Archive for January, 2008

Hello all, thought it was time to get a new post up, even though I don’t have any updates for you regarding N-Gage First Access  — sorry about that, for all of you waiting patiently. But in the mean time, here are some recent reviews of N-Gage compatible devices you might enjoy. Note: some links may not be optimized for viewing on a mobile web browser.

Geek.com reviews the Nokia N95 8GB
“The N95 turns out to be one of the best gaming phones ever. The device uses its powerful processor, all that storage, and the large display to play games extremely well, including in impressive 3D.”

Brighthand.com review the Nokia N81 8GB
“Almost matching the N95 8GB feature for feature, this smartphone is featured as the music and gaming device du jour from Nokia, and comes loaded to the gills.”

OS News.com reviews the Nokia N82
“While it’s not ready yet for download, the N82 is NGage-ready. It has a 3D accelerator in it, and it came pre-installed with two 3D games to showcase the platform.”

Mobile Today review the Nokia N95 8GB
“This is all in one. You can take it on holidays and you have a mobile, a camera, an FM radio and GPS, so you can’t get lost.”

Mobile Today reviews the Nokia N81 8GB
“The Carphone salesman calls it ‘a gamer’s dream’, while Kane says the N81 is a ‘typically stylish Nokia’.” 

Discussion — which N-Gage compatible device do you have or wish to get?  Another question - how many of you are reading this blog on your mobile device as opposed to a PC? Let’s see a show of hands.

It’s just been announced that Nokia’s Anssi Vanjoki will give a keynote address at this year’s GDC Mobile. The title of his talk will be: “Play with anybody everywhere — context, the new paradigm for game play.”

Some details on the talk from the GDC program guide:

Vanjoki will present Nokia’s move into context aware services and the impact that mobile devices are having on entertainment around the world and the role that N-Gage will play in evolving mobile games experiences and the industry.

GDC Mobile is a track within the Game Developer’s Conference focused on mobile gaming and entertainment. This year’s GDC Mobile takes place on February 18-19, 2008 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Calif. during GDC 2008.

For more on GDC Mobile, check out the official site.

 The Guardian, a widely-read and influential UK newspaper, has called ‘Project White Rock’ one of the most promising games of 2008.

Writing on the Guardian’s games blog, Keith Stuart has put together a list of the 20 most promising games of 2008, including White Rock alongside such stalwarts as Advanced Wars, Street Fighter, and StarCraft.

Regarding White Rock itself’, he says:

“Little is known about Nokia’s flagship title for the re-invented N-Gage platform - just that it’ll run on both mobile and PC, with users of both platforms presumably able to compete with and against each other in some kind of online adventure.”

He’s particularly impressed with the game’s developer, RedLynx, creator of the award-winning Pathway to Glory. He calls Pathway to Glory “brilliant,” and adds, “Would have been a million seller on Nintendo DS.”

Project White Rock is an unannounced first party N-Gage game, first mentioned publicly at last year’s Game Developer’s Conference — see this blog post for details, or search the blog for ‘whiterock’ for more mentions.

Starting the new year off right, Pocket Gamer has put together a list of their ten most-anticipated mobile games for 2008, and making the cut are no less than four N-Gage titles.

At number nine is Dirk Spanner, our recently-announced detective game, which Pocket Gamer describe as: “mixing a film noir graphical style with a splash of quirky humour, the point-and-click one-button detective game will see you battling an array of femme fatales and gangsters.”

Third on this list is Creebies, another new title we announced last month. Regarding the collectible creature game, the author notes: “there appears to be plenty of tongue-in-cheek humour as you’ll start the game with virtual cash and mobile home in which to keep your Creebies. So does that mean they’re trailer trash?”

Number two on the list is the little-known “Project White Rock,” a still unannounced title which we have written about on this blog before. Regarding it, Pocket Gamer notes: “Of all our most anticipated mobile games for 2008, Nokia’s Project White Rock is the most mysterious. All that’s been announced is that it will run both on N-Gage handsets and PCs, feature connected play and be ‘innovative.’ ”

Finally their most-anticipated mobile game for 2008 is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, a multi-platform game also headed for N-Gage. Be sure to check out our developer’s interview and gameplay video right here on N-Gage.com.

So what is your most-anticipated mobile game for 2008? Tell us which one, and why

Hello everyone, hope you had a happy and safe holiday season.

I don’t have any news or updates for you on N-Gage First Access this week– and believe me, if I did, I’d post it right away — but I thought you might like a new post to add comments on, since the last couple were getting rather long.  I am trying to get you guys an update soon, but no word yet.

Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience.