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Something to Sidetalk About

Posted by Zonk on from the adventures-in-poor-design dept.

nigelthezebra writes "The N-Gage is at it again, what with the news that the price is being dropped and that the redesigned handheld is going to be redesigned again. In "Something to Sidetalk About," AllRPG.com's Richard Goodness recounts his experiences with the N-Gage QD. To put a long story short, it's very obvious why the system is failing. When you can't even figure out how to turn something on, you know it's time to go back to the drawing board." From the article: "I've always been a big proponent of the axiom, when in doubt, see if Mr. Casual can do it. Games ought not to need big instruction booklets. They should be simple enough to figure out by picking up and fiddling for a moment or two. Turning a system on, that goes without saying."

12 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. WTF is "softech limited"... by pudding7 · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...and why are they trying to install a Free Browser Plugin when I visit that site.

    and WTF is up with Allrpg.com allowing them to do so?

    1. Re:WTF is "softech limited"... by lunarscape · · Score: 3, Informative

      They don't just "allow" it. They've been doing it forever. It's their main source of advertising revenue. And this article (submitted by the author, no less) is obviously just an attempt to garner some traffic.

    2. Re:WTF is "softech limited"... by tod_miller · · Score: 2, Funny

      Free browser plugin?

      They must have been trying to install FireFox on your system to stop those kind of bullshit popups!!1!11! :-)

      --
      #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
  2. Now with... by Dreamwalkerofyore · · Score: 5, Funny

    - 16-bit graphics!
    - 15 MB storage for your favorite MP3s!
    - Stereo Sound!
    - Easy to replace (Only need to unscrew one thing) game cartrages!
    - Wireless technology allowes you to play with someone up to fifteen (15) feet away!

    BUY IT NOW!!!

    --
    I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you.
  3. Still no cigar by Black+Pete · · Score: 2, Informative

    As a game player, I actually prefer the old NGage (ya know the side-talking one) because it's bigger, and the buttons are larger and more accessible. With the QD, the phone is smaller, and the buttons are sorta mashed together, and sometimes feel uncomfortable to use. Look at the left/right selection keys.. they're slivers for crying out loud!

    When I first saw it, I already knew how to turn on the QD, but that was only because I used the old NGage and knew the approximate location of the power button, so that was the first place I looked. However, what surprised me was how hard it is to push and hold the button in to turn it on! The button is really stiff, and on top of that, it's covered by the rubber band that goes around the QD. Your finger knuckle usually turns white before the phone turns on.

    Speaking of stiff buttons, this is another reason why I prefer the old NGage (for playing games) - the bigger buttons push down quite easily, and have a nice "click" to it. The new buttons are a bit stiffer... you get used to it, but I still like the old layout better.

    Mind you, the old one still had stupid annoyances such as opening it up and popping out the battery to change games... plus the fact it can't go faster than 22fps... well... sucks.

    As a cellphone... the QD is better, and the fact it's running on the Symbian OS is sweet - tons of ready-to-download Symbian apps are out there!

    1. Re:Still no cigar by Black+Pete · · Score: 2, Informative

      What do you think about the screen? Is it a big problem for you that it's vertical and not horizontal like in most devices?

      It depends. For some types of games, it's horrible, and for other types of games, it's perfect.

      If you want to play a FPS (at single-digit frame rates... heh), then the screen gets in the way. It's also bad for side-scrolling action games (Sonic the Hedgehog just isn't the same...)

      However, there are games where vertical screens are great. Pinball games. Vertical scrolling shoot-em-ups. Tiger Woods golf. Even Tony Hawk is pretty damn playable. Also, remember that a lot of old arcade games used vertical screens. I'm dying to be able to put MAME on the sucker...

  4. Nokia's problem... by oGMo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nokia's problem is that they think like a cell phone company. They're making a phone, with extended gaming features. They're not making a gaming box with cell connectivity.

    Maybe they'll eventually get it right, and even be successful. But they need to make the thing play games completely and exclusively. Give it a few (FEW) buttons and a dpad, a bigger screen, and make it simple and elegant. And get some damn games.

    That's why the PSP is looking to be such a winner. Sleek, elegant, simple. And a ton of games that are getting suprisingly good reviews (especially for launch titles!).

    --

    Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

    1. Re:Nokia's problem... by dubiousx99 · · Score: 2

      Thats exactly right. Nokia needs to design the device with gaming in mind first and the phone features second. If the thing doesn't play games very well because of poor button layout and whatnot and their aren't any games worth playing on it you will not get the gamer market that you are looking for. Lets face it the demographic for this phone is not regular cellphone users, they wouldn't waste their money on such a clunky phone. They need to make it for the gamers that also want a phone and don't care so much how the phone portion of the device. I think Nokia would have been better off working in conjunction with Nintendo to create a hybrid phone based off their pre-existing architecture.

    2. Re:Nokia's problem... by nunchux · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, they think like a cell phone company... And that's WHY the N-gage isn't going away. I don't believe it was ever intended to truly compete with the Game Boy. Like a cameraphone or MP3 player, the N-gage is an attraction used to sell phones. And even if they don't break even selling them, the technology will continue to be pushed and eventually incoporated into other phones in their line.

  5. Re:getting better at least.... by Dehumanizer · · Score: 3, Informative

    N-Gage doesn't play just N-Gage games.

    It also plays all Series 60 games, and there are thousands. See Handango, for instance.

    There are also several emulators that run on it: MAME (old 8-bit games only), NES, GameBoy, GBC, ZX Spectrum, and others I don't know about.

    --
    The Tlog - a technology blog
  6. Re:Problemo with the Ngage by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Informative

    you know, the main reason why the screen is that size is that it's a series60 device. it's also a reason for why it can't have been that expensive for them to develope(it's practically a 3650 with camera removed and added ram).

    from what i've seen it would have sold considerably lower if it wasn't a very cheap s60 device...

    why does s60 matter? python, c++, java... letting you port stuff like putty, emulators, web browsing, irc..

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  7. Can't even turn it on?? by Kris_J · · Score: 2, Insightful
    How do these people know how to breathe? It's a mobile phone for crying out loud, you don't want to be able to accidentally turn it off.

    I guess I might be annoyed at the severe lack of big name titles for my N-Gage if;

    • I actually liked most of the big name titles out there for other systems.
    • It wasn't the cheapest way to get a well-specced Series 60 mobile phone.
    • I hadn't bought it for the C64 and Gameboy emulators.
    Really, this N-Gage bashing is just getting embarasing. If you really didn't like it, you wouldn't bother posting all this anti-N-Gage stuff.