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N-Gage QD Review - No More Side-Talkin'

Posted by timothy on from the mumble-louder-please dept.

jasoncart writes "After the apparently poor uptake, and questionable design of the original N-Gage, have Nokia taken the hint when designing the next model - the N-Gage QD? Ferrago has a hands-on review."

5 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Lost the Advantage. by hethatishere · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nokia lost it's chance with both Nintendo and Sony having shown their offerings and strutted their stuff who will even care for an updated design to the N-Gage?

    Not many considering the only time gamers really talk about it is how cool "it could have been" and how ugly it is. Making it less ugly doesn't increase it's chances in a market which since the original's launch is clearly going to see some strong competition in the "high-end" portable gaming market.

    --
    Something intelligent here.
    1. Re:Lost the Advantage. by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "Nokia lost it's chance with both Nintendo and Sony having shown their offerings and strutted their stuff who will even care for an updated design to the N-Gage?"

      There's still a niche market. If I could get a cell phone that plays decent games for under $99, I'd consider it. Now that they've gotten some of the major issues out of the way, it might be worth another look.

      Would I sell my Game Boy Advance SP for it? Oh hell no. But I do enjoy the odd game on my cell phone from time to time. Why? For the simple reason that my phone goes with me everywhere. My Game Boy... well it sits around my apartment. Maybe I think to grab it if I know I'm gonna be waiting somewhere.

      So no, I don't agree that nobody will care. However, I'm not optimistic enough to think they could reach millions of units sold. They're going to have to figure something out to make it that popular. Maybe that'll happen? They have the whole wireless thing going for it. Multiplayer gaming could be cool. Who cares if only 10 thousand are on the market, nation wide, you can still find somebody to play against.

      The reality is that it's probably dead. Pity, they had some of the right things in place. One way or another, I do feel that cell phones will have more gaming capabilities down the road.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  2. Calling on my GBA by freeduke · · Score: 3, Interesting
    There is no way for me to buy a portable gaming system from a cell phone manufacturer: on their first attempt, they did not even know where to put the cartridge. That seems to anounce bad new for the upcoming games, anyway, they have got the solution: if it is useless, you can still call a hotline!

    I will buy this kind of mixed system when Nintendo includes a cell phone in GBA.

  3. Not good for a gamer by fuxoft · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a GBA SP owner I was really underwhelmed by QD as a gaming machine (I tried about half a dozen games). - Both by quality and by LOADING TIMES (up to 30 seconds before you can start playing)! However, for the price, I think this is really useful phone for people who want to surf wap/WWW and send/receive e-mails. And have cool ringphones. :) I would be happiest if it was a little bit smaller and without the cartridge-based games capability. Also, you cannot connect it directly to computer and it doesn't have IR port. So if you want to transfer data from/to it, you must do it using Bluetooth or internet.

    --

    --- Frantisek Fuka (Yes, that's my real name and you have no idea how it's pronounced)

  4. similar fate as PDA phones by AlphaDecay · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think the NGage suffers from the same problems of convergence as PDA phones and probably limits itself to a similar, albeit smaller, market slice. Meaning, the people who buy PDA phones are those who would like to have both features but aren't particularly tied to the bonuses that the individual products can provide.

    I think PDA phones have it better in that the features provided are easier to do and less likely tot leave you wanting a stand alone device. Consider the gaming mentality though, gamers want faster, better graphics and more options. I definitely think this convergence device will (and has) have a hard time catering to that crowd.

    So in follow up, can Nokia maintain the product with such a small market segment? Considering the price of development (anyone know what royalties Nokia is tossing out?) I doubt they can maintain any sort of decent game library.

    --AlphaDecay