experience. Since the revamped N-Gage platform isn't online yet, the N81 comes pre-loaded with three playable demos of FIFA 07, Asphalt 3: Street Rules, and Space Impact Light. Those same games will be available for free download-and-preview over HSDPA when the service goes live sometime "later in 2007." Still, while Nokia touts a global launch, the fact that this quad-band GSM phone only sports 2100MHz WCDMA will limit its effective use in North America -- even if it is FCC approved.
Fifa 08 and Spiderman: FOF demos on XBLM
It was a long time coming -- a demo was expected by the end of August -- but a demo for FIFA 08 has finally landed on Marketplace. A demo has also appeared for the new beat 'em up Spiderman: Friend or Foe. FIFA 08, as you might imagine, focuses on soccer (AKA football), whereas Spiderman: FOF focuses on kicking the crap out of copious baddies. The twist in Spiderman: FOF is that you'll find yourself fighting alongside some of Spidey's biggest enemies. The twist in the FIFA demo is that it's not available in Europe yet. Don't fret though, European readers, for Major Nelson notes that the demo should be crossing the pond "very soon." In the meantime, why not lay the smack down (you know, pugilistic shenanigans) on some hapless comic book villains?
