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N-Gage - Branding, Image, Follow-Up Possibilities
Thanks to Costik.com for its in-depth discussion of the Nokia N-Gage's advantages and disadvantages, a post sparked by Scott Miller's weblog post on the same subject, in which the 3D Realms founder argues "Nokia means cell phones to consumers. So, when Nokia jumps into the games market, it doesn't make sense to people", and concludes: "Nokia needs to create a separate company to handle the N-Gage. The 'Nokia' name should never be associated with this device, much like the Toyota name is not associated with Lexus." Greg Costikyan's reply counters: "Launching N-Gage as a Nokia device wasn't a bad idea; the flaws of the device were, however", and ends: "I personally would not be surprised if, two or three years from now, Nokia decides to give it another go, with a new device."
So next time Nokia go out and talk to your target audience some more. Go to a few malls or something and talk to some people buying games. Go to an arcade or two. Find out where the gamers are and ask them what they think. Don't just assume what we will and won't like. So far you aren't doing so good at that.
"Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero
Was Sony ever considered a gaming company before they released the Playstation?
Too many zeros, not enough ones
Of everyone I've ever known who has had any kind of handheld gaming device, I honestly can't say I've ever heard even one person say, "You know, I really wish I could make phone calls on this, too."
Feeping creaturism.
I've gotta go with choice B here - the fact that it said Nokia on it was not a problem (Any more than the fact that the Playstation said Sony on it, and Sony was known as a maker of Walkmen).
The problem was that it had a crappy display, crappy controls, and you had to take the battery out to change the games.
They could have released that under any brand name, and it would have bombed.
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If you've ever held one of these in your hands, you know what I'm talking about. The buttons are the same plastic normally used for cell phone keypads, which is too slick/hard for comfortable gaming. Using the phone keypad for fire buttons etc. meant that the buttons weren't located where you'd intuitively want them, and also, the buttons touch their neighbors rather than being separated by empty space (as they are in every other game controller I can think of.)
And who was dumb enough to think that people would be willing to take out the battery to switch cartridges?
Did they even think about any of this before they launched? What about user focus groups? It's hard to believe that no one in the company thought about these issues...which makes me think that at some point some Nokia employee said to himself "Damn, this thing is going to flop...but it's too late to turn back now!"
Honestly, when I got my hands on it, I thought the performance of the N-Gage from a framerate/resolution standpoint was perfectly acceptable, but the HCI issues were so poorly addressed that the device wound up just pissing me off. (Apparently I'm not alone.)
I was considering a humourous post about how we'd need something new to laugh about in a few years, but I'll be serious.
I don't care that it says Nokia. I don't care that it is a cell phone. I care that it's price is more than double a Game Boy SP. I care that it's execution was poorly thought out (see: removing the battery to change games; looking like a taco while talking). And the game selection: nothing to write home about. If Nokia wants to give it another go, more power to them and best of luck. Competition is a good thing, mayhaps next time they'll do a better job.
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The mistake that Nokia made is that they tried to market it as a "cell phone". Is the N-Gage a cell-phone with a lot of add-ons or is it a handheld device that happens to make and receive phone calls?
That's the problem that cell-phone companies are creating for themselves. They think that adding-on features to a cell-phone means it's going to be sold as a cell-phone. Nope. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you make a gaming device, you've got to design, implement, market and sell a gaming device. A "cell-phone" feature is just an add-on that a consumer can optionally activate.
I think in the end a lot of diverse companies (Sony, Nintendo, Philips, etc..) are going to come up with random gadgets that do diverse things and - oh - will happen to have a "cell-phone" add on. Nokia, Sony Ericcson, etc. will take on a role similar to Duracell's...
Yuioup
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't people consider the Playstation 2 to have a pretty weak launch, without enough compelling games? People bought it for the promise of coming games, belief in the brand, and a secondary feature - DVD playback.
...
But then, as someone commented about the time the first Playstation came out, nobody would say the competition put up much of a fight or had stronger launches when they did launch. It's all relative I suppose
The N-Gage would have been a flop whatever name was written on it, because it's a fatally flawed product.
The Lexus comparison is inappropriate. The reason Toyota created a different brand name for Lexus is because the knew there would be consumer resistance among executive car buyers to a very expensive Toyota, no matter how good it was. As the failure of the Volkswagen Phaeton shows, they were right.
The N-Gage isn't a premium product aimed at stuck-in-their-ways 50+ executives who are being asked to spend 6 months income in one go, it's a phone aimed at kids, so sticking a (formerly) respected phone company name on it is entirely appropriate.
Having said that, there *is* a really good reason the phone should not have had Nokia written on it that the article seems to have completely missed - there are a whole generation of kids growing up with 'Nokia = embarassingly bad design' lodged in their heads.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
"...in which the 3D Realms founder argues "Nokia means cell phones to consumers. So, when Nokia jumps into the games market, it doesn't make sense to people"
Pretty lame argument. If anything, the Nokia brand helped N-Gage. The problems they have with that machine have nothing to do with the name on the package. They have everything to do with it performing poorly as a cell phone and a game machine. A no-name company could easily wipe the floor with them in this space.
Don't get me wrong, branding can help. (It can also detract.) But slapping the name Nintendo on this machine wouldn't have done it a lick of good.
They should, instead, pursue the N-Gage SP.
"Derp de derp."
Sorry I did not have time to read the article, but here is my view on the name issue:
Sony is a company that uses the same name on all it's product, indicating quality, with the exception of products aimed at the low-price market, which it carries under a different brand.
A name brings the advantage of association, with quality, class, price, etc. A new name lacks this and thus already deals with a disadvantage.
Why did N-Gage fail? My view only here and having only see the device, I can only say look, feel, quality, price and game-assortment. These are values, which I associate with a game console. If N-Gage failed, it was most likely because the product did not perform, not because it carried the Nokia-name.
In retrospect, it is easy to say "hey, the product failed. Should have never carried the Nokia-name..." It's not a black & white issue however. The name does hold value, but only as long as the product does too. IMO Nokia blew it in that department.
My 2 cents...
I have played on the N-Gage for a while now and find it perfect. Side talking? Use the friggin Bluetooth adapter since you are required to have one in the car while driving anyway....
Changing games? Remember that it supports HUNDREDS of java based games for the Symbian OS. I personally run South Park on mine through Real Player.
You aren't using it to the fullest advantages and yet you sell it short. Screen too small? I love the size of the screen.
Everything you have all mentioned is your opinions. The system has not failed. It was not even in volume enough at introduction to fill the demand.
So please open your minds. It may not suit your needs, but I enjoy using it to sneak in entertaining games at work on the small screen that can easily be hidden. I love the clarity of the games for it since they are crisp and clean.
Keep your Gameboy SP, for I am willing to use my N-Gage to eliminate the amount of items I carry around from 3 to 2 and with a good comfortable phone that works well with bluetooth even if it is in the glove box of my car and I am driving.
Tried playing an NGage in the store, a local Game Stop. The device was too complicated to figure out in the ten minutes I had. Had a small screen and the options were hard to set. Many buttons. Looked and worked more like an all-in-one remote than a handlheld game console.
They could have solved my issues by setting up some sort of kiosk where I can try the unit out completely and ask questions.
If I can't figure out a toy in under ten minutes, I'd better be able to program for it later on. Especially when the device costs > $100 and has monthly service fees.
Freedom is trouble :)
Here's to losing my Karma Bonus again....
I'd go so far as to say that the PlayStation also had a weak launch. Can you remember any of the launch titles? Wipeout wasn't a launch title - it came out almost a year afterward. Same with Resident Evil, and Crash Bandicoot. The only launch title I can recall offhand in Intelligent Qube...and that's hardly a great way to kick things off. The original Twisted Metal might have also been there, but I really can't recall.
Games wise, the PS2 had the weakest launch I can remember. Way weaker than N64, Dreamcast, GCN.. even worse than the XBox!. The only console that comes close is the original Playstation. However, the PS2 launch can be considered a success overall due to the incredible amout of hype that Sony generated. The press just loved the PS2, and with so much publicity going on, almost every single third party publisher knew that they had to jump into the PS2 bandwagon.
Compare that to, let's say, the GCN launch. The GCN specs seemed lackluster, the press hated the handle, and the console was originally shown in purple! Nintendo failed to get the attention of most gamers and third party developers. It was just a question of image, that made Nintendo fail being the best selling console of this generation.
The N-Gage managed to get bad press from both the mainstream and the videogame media. It's pretty simple: If nobody wants the product, the product flops. The PS2 was bought by people that wanted a cheap DVD player and some crazy early adopters, the GCN has the loyal Nintendo fan base, but Nokia had nothing. I have no idea of why anybody thought that the N-Gage would sell.
In Japan Lexus models are sold as Toyotas. It is for us dumb Americans who think a fancy name is worth a much higher price. Why else would a car manufacturer with the worst reliability record sell for the most i.e Mercedes. Even the Germans prefer Chryslers over em.
Now put down the crack pipe and try to get a clue.
Gameboy rules the market. Over the years, many companies have made handheld systems. Not one has succseded in dethroning the gameboy in 15 years. Nintendo didn't make any major changes to the orignal design untill the gameboy advanced, over 10 years after the original gameboy was released. Nintendo ownes the handheld market, plain and simple.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-08 -22&res=l 2 -10&res=l.
and, in a somewhat unrelated way,
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-0
It wasn't the branding. It was the fact that Nokia chose to combine bad marketing with a bad product. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if Tycho and Gabe had something to do with it, either. Gaming culture in general backlashed against the N-Gage and that turned it into a non-product. And who wants to hold something shaped like a taco to their ear, anyway?
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
Remember: The old adage "fight fire with fire" does not apply to non-metaphorical fires.
I love your sig. =)
Accept for Microsoft. If M$ released it...there would be city block long lines around every store. :-)