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.

Comments

banana taco pizza frisbee

[HeroicAutobot]

I'm starting a collection of descriptions of what it looks like to use the N-Gage as a cell phone.

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.

PA comics say it best

[Trillian_1138]

See subject.

They've covered the N-Gage in detail, making fun of it since it was announced, and this pretty much sums their position:

"I really wish that these media outlets would stop pretending the N-Gage is a real game system."

(that quote was in response to this article about the worldwide N-Gage launch and the 'parties' at different stores)

They also have this insightful comic.

-Trillian

They're not going to succeed because ...

[snowtigger]

... they have missed the most important feature: Changing game

Changing a game in a GameBoy is a matter of changing cartridge. Sounds easy and natural, doesn't it ?

Changing game on a N-Gage a means removing a cover, opening the phone and changing some internal component. I think you even need a screwdriver to do this.

People have been complaining about this from the start and Nokia still doesn't seem to care. Good work ...

Re:They're not going to succeed because ...

[Rimbo]

"I think you even need a screwdriver to do this."

My God.

You haven't actually seen an N-Gage yet, have ya?

I'd heard all of the bad comments, all of the "What the f were they thinking?"s, and then I actually went down to EB the other day and asked about it, and the guy showed me how to change a game.

Yes -- you have to remove the back cover and the battery. These are two steps you don't have to do with a GBA. But they take all of 1.78243 seconds to accomplish. Really. Snap, pop.

You still have to remove/replace the cartridge and turn it on/off. But then, you have to do that with a GBA, too!

It is almost, but not quite, as complicated as wiping your ass.

Screwdrivers, indeed!

Why They Cannot Fail

[jvmatthe]

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.