Blog > Archive for April, 2008

Congratulations to Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep, which received another glowing review, this time from Mobile Game FAQs.  They definitely liked the game, scoring it a 92 out of 100 and writing:

Hooked on? More like permanently addicted! Here’s our first review of the new NGage platform and one of it’s leading titles Hooked On: Creatures of The Deep. It’s still early days in the N-Gage’s new life and we don’t really know what the games of the future will hold at least in terms of size…What does 20 odd Mb buy you these days? A graphically good game but more importantly a game of huge length and depth.

Congrats to Infinite Dreams and the Hooked On team for another great review.

We were busy today installing some new office equipment to help with our N-Gage research (see picture), so let’s do a quick roundup of the news: 

• I added six new Space Impact Kappa Base videos today. An exciting side-scrolling arcade shooter, SIKB was available in First Access and is expected back in the Showroom “real soon now.” 

• Ewan Spence over at All About N-Gage has got Quake 2 shareware running on his N-Gage compatible Nokia device! Definitely for the more technically inclined amongst you, and remember, it’s totally unsupported and unofficial. 

• Pocket Gamer has launched a new “industry insider” column called “The Bee.” It’s all very mysterious: “Who is The Bee? I am The Bee. I am busy with the video gaming industry. My name is private so I am The Bee!” No N-Gage tidbits yet, but this might be one to watch.

• I got a note RedLynx today, whom you know as the creators of Pathway to Glory and High Seize for the original game decks as well as the mysterious “Project White Rock” for the new generation. They tipped me off about a totally different game they’ve created, RedLynx Trials 2 Second Edition. It’s a full-fledged 3D PC game, not a mobile game, but there’s a free trial you might like.

• Redrum was sent home today for disciplinary reasons. There was only one donut left on the kitchen counter, and as everyone knows, the last donut belongs to Congested. Nah, just kidding. RR took a much needed personal day. Have a good one, bro, and bring us back more donuts.

And all of you out there have a great weekend!

Here’s the latest news, reviews, and buzz about N-Gage from around the web and beyond. First, let’s take a look at some reviews of the latest N-Gage games:

Asphalt 3: Street Rules
Pocket Gamer takes A3 out for a test drive (you saw that one coming, didn’t you) and like what they find, giving it an 8 out of 10 and concluding that, “Asphalt 3: Street Rules is an excellent driving game that’s a great showcase for your N-Gage handset.”

Brain Challenge
Next up All About N-Gage breaks down Gameloft’s Brain Challenge, the daily puzzle game that educates even as it entertains. Reviewer Ewan Spence concludes, “Coupled with the ten minutes a day nature of the game, I think Brain Challenge is going to do very well.” Check out the full review.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Finally, Pocket Gamer (those guys again) have posted a two-part interview with Henri Roth, creative director at Universomo, the developer working on the N-Gage version of this multi-platform LucasArts game.

Here is just a little snippet from the interview, with Roth talking about developing for the N-Gage platform:

The N-Gage platform has been a dream. It is just great to be able to develop in native C++ and not care about Symbian. But, being our first N-Gage game, we had to spend a lot of time and effort in building our engine and tools pretty much from scratch. After that, the biggest difference to a Java game project has been the gargantuan amount of content we had to create and manage for the game.

Be sure to check out Parts I and II of this interview, and for even more Force Unleashed take a look at my interview with the developers over on the official N-Gage site.

If you have any more links to news or reviews, post ‘em!

Do you want to develop mobile games? Do you want to win prizes or even have your game published by Nokia? Then you came to the right blog post.

We are  pleased to announce the Mobile Games Innovation Challenge, your chance to rock the gaming world. Originally announced at GDC, the Challenge has just gone live, inviting you to submit your mobile game concept.

We are looking for the best, most ground breaking concepts from the brightest and most creative minds in our industry. This is your chance to shock the mobile gaming world and possibly have your game concept published by Nokia.

Learn more…

We are live! The games, the devices, and the community are all here for you to finally get your teeth into. The Forums are back up and the new N-Gage application is here.

There will be an official announcement on Monday, but for you, the N-Gage faithful we wanted to let you know we’re up and running! So come join our moderators in the Forums for our launch party, and start enjoying the next generation of mobile gaming.

Now let’s Get Out and Play!

Big shout out and thank you to Ewan Spence over at All About Symbian, who was kind enough to sit down with me over lunch a couple weeks ago and ask me some pointed, embarrassing questions about my personal hygiene and collection of America’s Top Model videos.

Aww, just kidding. Mostly we talked about the unseasonably warm weather and what kind of impact it would have on the series of tubes that control our lives.

So if you’re bored enough to read an interview with your beloved hero and mentor, Ikona, go take a look, and leave Ewan a comment. You might even suggest a few other Mysterious Screen Names to interview.

I’m a bit perplexed. I received an urgent SMS from Scott Foe, one of our game producers here at Nokia, who said he had just been interviewed by the Electric Playground, a cable show that covers computer and videogames. He said that he revealed the secrets of the next generation of N-Gage on the show.

Check it out here.