Archive for August, 2007

Wow, I’ve never seen so many articles about N-Gage as I have in the last few days. So let’s keep this short and sweet, here

are a whole bunch of links to write-ups of the new announcements so you can get an idea of what the press thinks.

Here’s what the gamer press had to say:
Gamasutra
IGN
Gamespot
Pocket Gamer
Next Generation
Computer and Videogames
Kotaku

And the technology folks…
Wired
Gizmodo
Mobile Industry
Trusted Reviews (with a great line, Finntastic!)
The Register

And the mainstream media got into the act too:
USA Today
CNN
Washington Post

Also, Pocket Gamer sat down with Jaakko Kaidesoja at the launch event. Definitely a must read interview, discussing

hardware acceleration, Tetris, FIFA, pricing, launch dates, and even Project White Rock.

And finally, a great blog post by Ricky Cadden on Symbianguru.com called “Why I think the new N-Gage will be successful.”

I’m sure there are many more links out there, feel free to add them to the comments.

By now everyone should have heard the news about the next generation of N-Gage. But for those of you who don’t want to click around the whole site and read all the press releases and FAQs, here’s a quick recap.

New Devices
The N-Gage is not just one device anymore. We revealed seven devices that are N-Gage compatible, but that’s only the start. Currently these are all Nseries devices, but we will continue to announce N-Gage compatibility with a wide range of S60 Nokia devices going forward.

Current roster:
Nokia N81
Nokia N81 8GB
Nokia N73
Nokia N93
Nokia N93i
Nokia N95
Nokia N95 8GB

New Games

Woot! Too many to list here. Currently we’ve got seventeen games in the Showroom, with a game page for each game, and I am sure we will be announcing many more in the weeks and months to come. There will be new screen shots for Creatures of the Deep and Brothers in Arms up tomorrow, so check the site out then. We’ll also be adding new videos next week, I’ll be sure to let you know on the blog when they go up. 

November launch

We also announced our official launch date: November. At that time, the free N-Gage application will be available for download. You will be able to download it from this website, or directly to your N-Gage compatible mobile device. You will also be able to buy games and download free trials on the launch date too. Once you have the application installed, you’ll be ready to go.

So now that you’ve seen and heard everything, let the countdown to November begin! Feel free to post your comments and tell us what you think!

Greetings from London and the Nokia Go Play event!

The event was held at the Old Billingsgate, a old Victorian market building on the scenic bank of the Thames river. Several hundred guests attended to hear the latest Nokia news, including the official N-Gage announcements. The N-Gage experience area was lively all day with interested journalists, analysts, and other industry guests who wanted to see the N-Gage experience up close.

The N-Gage application was being demo’d in the center stand of the area, and there were three featured game themed areas. Plenty of newly announced N81 devices were on hand to play with.

Guests who played Creatures of the Deep sat in a recreated London bus (upper deck). As they were playing, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed from a London cityscape to a underwater deep sea space complete with sharks.

Asphalt 3: Street Rules featured a serene park bench for game players, who then found themselves suddenly in the path of an oncoming race car.

Those who wanted to try out FIFA sat in a recreated bus stop immersed in the sights and sounds of football/soccer action around them.

Well, now on to the party at the Ministry of Sound where our guest will be treated to a live performance by Maroon 5!

Over and out,
pinkie

Update! Here are some pictures from the Ministry of Sound event party:

Guys, also be sure to check out emo185’s forums posts. He’s got videos and pictures from the event, and talks about his hands-on experience with some of the new N-Gage games. Great job emo!

-ikona

Nokia, the world leader in mobile communications, announced today that they are teaming up with Vivendi Games Mobile, a division of Vivendi Games, to bring the legendary Crash Bandicoot franchise to Nokia’s new N-Gage mobile gaming platform launching this fall.

Crash Bandicoot follows the original storyline where the crazy marsupial must save the world.

Jam packed with action and comedy, the player must take on the role of Crash to defeat the game’s villain and mad scientist, Dr. Neo Cortex.

More information about the Crash franchise can be found at the official Crash Bandicoot web site.

Well they say if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.

Today N-Gage hit the business section of the New York Times, the most prestigious newspaper in the United States, with a meaty article giving the background of the original effort along with a taste of what’s to come.

Key takeaway: according to the Times, “This week, Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, will revive N-Gage as a multiplayer gaming service that will work on its popular line of smartphones.”

The article goes into some detail about the size of the mobile gaming market, Nokia’s share in worldwide handset sales, and other details you’d expect in a business section article.

But it also spends a good deal of time talking about how Nokia worked with the design firm Ideo to design a newer, more streamlined gaming service with broad appeal. The teams traveled around the world, interviewing gamers from Shanghai to San Francisco, to develop the next generation of N-Gage.

The results are exciting, according to those who spoke to the Times.

Tomi Huttula, a Nokia product manager, said, “Today’s phones are so capable. The graphics problem has been removed. And phones today are always connected and you always carry them with you. Phones are now the perfect device for gaming.”

Be sure to read the article now, as after a short time it will go behind a subscription wall.

Direct from the official press release:

Nokia and Capcom today revealed that Capcom will be publishing games on N-Gage, Nokia’s next generation mobile gaming platform, in 2008.  Capcom is the first Japanese based publisher to show their commitment to N-Gage, which makes its global debut later this year, ushering in a new era for games on mobile devices….

“Capcom has been highly successful in the mobile market as a result of the company’s commitment to innovation and faithful conversion of some of the world’s greatest video game franchises. With classic titles such as Mega Man, Street Fighter and Resident Evil, and contemporary brands such as Phoenix Wright, Capcom has captured a wide audience of fans, in terms of age, gender and game playing ability.”

No official word yet on which Capcom franchise or franchises would be coming to the platform.

Not much to add here guys except … wow!

Just a quick note for those of you first generation N-Gage gamers out there. To help get ready for the next generation of N-Gage, we recently kicked off something we call the Charter Member program.

It’s our way of rewarding the loyal and dedicated core of N-Gage players who are ready for the transition to the next generation of N-Gage. You might even win a next generation N-Gage device!

Here’s how it works. Just go to the Charter Member site, and start participating in the events and group activities. You’ll earn points in the Charter Member Program for doing so, with an opportunity to earn special recognition in the new N-Gage Arena, as well as some great prizes.

Your loyal mod crew, led by Redrum, is standing by and waiting for you to come play.

Check it out!

Sharp observers have already noticed that the GC Developers Conference site includes the new N-Gage logo.

Nokia is a sponsor of this year’s GCDC conference, and we gave a keynote speech discussing the next generation of mobile gaming. So it shouldn’t be too surprising that we’d want to unveil our new logo there.

I can confirm that yes, this is the new N-Gage logo. In fact, I can do you one better.

Here is a small, animated version of the new logo (Windows media format, 98kb). Have a look, then tell us what you think!

Pocket Gamer’s Stuart Dredge has posted an interesting piece today about the effect of N-Gage games’ powerful visuals, but adds the cautionary message that looks aren’t everything.

It’s fair to say that phones with N-Gage inside will kick seven bells out of existing 3D Java mobile games, visually. … But that’s not the whole story. Console-like visuals will be useless if they’re simply allied to console-style control systems.”

“N-Gage’s graphical strength is also a potential Achilles’ heel, in that it might just encourage developers to port across console or handheld games without thinking about how they’ll work on a mobile phone.”

“This is where Nokia will have to take a strong role, not dissimilar to what Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo do as platform owners in the traditional gaming world.”

Definitely worth a read and it is the first of a series Pocket Gamer plans to run about the new N-Gage platform. We’re looking forward to the rest.

Pretty exciting to see so many positive articles about the next generation of N-Gage springing up lately too. I should like to point out that the video in that piece is slightly dated. For example, we will have FIFA 08, not 07.

So what do you guys think? What’s more important to you in mobile gaming — graphics or gameplay?

Gamesondeck has a great write-up of a talk that Diarmuid Feeny, Nokia’s Games Business Manager, gave as a keynote address at the GC Developers Conference in Leipzig, Germany recently.

A choice snippet:

The challenges of making that a reality include the unpredictable business model of mobile gaming, unfriendly shopping experiences, bad games and the challenge of porting to hundreds of handsets, and so the requirements of social gaming on mobile include new business models with robust backend systems that addresses existing and alternative channels, seamless end to end consumer experiences and the highest game quality.

Read the whole article here (two pages).