N-Gage 2 Pictures Show Evolution Of Handheld?

Roger Ramjet writes "Fan site NGageGaming has reposted a couple of leaked images of what appears to be Nokia's N-Gage 2 phone/gaming handheld hybrid. While the device is similar to the original N-Gage, the keyboard and look has been redesigned, and on the flip side of the phone/gaming device may possibly be space for a camera." Apparently, Nokia "...is expected to have a major press event on April 14 to showcase the upgraded version", and the same fansite is also reporting on the woes of current N-Gage software support, mentioning that "Taito Memories and Marcel Desailly Pro Soccer have both been 'delayed' for N-Gage release."

Comments

Well that looks better

[Snowspinner]

Only, you know, not. Where are the buttons on the right? Am I still using phone buttons?

I don't see any evidence of a game slot. Still removing the battery?

I also don't see any evidence that Nokia has got a clue what they're doing, actually.

Nope, I'm guessing a bust.

A step in the right direction, but...

[pat_trick]

It looks like they put a SD card slot on the lower left of the back (look at the little grey plastic flap) and at least fixed the whole sidetalking thing. But will it be backwards compatable? (my guess is yes).

It'll still come down to whether or not they've got the developers, games, and draw to get the crowd onto their system.

Re:A step in the right direction, but...

[Bri3D]

If you had bothered to read the article, and not just look at the pretty pictures, you would know that it will be backwards compatable.

I don't think it matters anymore...

[Gothic_Walrus]

The N-Gage has been saddled with such a negative reputation that, at this point, I don't think Nokia can do anything to save themselves.

The N-Gage is, for the most part, a joke. People who have them or have used them have a laundry list of complaints about the system. News articles have been anything but positive. Even those gamers who've yet to see or touch an N-Gage still mock it, simply because everyone else does.

Even though it looks like most of the design issues have been fixed, people aren't going to buy it simply because it's an N-Gage.

I'd love to be proven wrong - I'd like to see a competitor for my GBA - but I think that this is doomed to failure because of its predecessor.

Re:I don't think it matters anymore...

[Kris_J]

I own one and I don't have a "laundry list of complaints", just one -- the range of commerical games sucks. Fortunately, the phone is so good at so much other stuff that it doesn't matter. I won't unseat the GBA as a mainstream games machine, but when it comes to emulators and homebrew gaming it's quickly becoming a very popular platform.

Re:I don't think it matters anymore...

[Cody Hatch]

Yeah. At this point, of Nokia really truly wants to be in the game hardware market, they need to drop the name, and ideally shunt the whole idea to some third party - it could even be a subsidiary, but right now, all it takes is the words "Nokia" and "games", and people start snickering.

What they need is a fresh start. Oh, and some decent hardware, of course. :-)

Rugged up?

[Kaali]

By those images i get the feeling that N-Gage2 is a bit rugged up, and that would be an excellent design decision as i'm sure that many children will want a cellphone(at least in finland it seems that _everybody_ has one) with "special" games and you propably know how children treat their "toys". And by those images it seems likely that it still misses shoulder-buttons which is a must feature for any game-controller. Can't see any dedicated buttons for volume adjustment either. Well, only time will tell.

N-Gage usage tracked

[Anonymous Coward]

...I know for a fact that N-Gage usage is tracked to see which users are likely to buy more games.

Does anyone else see a problem with this?

Re:This is an improvement?

[Stormwatch]

> And am I the only one shocked that
> there's such a thing as an "N-Gage
> fan site" out there?

Do you know the difference between "grassroots" and "astroturf"? I would not be surprised if Nokia gives them money. But then again, some people love the weirdest junk...

Confusion, and contradiction

[Gleapsite]

Whilst the hardware is no different that the original N-Gage,

and

so we're gonna take a stab in the dark here and guess that Nokia have upped the specs on N-Gage 2!

So.. uhhh... they didn't change the hardware, yet they upped the specs... so either they overclocked an original NGage, or there is bad reporting going on and they really did upgrade the hardware. can someone make sense of this?

Re:Confusion, and contradiction

[neverkevin]

I think they are talking about the hardware of the phone not the gaming hardware:

"you look in the bottom left of the display you will see "CAMERA", so we're gonna take a stab in the dark here and guess that Nokia have upped the specs on N-Gage 2"

Meaning they added a camera so the ngage 2 will have more features.

Yearly Models v. Bidecade Models

[superultra]

I've laughed at the N-Gage as much as anyone, but I'll say this much for Nokia as opposed to Sony and Nintendo. Nokia, who's a phone maker, is pretty much used to releasing new models almost every year for their cell phone line. Why change this strategy for a video game console? Why wait 5 years for this beast we call the console lifespan cycle to come around to your side again of the gate so you can hop on for another 5?

If Nokia has anything going for it in the console/handheld industry, and I'll admit it doesn't have much at this point, it's that they can put out a new model every year. That's something Nintendo can't quite manage, and Sony keeps pushing their date back. Cellphone manufacturers, on the other hand, are perhaps the best equipped industry in the world to change models and revamp the factories every year for new designs. While I can't say that this design is anywhere near where Nokia needs to be, at least they're making progress incrementally. You can't sidetalk, and it looks like you put the cartridge in the bottom. By the time the PSP actually hits stateside, the N-Gage 4 or 5 or 6 might be something to look into.

Maybe.

Re:Yearly Models v. Bidecade Models

[stickb0y]

Nokia, who's a phone maker, is pretty much used to releasing new models almost every year for their cell phone line. Why change this strategy for a video game console?

... because of compatibility and support issues.

For a basic cellphone (I'm excluding smartphones), users really don't install new software. A typical user just uses the phone out of the box. In this scenario, more models means more choices for the consumer, and the support costs should scale about linearly to the number of models available.

The N-Gage is not targeted for this kind of market. The N-Gage requires games--third-party software titles--that users are responsible for purchasing and installing. Now you have to worry about compatibility:

• Backward compatibility. Are future models of the N-Gage compatible with games made for older models?
• Forward compatibility. Do games made for future models work on older models? Are they totally incompatible or is there a well-designed, easy-to-use infrastructure to degrade gracefully?
• User confusion. If games are not fully compatible in both directions, is it easy for consumers to determine what's compatible with what? Can they easily decide which model to buy? If the consumer is too confused, they might pass on the product entirely.
• Developer confusion. If games are not fully compatible in both directions, is it easy for developers to determine what's compatible with what? Can they easily decide which models to target? If the developers are too confused, they won't write software for the product.
• Support. What kind of commitment is there to providing patches and support to old hardware?

If decide that you do want backwards and forwards compatibility, the testing and support costs can increase geometrically as the number of models increases.

There are some good reasons for consoles to have somewhat long lives: they provide a stable market for consumers and a stable target for developers. Unless they plan things out very carefully (and given some of the design flaws of the first N-Gage, I wouldn't count on Nokia to do that), saturating the market with too many hardware variations could have too many potential pitfalls.

Re:Yearly Models v. Bidecade Models

[MBCook]

I agree (also with what you replied to yourself with). I think, at this point, the best shot they have is to release lots of models of the N-Gage. How do they do this with out pushing consumers off by constant obsolesence?

"With N-Gage Technology." They basically turn ALL (or many) or their phones into "N-Gages". They would all have the same tech specs (screen, processor, memory available to the game) so they all play the exact same games. The differences would be in form factor (one that is a tad harder to play but works better as a phone, one that's the other way, etc), in abilities (one might have built in WiFi, another a camera, etc), and such. Games wouldn't have access to the things that aren't common to all models so it wouldn't matter which phone you had. They are play N-Gage games identically, they are just different. They could even license the N-Gage platform off to other companies if they wanted to. This way instead of buying a $300 cell phone/game console, you would say "Phone Y costs $50 more but includes N-Gage support and there are some games I might want so I'll buy that one." It would be almost like a $50 game console.

I think either this or massive discounts (see my other comment in this story) would be two ways to get the platform off the ground.

Either way the need some killer games or they're dead in the water no matter what they do. I think their platform would be perfect to get ports of PopCap games. They could sell a collection or two. I'd buy 'em if I had an N-Gage, those games are GREAT for killing a few minutes.

Hold on - there's an N-Gage fansite?

[josh glaser]

Seriously, though. This model seems to be vastly improved - bigger screen (I think), easier cartridge changing, and no more sidetalking (I hope sidetalkin.com will stay). But I doubt Nokia will be able to have this be successful, simply because there isn't enough games, and because the N-Gage name isn't a plus when it comes to gamer opinion...

Symbian OS?

[Jmechy]

The picture of the screen looks alot like my 3650, which runs Symbian. Is it not safe to assume that the this does as well?

Well.........

[optikSmoke]

Nope, I'm guessing a bust.

It all hinges on one thing........

Are they still side-talkin'?

Obligatory

[gumpish]

Can't believe I'm the first one to post this...

Side talkin'

I'm a happy N-Gage user..

[jlehtira]

..even though it has its flaws. Or, flaw. Which is the game slot thing. Sidetalking isn't, the device comes with a good hands-free set I find myself using all the time.

Yes, NG is worse for gaming than the gaming-only devices. But, it's a good phone, good mp3 player, good radio, wap&www and even an irc platform. My guess is Nokia never tried to beat gameboy, they intended to make a phone that's good for gaming, not the other way round.

Certainly, if your main concern about electronics is that you might look silly using it (for some weird reason without the hands-free), grow up.