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N-Gage Future in Doubt?
srashdotu writes "The Inquirer is reporting rumors that the plug will be pulled on the N-Gage due to the complete closure of the Nokia's Germany production facility by Q1 2006. Nokia has refuted this, however, claiming "We're looking at the strongest line-up of games yet for N-Gage. There's been so much money and effort poured into the system we're not going to pull out now."." Given recent events it is not hard to imagine this being true, though.
... here come dozens of anti-N-Gage comments by people who never touched one! :)
The Tlog - a technology blog
What's there to doubt? The (lack of) future of the n-gage has been blindingly obvious since (at least) it's release.
I've had this sig for three days.
Ol' Ma Bell perfected the 4 x 3 phone button array decades ago. Why does Nokia feel it has to curve them just for a swoopy look, while ignoring that it makes it so the buttons are in non-standard locations so you have to look and hunt for them? (example: 3 key above 1 key, while pound key below star key...pretty bizarre). Looking at this, there is no reason a standard non-curved array of button would have fit here. They have yet another hard-to-use non-standard version of the 4 x 3 array on many of their phones. Aside from that, you look like a dope if you try to use this as a phone and hold it to your ear.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Phones get outdated much too quickly for the N-Gage to stay attractive long enough to create a market. Quite frankly ive never been interested in buying one, its big , unhandy and there are much cooler phones out there. Now the gameplay might not be bad, i never tried it so i wouldn't know, i think the problem was that there never was a market for such a gadget.
What they have failed to realize is that there are games out there of comperable quality that you can play for free, such as this highly-addictive game. Click the snowman once to start the jump, then click a second time to swing the bat. Watch Tux fly!
Doesn't matter how much you've put in, it matters how much it will take to get more out.
Me: (while flipping between pages about the Nintendo DS and the PSP) Good for you, Nokia! You might want to work on your timing, though...
It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys.
It's too bad if it's true.
I picked up a Ngage-QD over the summer ( Cameras are forbidden where I work, and it's the only phone I could find with the features I wanted, but no camera) and I've been very happy with it as a phone.
As for the games? Well, Rayman 3 is a nice platformer, and Pocket Kingdom is a real time sink, but besides that nothing has really caught my eye.
Have they resorted to taking stories from tabloids now? Enquiring minds want to know.
Their initial release was just a complete joke. It didn't attract phone users, it didn't attract gamers. They flubbed the product design so badly, that by the time they got around to fixing people stopped being interesting.
Dying? It was dead before it started.
uhm i'm sorry but does anyone care?
Obviously, it's future is in doubt due to the fatuous elimination of its greatest feature--sidetalking.
English is easier said than done.
because devs and Nokia were finally starting to realise the platforms potential.
When they were treating it like a mini Playstation 1 at the start, trying to make it run thru 3D hoops it clearly didn't want to, the games were slow and ungainly, and just downright bad. Not to mention the launch lineup was terrible and betrayed their complete lack of understanding of where the game industry is at at the moment.
Tomb Raider? gimme a break. the comic is more impressive than the latest few Tomb Raider games, and Lara Croft has becoming less a gaming icon and more a warning sign that the people you are dealing with are about 2-3 years behind the times gaming wise.
It's only lately, a good year plus after the platform was released that they are finally starting to realise it's potential and starting to tailor the games to the phone, instead of trying to tailor the games to what they think people want while paying no heed to the what the hardware itself is capable of.
One of the latest games, Pathway to Glory is the first game in what appears to be a developing trend of Nokia, or whoever is responsible for selecting games to be ported/developed, of realising that the games have to suit the platform, not the ideal. And with other games of late (Pocket Kingdoms, X-Men Legends, Worms World Party) showing the same logical thinking behind developing for the platform, things are not necessarily looking up, but at least looking better.
And besides, those bastards managed to buy the Rifts licence before anyone thought to pick it up, so I have to stick with the console.
And last but not least, it's actually a very good phone in it's own right. I almost guarantee that the all the people that constantly dump shit on it have either been crying about that initial admittedly pathic oversight of having the game cart behind the battery, or have never actually touched the phone at all. All told, ignoring the terrible games library that's only now slowly improving, the phone itself isn't that bad, and was very cheap for such a featured filled phone.
If it's canned I won't miss it (it's not like I really own it for games anyway although a purchase of Pathway to Glory is looking very likely), but if it's canned now, just as it was starting to show some promise, I'll be honestly disappointed.
Yes, I use one on a Nokia cell phone. The middle numbers in the row are way below the left and right ones in the row. Pretty obnoxious: you have to look and think when you dial (which you do not have to do with standard layouts). The keys in the N-Gage image I linked to are in the wrong place as well. You will see that I did mention wrong places, not wrong shapes of the keys.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
If anyone didn't see this comming they are either ignorant to the fact that the N-Gage ever exsisted or are developing fusion reactors, whether it be either my point has been made.
Eat sleep die
I've never used the 7160, but I found images on Google. The keys are not in the standard layout (like the Nokia I use), but the control area of the phone would have allowed a standard layout anyway. An example of style clobbering function.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Although the QD actually seems like a decent product, it's definitly a case of too little, too late... when I was looking at getting a new phone, I did consider the nGage QD(ended up going Treo 600), but could'nt get over the fact it's an nGage... I mean a lot of ppl I know would think I totally lost my marbles if I bought it. Had the QD been the initial product I think the reaction would have been totally different.
I think a conversation I heard in EB Games (true) sums it up best:
Customer: So, have you actually sold any of these nGages?
Store Clerk: Nope, and honestly I'd feel pretty guilty if I did