Archive for May, 2008

• Snakes Subsonic is now available for download through the N-Gage application on your device. It should appear on the Website showroom shortly. If you have trouble getting it to show up, be sure to clear your phone’s browser cache (explained here).

• Pocket Gamer has posted an interview with Jaakko Kaidesoja regarding the N-Gage launch and the first month of the program.

• NokNoki has reviewed Creatures of the Deep in video form. “This N-Gage fishing sim has tons of depth and gorgeous graphics.”

As you may have heard, we’ve announced that Konami will be publishing mobile games for the N-Gage platform, with Metal Gear Solid Mobile first out the gate.

Here’s the word from the official press release:

“Nokia and KONAMI, a leading global developer, publisher and manufacturer of electronic entertainment properties, today announced that KONAMI mobile titles will be added to the N-Gage mobile games platform. The mobile version of the award-winning METAL GEAR SOLID® will be the first title in the games line-up. METAL GEAR SOLID® MOBILE has received top honours at the 2007 International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA), taking both the Grand Prix and Operator’s Choice Awards.”

It goes on to say that the new version will feature original content, 3D art and camera works, an in-game camouflage system, and additional controls specific for mobile devices.

Pretty good news, don’t you think? Chime in!

The most iconic mobile game in history is coming back!

Got some good news as we head into the weekend: Snakes Subsonic is scheduled for a release in the middle of next week. We don’t have an exact time yet, but we are shooting for Wednesday, although of course all releases are subject to change.

For more on Snakes, be sure to hit the official game page.

Also worth mentioning…

• Hunt Hits reviews the new N-Gage experience and is impressed
• Andrew Currie evalutates the N-Gage offering while blogging about his N82
• Just a reminder: there will be some service outages this weekend

Pocket Gamer have chimed in with their review of Mile High Pinball for the N-Gage platform. They give a good overview of the different play modes and the power-ups. Here’s a snip:

“Power-ups are plentiful and varied. Some simply boost your points, cash or the damage caused by your ball, while others trigger slow-motion, turn your ball into a rocket that shoots up, block the bottom of the screen to stop your ball falling down, make a shop appear on demand, and a host of other effects.”

Go ahead and read the rest. Did you agree or disagree with the review? Let us know what you think of the game.

The team over at NokNok has put together a review of Brain Challenge, the mental exercise game for the N-Gage platform.

What’s different about this review is that it’s a nice, quick video review, so you can enjoy gameplay footage and commentary while seeing what the game really looks like.

Take a look here.
 

N-Gage Player Robot2037 has put together a remarkably thorough and attractive strategy guide and walkthrough for Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep and posted it to the N-Gage Arena forums. 

It includes a level list, Point Pickups, a list of all fish and store items, boss fish, and more. It’s a simple text file too, so it’s quite portable. If you have this game, you’ll want this file, no doubt about it.

Here’s a sample:

     ___________________________________________________________________

    |___________________________________________________________________|

    |     LEVEL               EXPERIENCE               RANK             |

    |———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————|

    |       1                        0              New Angler          |

    |       2                      500            Rookie Angler         |

    |       3                    1,000            Weekend Angler        |

    |       4*                   2,000                Angler            |

    |       5                    3,000             Hook Dunker          |

    |       6                    5,000             Worm Dunker          |

    |       7                    7,500             Lure Dunker          |

    |       8                   10,000             Bait Dunker          |

    |       9                   15,000            Tourny Rookie         |

    |      10                   20,000            Tourny Angler         |

    |      11                   30,000             Tourny Pro           |

    |      12                   40,000          First Mate Rigger       |

    |      13                   50,000          First Mate Caster       |

    |      14                   60,000          First Mate Reeler       |

    |      15                   70,000          First Mate Angler       |

    |      16                   80,000             Pro Rigger           |

    |      17                   90,000             Pro Caster           |

    |      18                  100,000             Pro Reeler           |

    |      19                  110,000             Pro Angler           |

    |      20                  120,000            Master Rigger         |

    |      21                  130,000            Master Caster         |

    |      22                  140,000            Master Reeler         |

    |      23                  150,000            Master Angler         |

    |      24                  160,000             Rookie Guide         |

    |      25                  170,000            Semi Pro Guide        |

    |      26                  180,000              Pro Guide           |

    |      27                  190,000             Super guide          |

    |      28                  200,000            Expert Guide          |

    |      29                  210,000          Location Expert 1       |

    |      30                  220,000          Location Expert 2       |

    |       .                    ...                .........           |

    |       .                    ...                .........           |

    |       .                    ...                .........           |

    |   Each next level is reached after gaining additional 10,000 XP   |

    |     and Location Expert number of your rank is increased by 1.    |

    '———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————'

Well done, Robot2037.

Important update: this weekend our N-Gage service will have some short service breaks while we do some maintenance on our systems. Here’s the schedule:

First Break

May 17, 21.00 through May 18, 02.00 (GMT+3): Two 10-minute service breaks during this period, not the whole five hours.

Second Break

May 18. 09.00 - 11.00 (GMT+3): There will be a two hour service break during this period.

There may be occasional rare, unscheduled breaks over the weekend as well. We apologize for any inconvenience in advance.

Great Gameloft Giveaway

Congratulations to Kanacri86, our thirdwinner in the Great Gameloft Giveaway! He II assume it’s a he! joins Week One Winner Vlart and Week Two Winner Sir_Jibi on the wall of esteemed champions.

Be sure to enter yourself for your chance at a new Nokia device, a stylish N-Gage backpack, and other great prizes.

Need something to listen to on your N-Gage compatible device? I always enjoy the All About Symbian podcasts. This week they talk about Mile High Pinball, Reset Generation, the Nokia N82, and several other topics.

Give it a listen here.

All About N-Gage has another preview of Reset Generation up, this time from Evan Zelfden, who attended the Reset Generation unveiling at the Cartoon Art Museum a couple weeks ago. He really keys in on the cross-platform nature and portability of the application as a widget that can be embedded in websites and across the Internet.

He notes:

“While the game will cost between $10 and $14 on the mobile, the PC version will be completely free to play.  And not only can you play it on the official web site, you can embed it in your Facebook profile, or your blog, or anywhere else on the internet.

“This is where the game’s architects expect word-of-mouth to play a part.  Foe notes that it’s a game that’s created its own promotion.  The ultimate hope is that PC players will like the game and want to play it when they’re not chained to desks and desktops.  Which means they’ll need to purchase a Nokia N-Gage-compatible device in future.  It’s a long-range strategy, but it’s at the heart of the cross-platform approach, it explains why Reset Generation is free for PCs, and also why so much effort was concentrated on good, addictive gameplay.”

It’s another great preview, so please take a look.