Archive for December, 2007

We know all of you are eager to get started with N-Gage First Access, and we are just as eager to get it into your hands and start hearing your feedback. We have teams of people around the world, literally, working overtime to deliver this experience to you.

Unfortunately, as can sometimes happen in software development, unexpected difficulties can occur. We have been doing an internal run with more than 1,000 global testers this week, and during this process we uncovered an issue we feel we need to address. Overall, the games and service are working smoothly, but because of this issue, we feel we could not release N-Gage First Access before the holidays as planned.

As we work on a solution, we will continue to polish the overall experience, ready more games for N-Gage First Access, carry on our extensive internal testing over the holidays, and prepare for the new year and the new wave of mobile play.

Hey everybody, we are rolling out N-Gage next week!

Those of you who have a Nokia N81 or N81 8GB will have exclusive access to the pre-release version of the N-Gage application and one or more N-Gage games!

At the same time, we’ll open up our N-Gage First Access forums, where you can give us your feedback on the experience, make suggestions, and help us co-create the N-Gage games service.

So be sure to check back next week, when N-Gage First Access begins.

At a press event this week in Lapland, we announced a new game for the N-Gage platform: Creebies, a virtual pet game that challenges you to raise and care for your very own Creebie. From the official release:

“Supplied with a trailer and some virtual cash, you can customize your new friend and home with various accessories. Soon, the 3D pet will take on its own personality and appearance based on the attention it receives. With care, the pet will grow and become more independent. However, make sure to keep an eye on its individual health meters, which will let you know when its hungry or feeling ill.”

You can also breed your Creebi with another player’s pet using Bluetooth connection, or send your Creebi to the adoption center on the N-Gage Arena. Creebies will be released for the N-Gage service early in 2008.

At the same event,  we showed another new N-Gage game, a detective adventure game, although a press release is not currently available for this game.

Pocket Gamer has put up a hands-on preview with ONE, the next generation mobile fighting game. From the piece:

“It’s a beat-’em up with impressive 3D graphics and animation, which lays down a marker for the technical capabilities of the platform, while also sticking a meaty thumb in the eye of the naysayers who claim mobile phones can’t do brawlers.”

They’ve also put up a new interview with Jaakko Kaidesoja, talking about the current state of the program:

“We’re going to have an easier roll-out with a more managed environment,” says Kaidesoja. “We are not going to do all the tricks and treats that we have said on Day One. It’s a complex service with all the billing and communities and other features, so we need to roll it out gradually.”

There’s lots more in there too, so give it a read.

Yes, it’s true! A press release has just been issued announcing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be coming to N-Gage. From the release:

Nokia, THQ Wireless, Lucasfilm, and LucasArts today revealed that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is coming to N-Gage, Nokia’s next generation mobile gaming platform, in 2008.
 
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed casts players as Darth Vader’s “Secret Apprentice” and promises to unveil new revelations about the Star Wars galaxy.  The game’s expansive story is set during the largely unexplored era between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.
 
The mobile version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is in development by THQ’s Finland-based studio, Universomo.  Using Cell Weaver(TM) technology, the game lets the player harness the Force while assisting Darth Vader in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi - and face decisions that could change the course of their destiny.

UPDATE: We have posted screen shots, a video, and an interview on the main N-Gage.com website.