Blog > Archive for the ‘N-Gage’ Category

Dirk Dagger and The Fallen Idol is now available on the N-Gage application. Navigate to the Showroom tab, select ‘Update Now’, then click on ‘Available Games.’ Look for it at the bottom of the list. You can also download the free trial directly from the Website. — ikona

The world’s first mobile detective game, Dirk Dagger and the Fallen Idol by Nokia Games Publishing, is now available on N-Gage. The Film Noir backdrop involves players in a world of mystery with its enthralling and humorous storyline, where everything is not as it seems. The main character, private eye Dirk Dagger, takes the player through a strange quandary, along the way solving the mystery of a stolen statue, a murder and a complicated account of an accidental penguin-related death.

During the course of the game, players guide Dirk through a set of mini-games. For example, the player can use the camera on the device to snap a photo of a character. The photo can then be used as incriminating evidence on behalf of a client.

This title is all about reinventing the adventure game genre on mobile. A unique one-button camera-based control allows players to view surroundings of the scenes in a more intuitive way. The high-quality visual look and feel of the game will appeal to players of all levels of experience in gaming.

To play the first chapter and get more information, visit http://www.dirkdagger.com

Get Your FIFA On
People on a subway are witness to an over-enthusiastic N-Gage player. Hilarity follows.

Reset Generation Tips & Tricks
Pocket Gamer solicits help from the game developers for those of you new to the game.

Man in Towel
Pocket Gamer learns about the N-Gage developer offering from…a man in a towel.

New New Nokia Devices
Nok-Nok has some info on new Nokia devices being announced next week.

Dirk Dagger Trailer
All About N-Gage uncovers the latest clue in the Dirk Dagger mystery.

Comes With Games?
Pocket Gamer reports on rumors about a Nokia device loaded with game offerings.

Consumers are Bullets
Reset Generation front man Scott Foe talks games marketing on Gamasutra.

Update: Maintenance is complete. If you are still seeing the ‘Maintenance’ page on N-Gage.com, trying clearing your cache.

We are working to improve your experience and will be back up and running very soon…

From 8 PM to Midnight UTC (1 PM to 5 PM PST) today, Thursday August 14, services such as online gaming, game activations, forum and Website login and registrations, N-Gage.com content, the N-Gage application and other connected N-Gage services will not be available. Please do not try to purchase or activate games during this period.

We’ll notify you through this blog when the service has been restored.

Lots of stuff going on today, so let’s get right to it…

Bounce Boing Voyage Review
Bounce has been reviewed by All About N-Gage, receiving an 84% review:

“For 7 euros Bounce is excellent value for money. It’s a carefully-crafted very playable 3D platformer which has managed to find its own style without being too derivative, and it successfully reinvents a forgotten game series.”

N-Gation’s Bounce Review
The N-Gation blog also takes Bounce out for a test drive.

“Remember the classic version? Everyone loved that game - The fantastic simple 2D plat former that ruled many mobile devices - But can this hold the same fame as the original? Can it improve what its older brother did so well? Does the transition into 3D work for this game? Read on…”

Official Bounce Site
Speaking of Bounce, don’t forget to visit the official game site and try the interactive mystery of the 100 balls.

Reset Generation Review
Game Revolution falls in love with Reset Generation with this glowing review, giving the game an A- overall and noting:

“It may not be as revolutionary as Bioshock or as you-got-a-problem-with-that imposing as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but nonetheless, it’s official: Reset Generation has ended the age of ‘mobile gaming’ second-citizenship.”

Also Pocket Gamer lists Reset as one of the top ten games it would like to see on the iPhone… I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon!

RG on Facebook

Speaking of Reset Generation, it’s now available as a Facebook widget. Help spread the word about rescuing princesses — add it to your Facebook today.

Pocket Gamer’s Brothers in Arms Review
Pocket Gamer delivers its verdict on Brothers in Arms. Here’s a snippet: “Brothers in Arms has now landed on the N-Gage beaches and has once again set about providing a more entertaining version of tragic events than stuffy old history can provide.”

N-Gage.com Service Break
And finally, the N-Gage service will be down for upgrades tomorrow, from 8 PM to Midnight UTC (1 PM to 5 PM PST), tomorrow, Wednesday August 13. Online gaming, forums, purchase, Website, the application and other connected services will be down for this brief window. This blog will be available.

The best-selling N-Gage games for August 4 through August 10.

NOTES: Due to a Website upgrade currently in progress, new content cannot be added to N-Gage.com this week (except to the Blog), which is why you’re seeing the Sales Chart here on the Blog. That also means no new games can be added to the Showroom this week.

There will also be a maintenance period between 1 PM and 5 PM PST this Wednesday, August 13. For more on the maintenance period, read this Forum Announcement.

During the Maintenance Period, all N-Gage services will be down: Website, Online gaming, N-Gage application, purchases, Forums… The only service that will be up is the N-Gage blog.

Sims 2 Pets Reviewed

Pocket Gamer has posted a review of The Sims 2 Pets, giving us their take on the virtual pet simulator from EA Mobile. They note: “The Sims 2 Pets centres on you taking care of a virtual pet within the Sims universe. A simple concept, but one that lends itself to the handheld platforms remarkably well, as we can see from all the other virtual pet-styled games available.”

5320 XpressMusic Reviewed

All About Symbian reviews the 5320 XpressMusic, a Nokia device that is planned on being N-Gage compatible in the near future but isn’t currently, as the review notes: “Hopefully N-Gage will be brought to the 5320 very soon, and the phone includes a download link for the application in its Games folder (but the link doesn’t work as the app isn’t ready yet.” But if you’re considering this one for your love of music plus a chance to play N-Gage games, this is worth reading.

N-Gage Sales Charts

And for those of you who don’t regularly visit the Arena tab on the main Website (for shame!) you may have missed me posting up the Top 5 Games for global sales earlier this week. This chart doesn’t include recent releases like Bounce or Reset, those will be reflected in next week’s chart.

Evergeek Review

Chris Hudak, who writes the Evergeek column for the Toronto Star, has put up a thorough and glowing review of Reset Generation, giving it a 4.75 out of 5 stars. Even if you’re already sold on the game, it’s worth reading since he’s written up about as accurate a description of the game’s multi-phasic, frantic gameplay as I’ve seen yet.

Here’s a sample:

“You’ve got minimal controls: Up, down, left, right and Enter. Mechanically simple… strategically: a gold-mine.”

Read the rest here.

PC World Review

PC World is also giving high praise to Reset Generation, this time in an Olympic-themed round-up of casual online games. Author Darren Gladstone wrote, “For the past couple of days, I’ve been playing Reset Generation–the most cleverly designed, most addictive, and most hard-to-quickly-describe puzzle game in ages.”

The rest is here.

Web Comic

Finally, the game has received its first Web comic, from Woody Hearns’ GU Comics. Hearns of course was one of the concept artists recruited to do initial artwork for the game characters, in this case the Level 50 Elf.

Here are some more Reset Generation reviews and reactions, plus a note on embedding the application.

Rock Paper Shotgun

Kieron Gillen of RPS notes: “I haven’t even mentioned its production values, which are impressively high for this sort of thing. Masses of voiced-samples, many of which if not laugh-out-loud funny are at least cute enough to make you glad they’re exist. The hyper-macho Halo-parody Cyborg is another cutie. It’s brash, intricate, interesting and I think if you try it, you’ll probably like it.”

N-Gation

Gold Medal review from N-Gation, who writes: “We waited and we waited, we was then teased, and teased to a point were we grew angry, and rebellious and now it’s here - does this game live up to the hype? Worth all that excitement? I’ll give you a hint: Epic. Read On.”

Mike Got Game

Mike of Mikegotgame.com is hooked too: “Little that I know that there’s a monster lurking beneath Reset Generation’s cartoony surface that sucked me in. It sucked me in for days at a time.”

MTV Games

This one has information about an ongoing journalist’s tournament, and mentions, “t’s an immensely addictive combo of Tetris and Advance Wars and only takes a few minutes to pick up.”

Embedding Reset

All About N-Gage’s tzer2 has put up a quick guide on how to embed the Reset Generation application on your own blog or web page, a neat feature of the official site that many have overlooked.

Remember, it doesn’t matter where you play the embedded application, since they all connect to the same servers, use the same rankings, same player base, etc.

Speaking of embeds, here are just a few:

• N-Gage.com
• Nokia Gaming
• Pocket Gamer
• All About N-Gage
• Nok-Nok
• Mike Got Game
• IJK.WZ.CZ

Bounce Boing Voyage, the jumpaliciously fun 3D version of the original Bounce game, is now available for N-Gage compatible devices at www.n-gage.com. The mission is to guide the Bounce ball through different surreal worlds, and free the world of Pongpingy from the rule of the evil Hypnotoid.

Players can have a go at several one-thumb gameplay modes as well as three ball forms - Bounce, Rock and Mud - and send their high scores to the N-Gage Arena. It’s also possible to get a free trial to try out the game before purchase.

For more bouncing fun, visit www.bouncegame.com

All About N-Gage
Ewan Spence at All About N-Gage has posted his review of Reset Generation, giving the game a 90/100 and their coveted “Megagame” Award — the first N-Gage game to ever be so recognized. Here’s a snip from the review:

“The developers of Reset Generation have done the same with the software and taken on board latency, connection issues, graphics, sound and controls. All told, if you were asked to make the perfect multiplayer game on current technology, I can’t see how you would come up with anything other than Reset Generation.”

Read the full thing here.

GameCyte
Jesse Henning at GameCyte has also reviewed the game, and although the site does not give numerical ratings, he finds the game to his liking too. Here’s a bit from his review:

“The regular game, either in single-player arcade mode or online multiplayer, plays out quickly and easily; one can expect a full match to last 5-10 minutes. Given that this is a mobile game, this is a good length for getting in a match or two while on the bus or waiting in line.”

Read the full review here.

And with Reset Generation you can try the full game for yourself from the convenience of your PC, or read what other games like you thought by reading the Player Reviews on the Reset Generation game detail page.