N-Gage Endures As First-Party Games Readied

Thanks to GamesAreFun for its round-up of updated news relating to Nokia's N-Gage 'mobile game deck'. According to the piece: "Inconsistent sales in some areas have prompted GameStop to shift their [U.S.-based] N-Gage inventory; while the N-Gage is being pulled from 450 GameStop locations, this inventory will be moved to locations where sales have been stronger for Nokia's unit." However, it seems Nokia "remains positive about their future in the game industry", and Nokia's Ilkka Raiskinen argues: "We are getting invaluable feedback... Our hardware cycles are different to what the games business is used to and our strategy is clearly to have more devices." This has led some to believe more N-Gage-like hardware may debut soon, and in the interim, GameSpy has previews of Ashen and of Operation Shadow, two original, first-party published N-Gage titles.

Comments

there's a rumour..

[Anonymous Coward]

That there will be a cheaper n-gage like device with hotswappable mmc slot, this cheaper model would lack the mp3&fm radio functionality(of course you would be able to play mp3's with some symbian app, the thing is that they can only play at 16khz or so, while the dedicated mp3 chip can play at the normal 44khz).

Now, this more than just a rumour - they have that thing in the works, I can see few big Nokia logos from the window of my apartment and there's lots of information floating around.

Personally I like my n-gage, got a nice big mmc for it and all the games copied on it so no need to change the mmc ever and opera rocks on it(unlike on memory constrained 3650 and 7650).

AC for obvious reasons(I'm applying for work at Nokia..). oh and if n-gage had a camera it would be MORE succesful in my consumer group at least, I know few people who don't want to switch from 7650 to it because it doesn't have one.

anyways, the cycles of phones are much shorter than the cycles of nintendo has with gameboys for sure.

Target

[nicksthings]

Not only has Gamestop "shifted" it's N-Gage inventory, but Target stores have apparently stopped selling N-Gage units altogether. Or at least they will be (I haven't been to a Target since I was given this info). Word is all that stuff will be going back to Nokia on their dime. Sounds expensive.

Wait, I'm confused

[revolvement]

"Inconsistent sales in some areas have prompted GameStop to shift their [U.S.-based] N-Gage inventory; while the N-Gage is being pulled from 450 GameStop locations, this inventory will be moved to locations where sales have been stronger for Nokia's unit." So there's a Gamestop in "Non-existant Land" now? Is it across the street from the water-fueled hovercar dealer?

Re:Is N-Gage 2/Plus/Pro/Whatever around the corner

[real_smiff]

Well, it seems like a reason not to buy n-gage.

I mean i'm no mobile 'phone expert but i know something about games consoles: rapid replacement turns customers off (i think? or do you like progress?). maybe there aren't enough people buying n-nage 1 for it to matter. 5 year cycles are quite common for games consoles.. for good reasons, such as developers getting to grips with it. this seems like a reason not to try to combine mobile phones with them frankly.. who has a 'phone for 5 years? And if you change the hardware every 2 years, are you ever going to get any good games? I don't know, i'm just a believer in having one device for each job and doing it well.

No thanks

[Winterblink]

From what I'm hearing from people I know who have them, it's a device that tries to be a lot of things and does none of them well. It's actually a very good idea really, given the penchant of vendors now to cram as many devices into a single unit as they can and the obvious consumer acceptance of the practice.

Personally I'm one of those types that will carry around four things if each of them does what they do well. My cell phone's great, I have an iPod for music, and a GBA-sp for gaming. The biggest problem with the n-gage I can see is a total rush to market. Had Nokia actually pulled their crap together and worked on a device that wasn't such a hack job they might have had a worthwhile gadget to buy.

If N-Gage Gets Replaced....

[cableshaft]

I don't really care. I'm digging mine. I haven't owned a portable device I could develop games for since the TI-86. It feels like junior high all over again :). And this time I can play NES and Arcade games too, while I'm learning how to develop for the device.