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Nokia Slams GameBoy, Discusses N-Gage
Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz for writing up an article discussing Nokia's most recent comments about their N-Gage portable phone/game deck, which launches later this year, and will be at least partly competing against Nintendo's all-conquering GameBoy Advance. Most notably, Nokia boss Ilkka Raiskinen is quoted as saying "GameBoy is for 10-year-olds. If you're 20 or 25 years old, it's probably not a good idea to draw a GameBoy out of your pocket on a Friday night in a public place."
Sorry Nokia, toting around trendy hardware to show off with poor performance is what's for 10 year olds.
If this is Nokias stance on gaming, then they are already doomed. Not because of the trash-talking to gamers either.
They are making a very similar mistake that past console makers have done, and that is to front their systems and not their library. They haven't learned one of the most *basic* rules for manufacturers in the game industry, and that is that *games* make the system.
(Yadda, yadda... It's been said a 100 times)
I think the majority of the older generation of gamers play their games because they are fun, not because a system is hyped. I have yet to see any real fun games on the N-Gage. I'm 25 years old and I carry my GBA where ever I go. It's a blast, yours is not, I've played it.
Your comparisons don't make a bit of sense. In the handheld gaming market Nintendo is the 800 pund gorilla. Nokia is a giant company that holds a good percentage of the cell phone market, but they are a newcomer to handheld gaming. Thier tactics are funny because they are resorting to mud slinging rather than introducing a good product. Cause I know that I would much rather have a handheld that requires me to remove the battery to change games and can't be used on an airplane instead of a Gameboy SP. Oh, and I'm part of thier 18-25 year old target demographic (I'm 24).
Not only is the handheld unappealing because of its design and poor cell phone integration it seems to me to be a trend with thier current line of cell phones. Why in the world would anyone want a cell phone that is layed out like a rotary phone?