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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.
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
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?
"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...