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Nokia's N-Gage Officially Launches
Thanks to Reuters for their article summarizing the "mixed response" to today's launch of Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck'/phone hybrid. According to the piece, "The Finnish firm said it aims to sell between six and nine million units between now and the end of 2004 as it seeks to break the grip on a market dominated by Nintendo's GameBoy", but many are less convinced, with CNN Money suggesting "N-Gage might sound great on paper, but it's a disaster in execution", an earlier San Jose Mercury News piece criticizing the N-Gage as "...a hopeless muddle - lacking in quality games, too confusing in regards to service plans, too expensive and crippled by a series of stunningly bad design decisions", and GameSpy advocating a "wait and see" approach, although they also have the inevitable contrarian view.
So far I've got " a slice of pizza sticking out of your head", "a taco surgically grafted to your head", and "like talking into a banana or Frisbee."
Any others?
You can see a picture of someone using the phone here.
I'm looking for a HEPA media filter for my TV. I'm alergic to reality shows.
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
I did. It sounded neat. It looked neat. It seemed like it was going be a lot of neat toys in one little package.
Instead, it's a covert plot to make gamers look like jackasses if they dare use this as a phone in public places or teach them there's better ways to spend $30 on a flimsy little memory card you're more likely to lose than figure out how to insert it in.
Jesus, this isn't Nokia - I think my dad might be behind this.
The Finnish firm said it aims to sell between six and nine million units
OK, who is the wise guy that inserted "millions" into their press release?
Some of you are forgetting who we're talking about here. This is a company that's got the money and technical resources to burn on this initial step into the gaming market.
They're going to shower developers with hardware, software, and cash bonuses to bring truly revolutionary games to their platform.
They're going to snap up all kinds of free talent to put together daring and innovative first-party games.
Their integrated online gaming is second-to-none, with the kind of features that Playstation2 and GameCube players only dream of.
And they've got a terribly impressive hardware platform, on which they're probably already building the next generation.
That first step made, they'll crush the competition with the momentum they're gaining every passing week, and then we'll see Sony weeping over poor sales of the Playstation3 and Nintendo having a going-out-of-business sale where they auction off Donkey Kong to the highest bidder.
Yes, just wait. Microsoft and the Xbox cannot be stopped. THEY ARE THE FUTURE OF...
What's that? Nokia, huh? A phone? YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE BATTERY OFF TO CHANGE GAMES?
Sorry, everyone. Wrong thread. Yeah, N-Gage is doomed.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
So Nokia's making model trains now? Is it going to be like the old sport's illustrated shoe phone, except it will be the Nokia train phone?
"I was beginning to think that Nokia offered them some lucrative package in return for pimping their product."
They did. But then GameSpy read the fine print and realized their kickback was a percentage of N-Gage sales.
wait until there are 25 games for it and they'll do that feature. of course, that's given that there will ever be 25 unique games for it.