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Mame on the Nokia N-Gage
wraggster writes "The Nokia N-Gage has now joined the club of consoles for whom the excellent MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) was ported to. Staffan Ulfberg has ported EMame over to the N-Gage - the emulator supports a mass of games."
You guys bashing the N-Gage are missing the point. I have a Nokia Series 60 3650 phone. It's based on the same Symbian OS that the N-Gage uses. I can use this on my phone. The 3650 is very widely deployed in the US and Europe. This is a great thing not just for the N-Gage folks, but regular guys like me who happen to own one of the Series 60 phones.
I can't wait to try it. My phone has a 128mb MMC that can store a ton of games. Should be a lot of fun.
Did you miss the article? Thanks to this port of MAME, there are now many good games for N-Gage! :)
Besides, what games for a dinky little screen like the N-Gage's would anyone want other than Tetris? Well, maybe Pac-Man.
I find it amusing the 'screenshots' on this project page aren't even FROM an N-Gage.
It is the only tax-deductible gaming system.
Seriously... in European high-tax countries this means that the state gives a discount of 40-50% on the item (plus VAT back!).
Even grown men like to play games now and then. And the N-Gage is surprisingly snappy, not like playing Java games on other GSMs, which is slow and boring.
MAME on N-Gage is a great addition, Nokia should try to license these arcade games since many of their potential clients (men aged 30+) are probably more familiar with some of them than with the "real" games actually available on the thing.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Actually it's not, I can tell you've never been near one for at least three reasons:
I have to disagree, it's still dead on arrival for one main reason: changing games.
Those three positives you mentioned (and bluetooth is a big one, in my opinion) don't outweigh the fact that to change games on an N-Gage, you have to do the following:
1) Turn the unit off (which means, turn your *phone* off).
2) Flip it over, and remove the battery cover & battery.
3) Take out the very tiny game chip, replace it with a new game.
4) Replace battery & battery cover.
5) Turn unit back on, wait for system to load, go to the right menu, and then start your game.
Compare this to a GBA, where the steps are turning it off, removing the game cart, putting in a new one, and turning it back on. Especially compare this to a GBA if you're on a train, bus, streetcar, or any other form of public transit. Try easily changing a game on the N-Gage while crammed into a seat on a subway.
This flaw in their design absolutely kills any of the positives of the system, and makes it, at least to me and many other people, D.O.A. Not to mention that I personally really don't want to turn off my phone when I swap games.
Actually, Nokia is promoting the use of MAME on its N-Gage site.
-Russ
Me