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Nokia's Cellular GBA - The N-Gage
An anonymous reader writes "Hold on to your Game Boys, folks! It appears that the Finland cell phone manufacturer, Nokia, will be throwing in its lot in the handheld gaming industry with its N-Gage. Not only is this critter capable of playing games, but other noticeable features include a cell phone, radio, and MP3 player. Game companies such as Sega, Taito, and Eidos have already expressed support for it."
Carl
Vote Libertarian
I *just* got a cell phone through T-Mobile, and the games suck. Oh, I love the phone otherwise, and I certainly love my plan so far.
I didn't even look at the games until after I bought the phone. "If I want games," I said, "I can bring along my Game Boy." Indeed, depending on where I'm going, maybe I'll just swap SIM cards and bring my GBA after all. At the very least, this'll be something fun to carry around. Price it right and I'll probably get one.
i don't see as it's the most useful, ground-breaking thing in the world, but it might just be fun!
And all from Sega. Puyo Puyo, Tennis and Sega Rally.
I cant find any specs, but this sounds like a cellular phone with a lame-o processor in it that will play very weak game-n-watch type stuff, like the T-Mobile, and not a serious competitor for GBA.
I'm assuming I cant find specs because they're thoroughly unimpressive.
I mean I might choose it over another cell-phone, but I doubt it will compete seriously with nintendo in the handheld gaming arena.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I dont understand why everyone is trying to jump on the all-in-one unit bandwagon. If I want a cell phone, I want a cell phone, not a bulky handheld that has 50 other functions and is 10 times the price of a standard cell phone. If I want something to play games on, Im going to choose something like a gameboy that has a large game base. I just dont think the mass markets are going to support and hold on to this type of all-in-one technology.
On the bright side, I guess these make cell phones less likely to be discarded - repair prices would probably be under the cost of a new phone unlike most standard cell phones today.
1) nokia will probably not make any games. perhaps they agree with you ;-) As far as their APIs for gaming.. that has yet to be seen. You may be right. I have had no problems with their phone software however (using a 3360 and an 8890).
2) the n-gage can offer wireless internet play to any game, if it wants to. If it does this, it really has a chance. I do read, though, that it only uses local bluetooth multiplay! come ON, this is Nokia. Give me nationwide multiplayer or give me nothing.
However, I am concerned about the screen. Its square. If it were 1987 maybe this would be proper competition
ps, dont make fun of people with mental disabilities.
How is that different than stupid games? I've played some stupid fucking games in my life time too. I think the downfall of society is not the lack of reading, or the increase in video games, but rather the overall increase of stupid shit. But I really don't think it's an increase in terms of percentages. The percentage of stupid shit that's coming out now is about the same as back in the 50's, the turn of the century and so forth, the people just have different attitudes and values, thusly the same amount of bullshit can thusly have a greater impact on the overall intelligence.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
In fairness to Nokia, the fact that you can run MIDP apps on this device does provide a certain level of compatibility between this and Palms. So, for a java developer such as myself, once you write the game logic you just have to customize the interface to whatever device you're working with. Sure it's not 100%, but it's also not nothing.
The thing that does suck though is that MIDP is only availble by way of an 'add-on' to Palms. So you can't expect a palm device to have it (unless you load it yourself). But, bearing in mind that this is a very different device than a palm, Nokias approach seems kind of reasonable.
Nokia has chosen not to release it in Japan because they don't support Japan's mobile phone protocol.
That alone is a good reason to assume that it will go the way of the Atari Lynx.
Which is too bad. . . the handheld game system market really needs a kick in the pants.
OK; I'm not a technical expert, I'm a finance guy who like to play with tech, so don't expect perfection.
1. Buttons. I played for two minutes, the buttons seemed fine. Using the keypad to "do stuff" felt a little odd, but the directional controller felt just like the GBA.
2. The game I saw (called Pandamonium - or something like that) was not in real 3D, it was more of a side-scroller. (Indeed, it could probably be desribed as Super Mario-esque.) So, I can't comment on its 3D rendering capabilities.
3. Yes, the screen size is a little strange but it didn't feel any narrower than the original GB.
--- My dad's political betting