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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."
I think Gabe's post pretty much sums it all up.
"Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit." --Oscar Wilde
But by the same token, if you're out on a Friday night and you "draw" anything out of your pocket to play a game you either:
a) Need to find new friends and/or friends. Period.
b) Need to find a new place to hang out on Friday nights.
c) Should get punched in the face.
d) Are a huge doofus.
e) All of the above.
Cell phone games sure are a neat waste of time, but if I'm going to blow $300 on a portable gaming system it has to blow me, too.
Nokia seems to have learned the wrong lessons from Microsoft's X-Box marketing strategy. They need to remember that the "insult your apparent target demographic" gimmick only works if you're using it as part of a billion dollar campaign to convince regular people that it's socially acceptable to buy your product.
...Is to change the game, you have to open up the back of the N-Gage, take out the battery, and change the chip that's underneath, then replace the battery...
I think I'll stick with my "Cartridges that only a 10-year old would play", thank you. At least then I can play them on airplanes.
in other news:
Shouldn't they pick on someone their own size?
Honey, is that a GameBoy in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
"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."
I used to play with my gameboy a lot back in '89 and played it to death until I got my gameboy color. Back when I was young, it was fine for me to be playing it until it did indeed seem to be a bad idea to draw my gameboy out when I was in high school or with friends as it seemed like kiddie stuff.
I fit the 20-25 age group but now it is cool again to play. People don't give a fuck. Many times they're more interested in what video game you're playing so they can check it out also. Video games have become so commonplace that seeing the new professional, shiny, and slick gbasp in silver makes me look godly. I would think that buying a $300 phone just to play some games seems like a bad idea imho.
I could just imagine my friends say "WTF? you have a gameboy for portable games and its cheaper. You idiot.. you got fucking ripped off".
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.
Maybe for you, but I'm 25 right now, and myself and all my friends both work in the game industry, and carry our gameboys everywhere. I don't see that changing any time soon. So theoretically, the habit will grow with the gamer. Maybe not many 30 year olds right *now* have gameboys, because maybe that "generation" of individuals looks upon it differently, but the age group that I occupy grew up with this stuff. It's part of life, we do it every day, it's our entertainment. When we're 30 years old, that's not going to change.
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.
They obviously haven't hung out with anyone at Slashdot on a Friday night.
And if their target market is 20-25, I doubt their ad-campaign is going to be very productive.
"Dude! I need to get an NGage so I can be bitchin!!"
Kudos to you, my good man.
"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." ... because a crack team of nokia ninjas will emerge from the shadows and beat you down (??!)
BEWARE THE NOKIA NINJAS
As long as phones and wireless devices are frowned upon on airplanes a combo device will not work well for the frequent traveller.
it doesn't matter if it includes a "turn radio off" feature. flight attendants can't be expected to understand that or be able to actually verify/believe it.
Gabe of Penny Arcade said it best on June 11th. He talks more about how much the device sucks, but specifically about the trash talk he says this, "Your second mistake was in allowing Mr. Raiskinen to ever open his fucking mouth in public. His statement is so absurd that it borders on the humorous. In fact if I were not quite certain that he was serious I would think it was a joke. Not a good idea to take out a game boy in a public place? Does this man even live on this planet? Did he make these comments from inside some kind of protective bubble orbiting the earth, insulated from the day to day happenings of itâ(TM)s inhabitants? If I am out with my buddies on a Friday night and we are waiting in line for a movie or some other event I can guarantee that Game Boys will come out. Not one of my friends is without a GBA. They are practically a necessity at this point. Like bread or water. It is the poor young man still playing snake on his cell phone in the airport that gets the pitting look from our group.
We even strung our link cables across the seats in the airplane on our way to E3 in order to partake in some four player Puyo Pop. Whereas airline regulations will not even allow me to turn on your masterfully designed game system while anywhere near a fucking airplane much less play a game to pass the time. Oh and speaking of great design, having to remove the battery in order to change gamesâ¦brilliant. "
This fits my own sentiments dead on. Almost all of my friends have SPs and you better bet we will pull them out when we are sitting waiting for a table or a movie to start. That is the beauty of my SP, I can play high quality games where ever I happen to be. So I can have a social life without having to sacrifice my gaming completely. I was interested in checking out the N-Gage, but now I feel that out of principle of not contributing to its success I won't. I am your target demo graphic, young geek male with loads of disposable income. Way to go Nokia.
I went to see the Matrix opening weekend, and I counted 5 GBA's in the audience while we waited for the show to start. Since this was a rated R movie, it was mainly comprised of the demographic that Mr. Raiskinen says would be too embarassed to use a GameBoy. So, based on my experience, he's pretty wrong. But I'm not the guy who's trying to sell crappy cell phone/video game thingies.
Don't forget that Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.
1. Come out with a new portable video game system.
2. Insult potential customers
3. ????
4. Profit!!!
Actually, after that comment, I will never buy this poor waste of landfill space!
What, me Tweet?
I visited n-gage.com, but couldn't find the pages with the game screenshots.
Could you help me find them? Thank you.
I am very excited about the names of the forthcoming titles. As many as two or three of them I could not recognize from my gamestop GBA section. I am sure they will be excellent, and even the games that do exist for the gameboy will be much better for the n-gage.
P.S. Last week I saw a really hot chick and I think I might have had a chance with her, but she saw my gameboy SP and ran away. If possible, can you send me an early copy of the n-gage or even a mockup so that I can score the next time I see her?
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."
Last Friday night, at 2Fast2Furious (I'm in a war of attrition with a friend to drag each other to the worst possible movie), I pulled a platinum SP out of my pocket and played (original GB) Mario in the cinema, waiting for the movie to start. All the little kiddies playing centipede on their cell phones all leant over to watch, as did the older people on a retro kick.
Granted, I've been 26 for two months now, so I'm clearly passed it.
GameBoys have a level of retro cool that completely transcends just about any other retro fad. They also have a stupidly large library of some of the most simply playable games ever. I'd choose to be seen playing one of those things over the "Please look at me, I desperately need to be cool by sticking flashing LED battery packs on my cell phone" alternative - be it Friday night or any other time.
Yeah, I wonder Why there are no screen shots, oh no I don't, I know why, it's because it's going to be pants.
..and lastly...
Actually from these screen shots it looks half reasonable, but:
1) I bet it's not that good in reality.
2) Slagging of GBA SP owners by suggesting they are uncool 10 year olds is market suicide (have they not heard of the 'GBA:SP - For Men' campaign all over London?)
3) You take the battery out to change games? *boggle*
4) Looks like a brick, and I can't see it being comfortable.
5) It's been hyped for over 6 months, but they still have no actual in game screen shots on the web site.
6) They plan to unthroan the Gameboy SP how? With magic pixie dust?
If the Atari Lynx and the Sega Game Gear couldn't do it, this phone doesn't have a chance (the only advantage it has is wireless play and we know that GBA BlueTooth adapters are en route).
Nintendo may have screwed up their last two consoles (N64 - pants, GC - good, not enough games) and the GBA (backlight) but with the GBA:SP they have an excellent system with a huge back catalog of games, and one that is capeable of running quality SNES and Megadrive conversions. I don't even see Sony beating them now (not after how big they've said the screen is going to be).
I wish they would make offical blank ROM carts though, carrying games is a pain and they are soo cool. I'd love to be able to pay and download games via the net (getting hold of popular carts like SF:Turbo and Golden Sun:LA can be a pain as every man and his dog want's to get them it seems).
"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." Uh, yeah but pulling out a big, goofy looking phone and playing it is?Gameboy has become a common sight among 20-25 year olds and beyond. Hell, I'm 32 and I play my GBA every day during breaks at work and the only response I get is, "What game is that? Cool!"I take it to baseball games to play between innings or when the game is getting ugly (and living in San Diego I get to see my fair share of ugly baseball games). Again, not a shameful or mocking look to be had.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws. -Plato
"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."
I must say, Scandanavia is the last place I'd expect Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf to pop back up...
I'm 27 and I play my SP in public. I'm not the only one. I see other adults playing them regularly on the subway.
You should check out Nintendo's campaign in Europe. Young attractive couples half naked in bed playing gameboy. (possibly not safe for work)
the cosmos in 20 words or less: thumbuki.com
Actually, no, I don't read Penny Arcade. I personally can't stand their style of humor. However, feel free to mod my post down.
When I was at E3 and actually asked them "how do you change the games?" they, very reluctantly, told me. Hence why I was able to make this post. Considering that this is "public" knowledge, as long as you know to ask, I am not surprised that other sources have also used the information.
Thanks for playing!
Gamesindustry.biz also wrote a nice little article about the pros and cons of the N-Gage at first sight.. Check it out here.
This should be a good news to the Slashdot community.
Nokia provide free development kits for their mobile phones (have a look at developer.nokia.com). OK, it may be just java (not C++), but for people programming for fun, this is more than you will ever get from Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft/Xbox, who require you to go through a certification process (impossible for an individual).
From their web page:
Nokia N-Gageâ game deck supports two different game styles: downloadable titles and rich games distributed on MMC cards. Downloadable titles for Nokia N-Gage game deck are developed in Javaâ MIDP in the same way and with the same tools used to develop downloadable games for any other Series 60 Platform device. Our Step by Step Guide to mobile game development will get you started. You do not require authorization to develop downloadable games for any Series 60 Platform device.