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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.
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.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
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...
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
So those of us who can't choose between creationism and darwinism now have another choice: The universe was created in 1996.
Free as in mason.
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!
I beg to differ: Samus (of the Metroid game series) has been around a lot longer than this goofball of a videogame heroine.
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.
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.
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.