Archive for March, 2008

Good day, N-Gage fans. It’s another fun-filled day at the office as we get ready for N-Gage Go Live.

Redrum is sitting in a corner, pulling out what’s left of his hair. Congested is now hiding under his desk, making strange noises. And here I am, answering your questions, deleting spam, and approving comments with good humor and abundant cheer, but before you ask: No, I can’t give you a go date. So without further fussing, let’s get to the discussing! Here are a few questions for you this time around:

What other mobile gaming websites do you visit besides the N-Gage Arena forums and blog?

What did you think of our old ‘Player of the Month’ feature? Would you like to see it return, and in what form?

Did you show your First Access application to anyone who does not own an N-Gage compatible device? What was their reaction?

The quiet time has arrived. Yet the banner of N-Gage goes on.

Post your comments, questions, feedback here! Just don’t ask me when we go live.

I don’t know! If I could tell you, I would!

For those of you in the Asia-Pacific region that are eligible for the Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep special offer included with your Nokia N81, I have an update for you from the promotion team:

1. The last batch of Activation Codes was sent on March 14, and many players have received them and are enjoying the fishing adventure of a lifetime

2. The next Activation Codes will be sent for players who have registered after March 14. However due to technical issues these codes cannot be sent out until after the N-Gage Go Live date.

We appreciate your patience, and look forward to comparing fishing trophies with you in the N-Gage Arena.

As previously advised, N-Gage First Access has now closed. We thank you for your participation, and to everybody who took the survey.

In the mean time, we have begun preparing for N-Gage Go Live. While we do this important work, some N-Gage functionality will be temporarily removed. There are a few key points to remember during this time:

1. Login, registration, and reserving a new N-Gage Player Name will be inactive during this time. Note that if you are currently logged into the Forums, you will be able to post for as long as your session lasts.

2. We are no longer supporting the pre-release version of the N-Gage application.

3. You can continue to play your games and game trials using the pre-release version of the N-Gage application. However we strongly encourage you to upgrade to the full release version of the N-Gage application and games once it becomes available. Don’t miss out on the fresh start!

4. The Player Name and password you created for First Access will not be valid for full rollout, unless they were the same as your existing Player Name and password on the Arena forums.

5. Game licenses you purchased during First Access will carry over into the commercial launch, but you will need to install the new version of the N-Gage application and re-install the games.

6. Saved games, Point Pickups, and N-Gage Points accrued will be reset, to give everyone a fresh start.

Because logging in to the Forums is down for this period, I will create a new Open Thread for you to discuss up until the point we are ready for Go Live. Today’s thread can begin right here.

Unfortunately because of the amount of spam our blog attracts, comment moderation will need to stay on, but we will approve the comment backlog more frequently.

Stay tuned!

Due to popular demand, we’ve opened up our First Access Experience Survey to all who participated in N-Gage First Access, and not just N81 device owners.

 As a thank you for completing the survey, we’ll send you a complimentary Activation Code for a copy of the upcoming game, Mile High Pinball. Once the game is released, you’ll receive the Activation Code via email and/or message board Private Message system. We will also be adding 1000 community points to your profile.

So go fill out the survey and have a great weekend!

Those of you needing a helping hand with your fishing game are in luck — game developers Infinite Dreams have put up a Help forum for their excellent N-Gage fishing game, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep.

The forums contain maps of each of the four fishing resorts in the game, as well as threads for asking questions, and the opportunity to get help in the game.  

And if you can’t find what you are looking there, be sure to head over to the N-Gage Arena forum for Creatures of the Deep, by far the most popular next generation forum to date, full of tips and help for the game.

All good things must come to an end, including N-Gage First Access, which will end on March 27.

We thank all First Access participants for their valuable feedback. Our development team is working as hard as it can in order to implement as many changes and fixes as they can in time for our rollout in the next few weeks.

There are a few key points to remember during this time:

• We are no longer supporting the pre-release version of the N-Gage application after March 27.

• You can continue to play your games and game trials using the pre-release version of the N-Gage application. However we strongly encourage you to upgrade to the full release version of the N-Gage application and games once it becomes available. Don’t miss out on the fresh start!

• The Player Name and password you created for First Access will not be valid for full rollout, unless they were the same as your existing Player Name and password on the Arena forums.

• Game licenses you purchased during First Access will carry over into the commercial launch, but you will need to install the new version of the N-Gage application and re-install the games.

• Saved games, Point Pickups, and N-Gage Points accrued will be reset, to give everyone a fresh start.

We’d like some final feedback on your overall experience with First Access. As a thank you for completing the survey, we’ll send you a complimentary Activation Code for a copy of the upcoming game, Mile High Pinball.

Once the game is released, you’ll receive the Activation Code via email and/or message board Private Message system. We will also be adding 1000 community points to your profile.

Just complete our survey to sign up!

IGN has picked up another piece of the puzzle regarding Project White Rock (also on Pocket Gamer, Gamespy, and WarCry), this time revealing the composer of the game’s soundtrack. They write:

“Finally, we have some exciting information about Nokia Games Publishing’s secret Project White Rock! Renowned chiptune artist 8 Bit Weapon will be creating a custom retro soundtrack for Senior Producer Scott Foe’s latest endeavor that will take players back to their gaming roots.”

8 Bit Weapon is a musical act that creates original music using classic computer and videogame sound chips as sampled instruments, which are then mixed into new compositions, a genre of music known as “chiptune.” And while 8 Bit Weapon has created original music for the videogame industry before, most notably the soundtrack for Xbox’s exclusive Halo 2 preview event, White Rock will be the first full videogame to be scored by the band.

The article quotes Seth Sternberger, leading force behind 8 Bit Weapon:

“Scott made a dream come true for me when he asked me to score a game,” said Sternberger of 8 Bit Weapon. “But for it to be this game: Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would get to work on something like Project White Rock.”

These articles also link to a media page on the For the Love of Gaming website, which includes a download link for the entire(!) soundtrack to the game, for free.

I’m listening to it right now.

The team over at Pocket Gamer has been busy getting their hands on as many upcoming N-Gage games as possible, with two new previews this week.

Hands on with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Here’s what they had to say about Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, in particular the unique CellWeaver system for controlling the game:

“What’s even more of a shock when working your way through the tutorial, however, is to discover the game’s based around a gesture system that’s officially called CellWeaver. This uses your phone’s (in this case a N81) numeric keys as a 3×3 grid onto which you ‘weave’ your actions.”

There is also an interview with the game producers available.

Hands on with Yamake
Next up is Yamake, an innovative title from our first party team that makes it possible for players to create their own games from a range of mini games by adding content, then playing and sharing them with friends and the wider Yamake community:

“What makes Yamake much more interesting, however, are the distribution options. Once created, you can either send (or receive) a puzzle via Bluetooth or upload to the N-Gage Arena, where – once the application is live – we assume there will be the sort of community-rating features that will allow the most interesting puzzles to be highlighted and shared amongst the N-Gage community. Of course, you can also download puzzles from the Arena for your own playing enjoyment.”

More on Yamake here. 

Project White Rock all for the love of gaming?
Finally, we have an update on the For the Love of Gaming story we blogged about last week. It seems Pocket Gamer’s Tracy Erickson has picked up one of the mysterious white vials and examined its contents:

“That isn’t stopping it from teasing us with bits of information though, the latest of which comes in the form of a vial containing a white USB stick. On the portable USB flash drive sits what appears to be the soundtrack for Project White Rock. Clocking in at 25 tracks, the electro-pop selections share a common theme: gaming.”

Read more on his discoveries here.
 

Here are two video presentations from the recent Game Developer’s Conference featuring Nokia and N-Gage. Click the thumbnail beneath the description of each talk to view the video on Ovi Share. Enjoy!

Note: These videos are designed for PC websites, not mobiles. Clicking on the thumbnail links will open a new Ovi Share page where the videos are hosted. Click on the same thumbnail on the Ovi page to begin play. Be patient, it may take a few minutes for the videos to load.

Anssi Vanjoki
Executive Vice President, Markets, Nokia
Introduced by Robert Tercek, founder and chairman of GDC Mobile
Keynote Title: “Play with anybody everywhere — context, the new paradigm for game play”

With an installed base of millions of N-Gage compatible devices, mobile gaming plays a key role in the company’s recent move into the services market. Through Ovi, Nokia’s gateway to Internet services, people will be able to easily access games, communities and other content with their mobile device. With over three billion mobile phones globally, the mobile device is quickly becoming the platform of choice to enjoy games and a wide range of digital content. 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.

Dan Scott
Global Head of Production, Nokia

Pushing the Mobile Gaming State of the art with Nokia 1st Party Games Sponsored by Nokia

Mobile gaming will not achieve the multibillion dollar predictions without the help of everyone in the industry. This talk will show how Nokia 1st Party games is addressing the major stumbling blocks that are holding everyone back and taking a leadership role in pushing the State of the Art in Mobile gaming.

Share your thoughts on the videos below.