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N-Gage - Branding, Image, Follow-Up Possibilities

Posted by simoniker on from the not-entirely-flameworthy dept.

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."

3 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. My Suggestion... by BigDork1001 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    My suggestion would be that before they release their next device they listen to their audience a bit more. There's no way they could have with the N-Gage. Or if they did go out and talk with the average gamer who would be buying their product the need to talk to a lot more people. This thing was getting bad reviews from the first I'd heard of it. All the flaws were stuff that could would should have been pointed out very early on and could possibly have been fixed or just scrapped all together and they start over.

    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
  2. And Sony? by Rellik66 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Was Sony ever considered a gaming company before they released the Playstation?

    --

    Too many zeros, not enough ones

  3. Sometimes maybe convergence isn't a good thing. by dbirchall · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It reminds me of Steve Jobs's comments on "media center" PC's - something about when you're watching TV, you wanna be across the room...

    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.