N-Gage Launch Hardware/Software Probed

Thanks to IGN Wireless for giving hands-on impressions of the hardware and some of the leading software titles for Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck' phone/handheld console, which will be released on October 7th. Games checked out include Sonic-N, which is "...a port of Sonic Advance released on the Game Boy Advance back in January 2002... [and] identical in graphics, gameplay and level structure to the GBA edition", as well as Tomb Raider, which they say has "very impressive visuals", though "navigating the environments takes some finesse", and Super Monkey Ball, of which they claim: "As well as the GBA pulled it off, the N-Gage can do it better" - the lack of brand new, non-converted launch titles does seem a little disappointing, though.

Comments

Great, the N-Gage has three good games.

[Anonymous Coward]

Great, the N-Gage has three good games coming out! Let's try them out.
*remove battery*
*put in Sonic*

*remove battery*
*put in Tomb Raider*

*remove battery*
*put in Monkey Ball*

FUN!

Re:Great, the N-Gage has three good games.

[Anonymous Coward]

THat's ok... given the life of a nokia battery in their phones, you'll have to buy a new battery anyway for every game you want to play. Not to mention the relative inability for them to maintain a stable connection to the battery leads over time.

Things wrong with N-Gage:
1. Already a sub-par fone is made even more mediocre.
2. You have to hold the thing sideways when talking on it
3. A whole face of buttons, you get a digital pad and 2 buttons for games, wth!
4. 3-d Graphics = battery drain
5. Fully 3D graphics on a screen barely able to draw one poly = waste of space
6. 6 hour battery life? WHEN NOT USING IT AS A FONE?!??!
7. No easy access to games for changes. It's hard enough changing a game when in a moving vehicle (such as plane train or auto) with limited flat space to put everything, now you have to juggle a battery with the games and system (in addition to a probable battery door).
8. Hey, you get to take the battery off every time you change the game, at least you won't get any important fone calls in that time!?!

I could probably think of a few more things wrong with the system. The only cool thing I've seen going for it is the cool cases for the games. Hello Nintendo, wake up. Stop using those silly desctructible cardboard boxes from the ancient days of cartridge gaming. Even if we don't carry them around with us, they would be nice to house our games when not playing and transporting them around.

Re:Great, the N-Gage has three good games.

[StocDred]

I seriously question playing Sonic on a small vertical screen. Seems like it will tough to anticipate jumps and such when he starts movin' fast. Same problem with Tomb Raider. These games have no peripheral vision.

Give It A Chance

[Gothic_Walrus]

So far, the backlash against the N-Gage has not been a pretty thing. On most of the video game sites I frequent, the N-Gage has been written off as a failure. Seeing as most people haven't seen it in action yet, that's not a good thing.

While it would be nice to see the N-Gage succeed (and give Nintendo some serious competition for the first time in years), I honestly don't think it will be able to. The attitudes that most of my gamer friends have about the N-Gage are set, and facing strong negativity from the start is never a good thing. Beyond that, the unit's initial price is too high for most of the people I've talked to. And the fact that you have to remove the battery to switch games or memory cards is a huge strike against it. I'd love to see the N-Gage succeed, but I believe it's been doomed to fail...much like the Dreamcast was.

Not cool at all...

[Tadrith]

I had a chance to play this at E3.

The system is extremely unimpressive. The graphics are squished on a screen that's much too small for the kinds of games they are trying to pull off. Because the system is also a phone, the buttons are not located in any sort of comfortable position for playing games. I asked one of the reps at their booth, and they didn't seem to have many games coming up, either.

This is an idea that could have been big, but there's simply a huge lack of effort, and I think Nokia's inexperience in the gaming market doesn't help either.

I dunno..

[NanoGator]

... about that tall screen. I'm really curious how one would play a fighting game that way.

Nice Sim ;)

[BrookHarty]

Nice review, but he shouldnt show his sim card numbers in the screenshots. ;)

The N-Gage is just going to join all the others!

[Cap-America]

Nintendo has gone up agenst; Atari Lynx, Sega GameGear, Sega Nomad, Neo-Geo Pocket, Wonder Swan, Wonder Swan Crystal, Wonder Swan Color, Turbo Express, Game.com, and Tiger Handhelds Games. and is still #1 And they were all much better products then the N-Gage too (during the time).

Heres something I did this Just for fun, For $300 the price of an N-Gage (without any games, or Celphone activation, or monthly Celphone fee or anything else I'm going to need to buy in order to uses this piece of junk) I can get

GBA SP ($100)
Celphone ($50 "Nokia 2000 min Prepaid Celphone")
MP3 Player ($100)
Sonic Advances and Super Monkey Ball ($50)

I think I'll stick to the GBA and a normal Celphone and MP3 Player.

also a s60 device..

[gl4ss]

you shouldn't forget that while it is a handheld gaming system it also is a series60 phone running symbian 6.1, so you can use it for other things than gaming too, like web browsing and irc(and other im services) for example.

-

Bah!

[neostorm]

Just you all wait for the Nokia N-Gage SP!

Just kidding...