Blog > Archive for the ‘Spore’ Category

A blog reader and N-Gage fan has let me know about his website Shaysoft, which is dedicated to all things Nokia and  has now begun covering N-Gage games with reviews. The site is called Shaysoft and can be found at the web address www.shaysoft.net. Among the games he’s reviewed so far are Dance Fabulous, Spore Origins, Worms World Party, and Brain Challenge.

Here’s an example of the site’s take on Dance Fabulous:

“I think this is the most important part of this game because it all depends on you. You can import musics what you like. It only supports MP3/M4A or aacplus version files. So make sure your musics are all MP3/M4A or aacplus version.”

Read the full review here, and of course visit the entire Shaysoft N-Gage section here. Incidentally, an updated version of Dance Fabulous is being released shortly.

Pocket Gamer has put EA’s SPORE Origins under the microscope and dissected its microbrial-oriented gameplay in their latest N-Gage review. Overall they are a little underwhelmed, although note the N-Gage version is comparable to other small platform releases.

Here’s a sample: “Perhaps if this game wasn’t so far disconnected from the Spore craze that struck last year it wouldn’t be quite such old news and seem, well, rather superfluous. It meets all the expectations of a version of Spore Origins, sure, but that’s neither a particularly remarkable achievement or an especially relevant one now.”
Read the full thing here, and don’t forget to try the game for yourself by downloading a free trial today.

Noknok.tv has taken a look at SPORE Origins for the N-Gage platform and come away with their review of the game. For the most part, they like what they are seeing, and assign the game a three out of five stars rating overall. Here is a sample from the review:

“Symbiotes give you special powers, such as increased speed or shields, while getting caught by larger beasties sucks your life power – run out of hearts and you’ve reached an evolutionary dead end and will have to retake the level.”

Read the full thing here.

It’s time for N-Gage users to take a dip in the tide pool with the release of one of the most anticipated games of all time from EA Mobile. Spore™ Origins challenges would-be creators to shape the destiny of their own, unique creature in a world where the smallest detail can be the difference between domination and extinction.

On an evolutionary journey through six stunning underwater environments and 18 interactive levels, players must guide their creation from the primordial ooze to the safety of the shoreline, turning it from a defenceless, single-celled organism into a feared, complex predator. To help it up the food chain - and to produce a creature that perfectly matches their play style - they can choose from over one billion customisable combinations.

As well as enjoying a dramatic soundtrack, ambient audio effects and vivid visuals, creators can enter the N-Gage Arena to see how they compare with the rest of the N-Gage universe.

Will your spore have what it takes to survive? Join the evolution by downloading Spore™ Origins on N-Gage now.

SPORE™ Origins is now available in the application Showroom and will be available on the Game Page shortly.

The city of Rome hosts the Nokia Games Summit, which kicked off today with exciting news and game announcements and confirming Nokia’s commitment to the N-Gage gaming platform.

Speaking to the state of N-Gage today is Tero Ojanperä, executive vice president and head of the Nokia entertainment and communities business. He gave some interesting details, as well about which countries are the most active.

“With the N-Gage service now live for six months, we have a truly global service on offer with sales transactions in over 130 countries and tens of millions of N-Gage compatible devices available,” said . “The most active players reside in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Australia and Spain, but we’ve seen active players worldwide with repeat purchase rates over 35% globally. Game trials have also proved to be important, with download to purchase conversions up to 30%.”

The summit runs through tomorrow, October 30, and we are expecting lots of news and announcements.

I’ll be posting summaries of the announcements and links to press write-ups right here on the blog, so you can follow along at home. Here’s what’s been announced so far:

* Dance Fabulous by Nokia

* EA SPORTS FIFA 09 by EA Mobile

* MONOPOLY Here & Now by EA Mobile

* Spore Origins by EA Mobile

* Boom Blox by EA Mobile

* Need for Speed Undercover by EA Mobile

* The Sims 3 by EA Mobile

* Tiger Woods PGA Tour by EA Mobile

* Tomb Raider Underworld by EA Mobile in partnership with Eidos

* Pandemonium by EA Mobile in partnership with Eidos

* Asphalt 4: Elite Racing by Gameloft

* Real Football 2009 by Gameloft

Tell us what you think!

How N-Gage can take on iPhone
The folks over at Pocket Gamer have some ideas, including put N-Gage on non-Nokia handsets, announce a new dedicated gaming device, and shed some light onto the N73 and N93. Give it a read, and tell us what you agree or disagree with.

Spore Origins
Up and coming fan site N-Gager.co.uk has put together some information on Spore Origins, extrapolating from the PC and Java versions as well as the publicly available information. Take a look here.

GCA 2008 Mobile Keynote
From Gameaxis: “So Dan Scott’s in town to share his insight on the future of mobile gaming. Dan Scott is a games industry veteran with over 17 years experience and currently serves as the Global Head of Production for Nokia.”

At last week’s Games Convention Asia, Electronic Arts made an announcement that should be of interest to all of you out there: Spore Origins is coming to N-Gage. From their release:

“Action on the small screen isn’t letting up either. EA Mobile™, also announced today that Spore™ Origins will be coming soon on Nokia’s N-Gage platform. The game takes full advantage of the NGage functionality whilst allowing players to manouvere their way through a world made of primordial ooze. Spore™ Origins will sit alongside other EA titles already launched on N-Gage, such as Tetris®, The Sims 2™ Pets and EA SPORTS™ FIFA 08.”

There is a copy of the EA release here on nineoverten.com, and I have verified internally that it is accurate.

In addition, be sure to read this write-up from Wilfrid Wong, who was able to play Spore (as well as ONE) at the Games Convention Asia, and produced a hands-on report.