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The Seven Deadly Sins Of The N-Gage
Decaffeinated Jedi writes "GameSpy has posted an interesting article examining the so-called Seven Deadly Sins of the N-Gage. The 'sins' of Nokia's mobile phone/portable gaming unit cited in the article include problems with inserting and removing games, the less-than-intuitive interface, and the relatively high price. In all fairness, however, GameSpy also looked at the Seven Virtues of the N-Gage in an editorial from December 2003."
Point number seven is just moronic. The PSP? No one can say anything yet about what will come out of it. How about comparing to products that are out there instead of concept designs that don't even have a release date or any game library to speak of (as opposed to the small one of the N-Gage).
And then there's the one complaining about the lack of exclusive titles. GBA I can understand, but PSOne? It's old, it's not portable. I really don't see why it's going hurt N-Gage so much.
The price argument is equally ridiculous. This is a high-end mobile phone *and* a handheld console we're talking about here. What do you expect?
Can we not also give the "taco" thing a rest already? It's a getting-used-to thing, there's no particular reason it should look more stupid than talking to a regular cell phone.
Finally, it's true that the game change method is a little cumbersome, but I'm betting it's been done because the machine just has to be shut off when the game is changed. Just wanted to point that out, doesn't change the fact that it's not too convenient.
The quality of journalism at GameSpy is just horrible. I don't know why I bother reading anything over there anymore.
They complained about the vertical screen format, but they missed a big issue with the thing: the screen is the size of a postage stamp. Half the size of a Game Boy Advance screen, if that.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Perhaps the biggest sin of all was that it's primary audience was portable phone users, and it's secondary audience was gamers. Then they proceded to market it mostly as a gaming system. Given the choice between two identical gaming systems, the cheaper, better looking, and versatile system won--GBA SP.
For phone users, like myself, we've got contracts. I don't even consider a new phone until my contract is fulfilled. So I checked the carriers, and Verizon didn't subscribe. Without breaking my contract, about $125 over the cost of the system, I couldn't use it at all. Add to that the probability that two or three contracts down the lane ALL phones will have portable gaming rivaling N-Gage.
So in summary, they wanted phone users to buy, but marketed to gamers, and they should've known they could only get NEW phone users. What a way to mismatch a product with advertising!
"Let's review. The N-Gage is not a gaming deck, but it is a great phone "
Why then do all the ads and commercials for the piece feature only gaming and no phoning? It is definitely a gaming deck built on what should be a phone.