N-Gage QD - Worth It At $99?

Thanks to GameSpot for its article discussing the possible pricing for Nokia's enhanced N-Gage QD mobile phone/game deck combo, which "will arrive in the Western Hemisphere on June 29, where units will sell for a list price of $199." Although "Reports from Europe and Asia--by way of CNN--indicate that foreign mobile phone networks are heavily subsidizing the QD in exchange for extended service contracts", the U.S. price is not yet known - the article points out: "When the QD was initially unveiled, Nokia publicly stated that it expected a carrier-subsidized $99 price point to be common." What price would you consider picking up an N-Gage QD for?

Comments

Not me, but why does everyone else hate them?

[Cecil]

I hate cellphones, so I certainly won't be touching one of these. But the gaming side of it doesn't seem all that bad. Why does everyone have such loathing for the thing?

I mean, I thought Sidetalking was *funny*, not a reason to murder Nokia executives in their sleep. The remove-battery-for-game-switching was a mistake, but I fail to see how it makes someone want to boycott all future products with that name. Is it really that offensive? I know that back before I decided cellphones suck, I would've *loved* to have a cellphone built into my Palmpilot, with text message support and a programming interface and all that goodness. Seemed like an obvious enough combination to me. I don't see how a cellphone and a gaming device are that bad a combination either. Cellphone games are quite popular. An attempt to replace "Scrabble" and "Football Champion" with some more top-end titles just doesn't strike me as something that should evoke such hostility and zealotry. ... yes, I know. I must be new here.

Re:Not me, but why does everyone else hate them?

[MBCook]

I'll ignore all the other things about the N-Gauge and look at is as a gamer for you. I'm ignoring design flaws (listed above), the fact I already have a cell phone, don't want a new one, and won't carry two, etc.

I don't like it. Everything I've seen shows me that I don't like it. Let's see what I see wrong with it:

• "Must Have Game" - You know what the must have game for the N-Gauge is? Neither do I! I don't know of ANY games for the N-Gauge that are supposed to be great, or even unique. Everything I've seen is a port (Splinter Cell), something I don't care about (Tomb Raider), etc. Nothing says "Buy Me" to me.
• Screen - Why is the screen VIRTICLE? Platformers are best with square or horizontal screens. The Sonic game for the NG "letterboxes" the game so that it's more playable, but that means you're wasting most of the screen, and it's still thin. In a world where people want widescreen DVDs, widescreen HDTV television, the GBA went widescreen after being square, and so on, why make the screen VIRTICLE? The screen is also relativly tiny. If the horizontal resolution was good, then a virticle screen would be OK. But as it is the screen would be better if you turned in on it's side.
• Controlls - The controlls worry me. Using the phone's keypad as buttons? That reminds me of the 12 buttons on the bottom of Atari Jaguar controllers. With a GBA you know where the buttons are. I'd be worried it would be too easy to hit the wrong button or two buttons at once. I may be wrong on this one once I played with the thing, but as a consumer looking at it it's worrysome.

The "other" factors that ignore it as a system are all major problems for me. But even as a console, it's just not there. The major problem is the games. The screen seems like a design flaw to me, but if the games were there I could see past that. At this point the N-Gauge is a joke. I have another post in this article about what it would take to get me to buy a QD and what I think Nokia should do if they want the N-Gauge to succede, and I think you should read that.

But like everything else, it comes down to the games. I don't know of ANYTHING on the N-Gauge that I even want to play, so why would I buy one.

Looking through the list of games on Gamespot for the N-Gauge only confirms this. Bomberman, Crash Nitro Kart, MotoGP, Pandimonium, Puyo Pop, Rayman 3, Puzzle Bobble, Super Monkey Ball. There are more, but they are all basically games from other systems, at least ther ones that catch my attention. Games I've seen before, games I've played before, games I can get elsewhere (GBA for example). The higest score any game gets seems to be 7.6 out of 10. Most of the rest are in the 6s or under. The GBA's top rated game (Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga) is a 9.2/10, with many others in the 8s a another 9 or two.

The games are there. This means the players aren't there. This means the money isn't there. This means the games aren't there. It's a cycle. If you don't make a kick ass game or three for your system, don't expect someone else to come along and do it because they won't.

Free?

[Stigmata669]

It seems as though, especially with the bad press/experience that was the original NGage, cellphone carriers and Nokia should be "giving away" the NGage QD. By that I mean slapping the buyer with an 18+ month contract. Or even better, the special "Elite Gamer Package" where the phone is free and you get a new game cartridge "free" every X months paid for by the higher monthly rates.

I can only assume that they are trying to make money from selling cellphone game cartridges, and in order to attract developers there has to be a large enough market. What's the easiest way to build a market? By giving out the console for free/selling at a loss. Nokia is a giant; they can probably follow the path of Microsoft and the Xbox.

Re:Free?

[Stigmata669]

Well in typical /. style, I didn't actually visit the NGage website, so I have to take back what I said about attracting developers. They already have a huge mass of "fancy" games like Splinter Cell, but my marketing suggestion still stands; If they have all these (potentially) cool games, they should be more than able to make back the price of the phone with a special pricing plan and through game sales.

non slashdot-sexy..

[gl4ss]

..yet anyone can code for it, it can be used as a decent IRC or IM from anywhere device and you can even browse pr0n from it, hell, you can even post to slashdot. Nokia just can't win, huh? they could have integrated a gameboy advance into it and people still would complain somehow, if not anything else then that they already have a gameboy.

I could have of course posted "no!!!" as well for some easy karma but hell, n-gage + 256mb mmc with 100mb of cames and 125mb of music is a pretty packed entertainer and when I get home I can tinker with some code for it(also who needs easy karma with a system that keeps you at maxed anyways after the first few months..).

It's a shame they released so much crappy games as "n-gage" games during the launch, when there's actually quite a bunch of pretty good shareware/on-demand-OTA games for it(that are a: handier since you can put them on any mmc you wish and b: cheaper).

nobody who I know who has a gba ever keeps it with him anywhere he goes.. the guys who have n-gages(or other s60 phones, none of the stuff aside from the n-gage exclusive games are limited to just n-gage) non-surprisingly DO keep the devices with them.

And yeah, people do have bough n-gages and are having fun with them as well(well, one couldn't guess that from slashdot though. then again slashdot != the world). Maybe the phone network is 3rd world grade it's less useful though(yeah, USA's networks seem to be really in the dark ages, with all the stories about people who can only call if they go to the backyards ).. one other thing as well: Nokia was pumping steady profits during the past few years when some other mobile phone makers weren't, they're literally loaded with cash they have a need to put into use.

and the final thing: gameboy advance was HORRIBLY BROKEN IN DESIGN DUE TO THE CRAPPY SCREEN and the fix took quite a while(I know quite a few gba's which are abandoned in drawers because of this, the owners just can't play with them like thought they would be able to, in a bus & etc). at least with n-gages(perfect for shooters like sky force ) screen you can actually SEE the screen.

I got my issues with n-gage as well though, mainly the mmc changing. however, with the mentioned 256mb mmc that rarely is a problem.

My Next Cellphone

[MBCook]

Features I Want:

• Bluetooth
• Good Java
• Color screen (more the better)
• User Accessable GPS would be nice
• Camera phone (1mp or so) would be very nice
• Ability to make my own ringtones, etc
• I want to be able to use my laptop with it (over BT) to access the 'net

That's about all I care about. So what will it take to get me to buy an N-Gauge? I don't know if it fits the above specifications, so I'll give it my standard test for a new phone that doesn't fit the features I want. I will buy it if...

1. It's free to me
2. I'm not forced into a contract
3. And... that's it

If the phone is free and there is no contract (ie I pay month-to-month, not that "and my 1st born for the next two years" stuff) I'll take one. You'll make the money off me from me buying games (if you make good ones available) and cell phone fees.

I have a GBA. I plan to buy a PSP and a DS. Nokia was NEVER on my radar as anything seroius. They have to make it VERY attractive to me to get me to own one (see requirements above), and if a cellphone I like better exists that is acceptable to me, I'll pay for it if I like it. Nokia has basically no hope when it comes to me.

The N-Gauge is a "cute" idea that was half-baked from the beginning. If they had released the QD origonally, they would be in a bad place. But they put out the origional, so they are just a joke.

The ONLY hope of survival for the N-Gauge at this point (IMO) is to turn it into "technology" instead of a product. Make MANY phones that play N-Gauge games. Let OTHER cellphone makers make phones that are "N-Gauge compliant". They would all play the games, and they would all play them the same (not phone X is faster than Y, which has a bigger screen). By making it a standard and charging a nominal licensing fee (on games and on phones) they can survive and make money.

Otherwise, you're sunk Nokia (as far as the N-Gauge goes. I know the company won't go bankrupt over this). Do what I said above, or give up and try again in a few years (and with a different name). You didn't succede with the N-Gauge, and you won't with the QD. Give up, cut your losses (my strategy above), or fail. That's how I see it.

Re:My Next Cellphone

[Anonymous Coward]

What if Nintendo made a phone cart for the DS, which had all the electronics/antennas integrated into it.

You could use the touchscreen for dialing numbers and writing emails, especially with the dual screens you have a dedicated keyboard.

What do you guys think?

Let's see.

[Inoshiro]

We take the poorly designed N-Gage device, remove all the features that made it a cool cell phone (tri-band, movie player, radio tuner, mp3 player), but keep the crappy game play features and make it easier to swap carts (only really done if you play games, but since there are 0 good games anyways...).

No. When you redesign a unit, you should keep what's good and ditch the rest. As Nokia has no good software, it should've made the N-Gage QD something more like the P900. I mean, at least they could licence iTap from Motorola so their happles users wouldn't have to deal with the ShittiestTextEntryEver!

You are not the customers

[garyok]

Yeah, it's a gadget, and a portable console, and a phone, and stuff. But 25-35 year old folks won't be the main customer, it will be mums and dads. They'll buy one for junior because that means they don't have to spring twice for a Gameboy and a phone to keep tabs on their tyke. The QD is a perfectly good piece of kit, and at the 99USD,EUR,GBP price point it's going to get quite a few sales if they advertise it heavily during kids TV. There are plenty of J2ME games that can be downloaded for it too, so mum and dad don't have to keep springing for new carts all the time and junior doesn't look like he'd be having more fun playing with the box.

Seriously, I think the majority of nay-sayers are totally full of shit on this one. Yes, the original N-Gage was a donkey - ugly, awkward, expensive and therefore by necessity marketed wrongly at the 25-35 demographic. The slinky, reasonably-priced N-Gage QD is going to have a much broader appeal. And so what if it can't render 13 billion multi-shadered dynamically-lit triangles per clock-cycle? That's only really necessary for one type of game. There are plenty of other games that 2D will be just fine for, and they're fun too. Seriously, crack yourself away from the spec sheet for the latest transistor-pr0n from NVidia and ATI and look at all the puzzles, dance games, RPGs, adventures, and other stuff that just don't need stellar specs to be fun.

In summary, the N-Gage QD will sell like hot-cakes. Everyone programming games for it will be richer than astronauts. I am right and you are all wrong.

And I'm going to be wearing this post round my neck until I die if I'm wrong :P