N-Gage Opts To Give Away Lara, Not Bury Her

Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting a press release announcing Nokia has teamed up with Eidos to give away over 70,000 copies of the N-Gage version of Tomb Raider at this year's Sugar Bowl college football game. An Eidos spokesperson oddly opines: "Lara [Croft] has always been the number one video game heroine, and it's appropriate for her to be present at this year's Sugar Bowl where the national champion will be crowned", and insider suggestions that Nokia are pulling an Atari of sorts, in the face of allegedly limited demand for the N-Gage 'game deck' are, of course, fatuous. Meanwhile, GameSpy weighs in with some reasons to like the N-Gage, still suggesting: "Nokia's game deck has a lot going for it, and is in many ways superior to the system that has dominated the portable gaming market for over a decade: Nintendo's Game Boy (now Game Boy Advance)." Update: 01/02 16:46 GMT by S : According to a L.A Times/TribNet article, Tomb Raider on N-Gage sold around 3,000 copies in October, the last stats available to the reporter.

Comments

Kind of a dumb name.

[AtariAmarok]

They must be running out of good names for these products. When I first heard of N-Gage, I dismissed it as mispelling of something to do with N-guage model railroading. Now I know it is some sort of "cute" variation of the word Engage by way of "N'Sync".

It's not quite as bad, however, as that new line of digital cameras called "Dimage". It makes you think of a combination of "Dim" and "Damage", neither of which sounds particularly good for a digital camera.

N-Gage...

[LordYUK]

I've been to EB games on no less than 10 occasions and tried to play the demo system that they have out(and not the same EB everytime either). Not once have I ever gotten a game to work on the damn thing. Its either stuck in some sort of limbo, or in some weird mode, or just plain off.

Now, the GB SP that they display ALWAYS works, and requires no real thought to demo for 20 seconds.

I dont want a handheld that has to be babysat to work. Chances are, if I'm on my GB, I am out and about, and catching 5 minutes of Mario or Pokemon or something. I dont want 3 of those minutes fumbling with the system trying to get it to work.

Thats what I have a PC gaming rig for... :)

Re:N-Gage...

[gl4ss]

the demo systems use different version of the os apparently(customised so that the users can't fuck it up, while it seems that it has enough quirks to fuck up by itself.). so the demo systems make a crappy job of demoing the system.. which is a shame.

series60 is a great phone-pda-mix-platform, and n-gage is the cheapest series60 phone(with the best placed controls for gaming) and it also has more ram than 3650/3660 making using opera on it more comfortable(3650 doesn't have enough mem to really browse with opera and keep an irc app open, ngage however does). also it makes changing from 3650/7650 to n-gage very easy(as the ui is already familiar as well are the apps available).

red faction sucks balls though, i have to admit.. tony hawk on the other hand is great on n-gage(seems like a direct port of the psx version, I just managed to open roswell, I've managed to rack up quite big amounts of playtime on it during the holidays). mp3 playing isn't a bad extra(and aac/mp3/radio seem to use different chip/parts for audio output from regular audio playing from symbian apps that afaik only can do ~16khz, so mp3's come out at 44khz all the same on n-gage, there's a rumour of sorts that there will be a lite version without the mp3/radio chip soon).

would I carry a gameboy around at all times, so that I'd have it in the bus/car/resteurant? nopes.. but I do carry my phone wherever I go, in it's price range n-gage is just unbeatable at the moment as far as multi use goes(and I got no quarrels about it's sidetalking, it goes quite well against my cheek and the buttons are available even while talking, for volume/etc). with gba you'd need to keep carrying around the charger as well(or use batteries, yuck, in addition to your gsm's charger), around here there are so many people with nokia chargers that if you're going to visit some relatives they will have a charger for nokias.

the original gba was certainly miles worse than ngage is for gaming, the display was just too bad in the original gba(and one can have more opinions than one about the shoulder buttons on sp as well). the result is that theres thousands and thousands of people who have a gba in their drawer but they never use it for anything.

the worst things about n-gage include that you can't supportedly copy multiple games on one cartridge, however that is a _very handy_ thing to do(even if you have to get cracks to do it). few games on one mmc along with several mp3's will keep you entertained a long way.

gba can't possibly offer the things n-gage offers, it can offer you games but nothing more while n-gage offers you opera, irc and hundreds of other apps(sure, these have NO value whatsoever for the 12y boy playing pokemon on his gba but they aren't the intended audience anyways - even though some younger relatives of mine liked rayman 3 quite a bit). these 3rd party apps seem to have been the main selling point among the people I know who have gotten themselfs a n-gage.

always

[LittleBigLui]

Lara [Croft] has always been the number one video game heroine, ...

So those of us who can't choose between creationism and darwinism now have another choice: The universe was created in 1996.

Some Reasons to Like the N-Gage

[StingRayGun]

Some Reasons to Like the N-Gage

1.) It looks like a taco when using it in Cell Phone mode.

2.) You have to take out the batt. to replace games.

3.) Nokia paid us tons of Euros to write this article!*

Hey, there worth so much right now compared to our measly dollar, why not!

Re:Some Reasons to Like the N-Gage

[Anonymous Coward]

3.) Nokia paid us tons of Euros to write this article!

You probably said that as a joke... but I'm looking at www.gamespy.com right now and all I see is a huge black Nokia interstital, then half thier homepage (above the fold) taken up with n-gage branding.

Number one video game heroine? I think not!

[gabraham]

"Lara [Croft] has always been the number one video game heroine, and it's appropriate for her to be present at this year's Sugar Bowl where the national champion will be crowned"

I beg to differ: Samus (of the Metroid game series) has been around a lot longer than this goofball of a videogame heroine.

Re:Number one video game heroine? I think not!

[Fortunato_NC]

Yeah, but it's hard to masturbate when the object of your affection is covered by so much body armor. I think we're all aware of the fact that "number one video game heroine" is industry code for "number one character video game geeks imagine while jerking it".

I guess that the reason people forget about Samus is that the Metroid games were for consoles, hence no, "Nude 'Troid" mods for Metroid.

Of course, someone will prove me wrong and post a link to a modded Metroid where Samus is naked...

Re:Number one video game heroine? I think not!

[Mmm coffee]

Agreed. I don't understand why Croft is held up as a great heroine in gaming when there are so many better female characters out there.

Aran definitely takes the #1 spot. I remember spending countless hours getting lost in Metroid, and when I finally beat it my big bad bounty hunter turned out to be a woman! And this was back in the early days of the NES, which says a lot. Throughout the sequels you wern't thinking "mmm girly", but enjoyed the character as someone who could tear through a room full of enemies in no time flat. Samus isn't a fuck toy, she's a character you respect. (Besides, who would want to screw her? She'll screw you back, and I don't want to know what her screw attack could do to my apartment.)

Another personal favorite is Rydia from Final Fantasy IV. For those who haven't played the game - In the beginning your main character unknowingly kills her single mother and ends up taking her with him on his journey to overthrow the most powerful nation in the world. During the game she grows up and shows an incredible amount of passion and empathy as you watch your party members die off one after another. ("Stop it! I've had enough! They're all dead! Dead! And here we stand bickering amongst ourselves?! Are their deaths for nothing?") She's a very powerful character that makes you fall in love with her emotionally. Plus she has the most powerful black and summon magic in the game, so she is far from a helpless little creature. She can deal out damage with the big boys. ;)

Terra and Celes from FF6 (especially Celes)... Chun-Li from Street Fighter II, Sonya from Mortal Kombat... The list goes on and on of heroines that get your respect as characters who are more than pixels with tits.

But hey, Laura Croft has breasts the size of watermelons so of course she's going to be the one that everybody talks about.

Pity on poor Nokia?

[antin]

Is it just me, or does it seem that the big review sites (IGN, Gamespy and Gamespot) are beginning to pity Nokia just a little and are trying to say something or anything nice about the piece of junk?

I remember IGN slammed the N-Gage after it was shown at E3, and wrote many articles about how badly designed it was, and how useless it was etc... and then a few months later they suddenly wrote an article in its defence, saying that "they aren't sure why everyone is giving it such a hard time" (forgetting that they gave it a harder time than anyone else).

Now Gamespy is doing the same thing. Having said nothing nice about the system prior to release, or at release - they have suddenly written an article in its defence. And look at what they wrote - they say nothing about it having a good design (because it doesn't); or about it having good games (because they suck); or about being able to play it for longer than 2 hours (you cannot); or any of the other things that make a decent system.

I just find it amusing that having witnessed how badly it flopped (as it deserved to) Gamespy and co are trying to soften its fall.

Re:Pity on poor Nokia?

[mrpuffypants]

Take one look at the sites for IGN and gamespy and you'll see exactly why they are being nice to the N-Gage now: ADVERTISING!!!

Nokia's been running ads for the N-Gage pretty heavily on all the major gaming outlets and the money people probably whispered in some editor's ear that pissing off the people that pay for ads is a bad idea. Also, every single 'big' game site launched a N-Gage area on their respective sites. That doesn't just happen for every flash in the pan system or we'd be browsing the Gamespy Phantom section right next to the Xbox reviews. Nokia either twisted some arms or stuffed some wallets to get stuff like that done on a brand-new system that wasn't guaranteed to be huge (like the Xbox launch)

I've begun to rely on what Gabe and Tycho and Penny Arcade say about games. Every single recommendation they've made has been correct (KOTOR and Prince of Persia come to mind). Also, back at E3 they trashed the shitty N-Gage and have been doing so ever since for a good reason: The Nokia N-Gage sucks shit!

Enough Bashing Already

[shagoth]

Ok, I admit it, I own an N-Gage (though I admitted it in another thread already). Sure, it's not the perfect game platform nor a perfect phone. As game platform it's overpriced but for a super featured phone it's cheap. Getting a carrier unlocked GSM phone with the Nokia series 60 platform, full-on GPRS support, bluetooth and expandable memory is going to cost a whole lot more than the $299 retail on the N-Gage. At $199 with 3 games as it's currently priced at Gamestop the damned thing is a bargain even if you never open the games. Oh, did it get mentioned that the device is also an MP3 and AAC player. For those who care it's got an FM radio. More importantly it's got a speakerphone that works pretty well. It's also got support for all the whizzy midi and mp3 ringers you might care to load on it and a color screen for your favorite graphics.

I'll grant that the taco like shape is weird, but it makes the phone wide enough that it can be held between ear and shoulder while fumbling for the headset. I don't know how it's going to shake out, but I think that the N-Gage is one of the most misunderstood products in recent memory, both by consumers and by the manufacturer's marketing department.

The N-Gage is by no means a perfect device but for a fusion device with a few compromises it's not half bad.

Re:Enough Bashing Already

[XellDx]

Well, sure. As a phone it works. As a game system its a joke. And Nokia is trying to sell a game system, not a phone.

In other news...

[Anonymous Coward]

Gamestop announces a sudden influx of 69,975 used copies of Tomb Raider for the N-Gage being traded in at their stores across the country.

I liked it better...

[Ayanami Rei]

in the form factor of the Siemens S60. You know, where the keyguard slides off to one side and becomes two handed, with the screen in the middle. If they took that design, and made it so that it functioned primarily as a phone in the "compact" mode, and as the gaming system, webbrowser/email tool in the "open" mode, that would prompt me to go get one.

It's the monthly fee dammit!

[Mean_Nishka]

With the handheld game market being mostly kids, I am not surprised N-Gage has failed. Who wants to pay a monthly fee for a game machine? Sure you get phone service with it, but it's priced well beyond most mobile phones a parent would purchase for a kid. Not to mention the fact that the kids who do have phones are typically under contract and in 'family share' plans that don't easily allow for cutting a phone loose.

To make matters even more difficult for success: There is no CDMA version available!! Say what you want about CDMA but the two largest carriers with the most customers (Sprint and Verizon) use it. Nokia immediately severed millions of customers because the system won't work on the biggest networks.

Re:It's the monthly fee dammit!

[GregWebb]

* Nokia are a European company
* Europe uses GSM _exclusively_
* The EU has a larger population than the USA and much higher cellphone coverage
* Over here we have 'pay as you go' plans - no monthly fees, just pay for the calls. Sure, the call charges are higher, but it's definitely better for light users and very easy for parents to control what their kids can spend. We also don't have to pay to receive calls.

IMO it's a silly idea because it's a ropey form factor for a console and has a significantly higher cost than a GBA SP and an average kid-spec phone like a Nokia 3310. Doesn't help that you have to remove batteries to change games or that the GBA was already there with a much bigger library, but I reckon the first two would kill it anyway.

True 3D graphics

[chrismcdirty]

Gamespy mentions one reason to like the system is true 3D graphics, while the Gameboy only does isometric.

1. Doesn't the Gameboy have some very primitive true 3D shooters, like Ecks vs. Sever and some other FPS? And Iridion 3D?

2. Who wants true 3D when it is sub-Playstation/N64 quality? Wooo! I can play the original Star Fox in all it's non-textured, 20-polygon glory! [not to say Star Fox wasn't a great game, but the graphics were bad]

And for those of you tired of advertisers stuffing money in pockets for good reviews and editorials, check out Penny Arcade and 1UP.com's editor Ivan Sulic. Gabe and Tycho stick to their guns, and Ivan seems to stick to his, also. When he doesn't like a game, he lets everyone know, even if the game is popular and reviewed well by the sites getting advertising dollars.

Samus Aran

[Scrameustache]

Yeah, but it's hard to masturbate when the object of your affection is covered by so much body armor.

Kinky!
But seriously, in the original 8bit game, if you finished it 3 times (keeping the same password legacy) you got to see her without her armor (green hair, brown bathingsuit...she keeps the gun arm), and then you get to play with her like that.

And in the SuperNes version, if you got a good time/gatherhunt rating, she took off (well, it just waved away) the armor and now wore a sexy black underware-swimsuit thing...

But yeah, Lara was the most "jerked-to" character (not speaking from personal experience mind you : )

As an N-Gage owner...

[Kris_J]

...anyone who doesn't own one can leave their negative comments at home. It's a superb phone and a pretty decent portable platform for game emulation. I bought a web browser for mine a couple of days back, I've got an ssh client for server maintenance on the fly and this afternoon at around 3-ish I'll be watching the Paris-Dakar rally on it. Other highlights include an Ogg Vorbis player that I use to listen to Retro Gaming Radio and to fit all this on the phone, along with commercial, shareware and freeware games and old-school demos, it even supports an application packer, currently scoring me an extra 20-something MB of space between the 4MB built-in and the 128MB MMC card.

The only thing it needs desperately is a Bluetooth keyboard.