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

No.

[lightspawn]

Next question, please.

Good question

[Rexz]

What price would you consider picking up an N-Gage QD for? They'd have to offer me at least 100.

Re:I'd consider picking it up...

[Anonymous Coward]

But you can't sidetalk on the QD. So it's worthless even for kitsch value now.

Maybe Nokia will release a sidetalking adapter module for the QD. Couldn't hurt their business, it has nowhere to go but up.

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?

[Alkaiser]

Here's the deal. I actually considered getting one when they were first announced. Not for gaming, but because they were making a cell phone that would go international.

Then I found out it didn't work in Japan, or most of Asia, so it became useless to me as a cell phone.

On the gaming end of things, when you insult the owners of 99% of the portables by saying their handheld of choice is "for 13 year olds" and "embarassing to pull out in public" you go from "upstart with potential", to "pointy haired boss with no clue" rather quickly.

The controls on the thing suck, and the fact that they're trying to keep it a tiny cell phone, without making it a flip phone means that they don't a good game from a hole in the ground. Currently, there isn't a way to play a video game that is as uncomfortable as playing one on an NGage. The QD tried to rectify this but still failed.

That's why people hate this thing.

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.

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.

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!

Re:The remove-battery-for-game-switching was a mis

[Lynxara]

I'm not sure a lack of experience is an excuse for a design flaw that severe. If Nokia lacked experience, why didn't they have an R&D team study the design of competing handhelds to get a feel for what gamers would expect? It smacks of a rushed product, and most consumers will feel insulted if offered an obviously rushed product. Why shouldn't gamers feel contempt and distrust for Nokia at this point?

The intensity of the gamer-culture backlash is unwarranted, of course, but gamer-culture has never really had a reputation for being rational or mature.

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