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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."
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.
From what I've seen it's a very capable console with good 3d capability and some good games. The addition of bluetooth for wireless play and a web browser almost makes me want to purchase one.
But the fact that you will look like a tit using an ngage as a mobile phone just puts me off. and the fact that the ngage can't be purchased without a mobile phone contract stops me from just using it as a console.
So I agree, complete lack of market research has lead to the downfall of this product. Nothing to do with being associated with Nokia.
The Romans didn't find algebra very challenging, because X was always 10
You realize there's no actual 3d hardware in the ngage, right? That's all software rendering.
No, but then they released quality hardware with fun games with very little hype. Dropped in our laps like a fun, new toy... so sneaky.
It also helped that the only competition at the time was a disappointing Sega Saturn. By the time they got their act together it was too late.
It's a series60 handphone that happens to have a 8 way pad. that's what it is in reality, from specs point of perspective, and from functionality point of perspective as well. as such it's not bad(granted, it is not for midgets either). I don't believe the development costs were that high for the thing(It doesn't have anything 'new' actually) nor will they be bleeding dry from developing "ngage2" or whatever model will they add to their line soon enough.
is your pc sold as a gaming device, was the ibm pc's of 1980's sold as such? not really. does it make sense to make games for that pc of yours? yep.
the biggest mistake I think they made? they should have had 8 way pads and the same amount of memory on all of their s60 devices(3660/3650 has significantly less ram) and made the 'n-gage only' games to work on them too(without crackin).
besides than all this, nokia had a pretty good year last year, they barely felt the n-gage marketing costs.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
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.
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.
"With a PC, both the processors are working to the same goal, but to the GBA-DS, each one will be working to do different things, one to each screen... I'm so scared. :-)"
You sure it's all that different? You've got multiple threads performing different tasks, and they often have to communicate with each other. Seems like you'd have a similar problem on a dual proc PC.
"It would be nice to see one of the developers who have looked at it (they must exist) to get a perspective one way or another."
I imagine their response would be like "Well, when you have a map on one screen and the action on the other, it's a piece of cake. But when you try to make one the front view and the other the rear view.. well then you run into mischief."
"In the meantime the GP32 is (still!) looking like a damn tasty treat."
Any interesting titles on it?
"Derp de derp."