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Nokia's N-Gage Service To End After 2010

Posted by Soulskill on from the putting-a-suffering-dog-to-sleep dept.

negRo_slim writes "Who knew the N-Gage was still kicking? Well apparently it still is — however, it looks like 2010 will be the end. From the announcement: 'While the N-Gage.com site together with the N-Gage Arena and other community features will remain in operation throughout 2010, the Ovi Store will be the new central place for all the mobile games that Nokia and other publishers offer from this point forward. We will no longer publish new games for the N-Gage platform.'"

44 comments

  1. N-Gaged! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who didn't like holding a electrical taco to their head?

  2. No big deal by Tellarin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is not big news. It is more of a re-branding anyway.

    Nokia is just consolidating all their online offerings under the Ovi brand, in hopes of competing with efforts like Apple's App Store.

    Now there will be one single place for Nokia users to buy apps, be they games or regular apps. Ovi also covers maps, photo sharing...

    Again, nothing to see here. What they currently call the N-Gage platform is not that taco-phone, it is the online selling place and the networking support for games. The new ones will use the service under the new name. That's all.

    --
    -- SouNerd.com
    1. Re:No big deal by tsalmark · · Score: 1

      So, train service wont be interrupted?

    2. Re:No big deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The the poster is just talking out of the side of their mouth then?

    3. Re:No big deal by pete6677 · · Score: 1

      People still buy Nokia phones? Nokia is stuck in a time warp to 1999.

    4. Re:No big deal by stephanruby · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yes, worldwide Nokia sells four times the number of smart-phones than Apple does. It still has an immense war chest of cash on-hand. And for every iPhone sold, Nokia gets a cut of it anyway. So it's not like Nokia is going away anytime soon.

    5. Re:No big deal by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      But... why the hell is it called "eggs"? Is this thing run by Dr. Robotnik?

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    6. Re:No big deal by Tellarin · · Score: 1

      Nokia is from Finland. Ovi means something like 'gate'.

      --
      -- SouNerd.com
    7. Re:No big deal by stellacutie · · Score: 1

      Dude, my friend just bought that new 8 Megapixel phone. The quality of the video recorder is amazing. Hey. Quickly check this site out, lol, its amazing Record the 5 note symphony of Intel and upload it on their site http://tinyurl.com/yhqvxzn

  3. Sidetalkin' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Nooo, do not say it looks like 2010 will be the end of sidetalkin'!!1!

    1. Re:Sidetalkin' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As the linked site has said for some time, "Sidetalkin' is [already] a history"; it was replaced with a more conventional front-mounted microphone on the second-generation N-Gages that came out not long after the originals.

      BTW, love the scaled down version of that really bad clipart.

      Sidetalkin.com rules! :-)

    2. Re:Sidetalkin' by NeoStrider_BZK · · Score: 0

      Its was a weird phone, but it was one of the best phones I ever had. And sidetalking is not that bad or weird as it seems.
      I miss some games like Ashen...

  4. Not surprised by edxwelch · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Only big companies were allowed to make N-Gage games, and that shut out the indies. Also, they tried to implement a very complicated platform on very slow and buggy devices (like the N73).
    Even EA critisied the N-gage platform: http://www.t3.com/news/nokia-n-gage-summit-ea-point-out-the-problems?=37094

    1. Re:Not surprised by tacarat · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I wonder how this will affect their "exclusives". Palladium books had a little Rifts game done for that platform (such a waste) and I wonder if this will free it up for other platforms.

      --
      "Common sense will be the death of us all"
  5. Picard will be disappointed by jabberw0k · · Score: 1

    Isn't that what he said at the end of every episode of ST:TNG? "Set course and N-Gage." Meanwhile, all these years I thought he was talking about his model train layout.

    1. Re:Picard will be disappointed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorta like Santa has the HO guage?

      {* Posting annonymous to not be vilified for any bad jokes that may be present. *}

    2. Re:Picard will be disappointed by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      N-gage is about half the track width of OO or HO gage (9mm versus 16.5mm track width).

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  6. You did in the first place? by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 1

    We will no longer publish new games for the N-Gage platform

    I thought this thing bombed and was scrapped like 3 months after release?

    Like the author, I am shocked to hear that N-Gage is even still around. I think I want one just to put on my mantle piece as a conversational topic as one of the biggest video game blunders ever.

    1. Re:You did in the first place? by Etherized · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, it's not N-Gage the device, it's N-Gage the platform.

      A while back - 2 years, maybe - Nokia decided that they wanted to seriously push gaming on S60 phones. I think this was even before the iPhone opened the app development floodgates, but I'm not sure.

      For some reason, they decided that the best name for this brand new gaming delivery platform would be... well, would be the same name as one of their most famous hardware failures of yesteryear. It would be akin to Apple calling the iPhone's browser "Cyberdog" or something equally ludicrous.

      At any rate, Nokia "soft launched" the new N-Gage throughout various markets, finally making it to the US only late last year (Nokia's really ignored the US market in recent years). Of course, by the time this project was starting to ramp up, the iPhone had already proven itself a capable gaming platform and... well, you can guess how well it went over.

      Don't worry, though, if you're a hardcore Nokia gamer. Everything that "N-Gage" the "platform" does will continue to exist, presumably, in "Ovi," which is their new unified branding for app delivery / social networking / whatever else. This is really more of a branding change than anything.

    2. Re:You did in the first place? by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 1

      For some reason, they decided that the best name for this brand new gaming delivery platform would be... well, would be the same name as one of their most famous hardware failures of yesteryear.

      I did not know any of this, and I don't know how I can facepalm any harder.

    3. Re:You did in the first place? by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 1

      I did not know any of this, and I don't know how I can facepalm any harder.

      Be the Director of Marketing for Nokia.

    4. Re:You did in the first place? by TheLink · · Score: 1

      People who think sidetalking is OK, are more likely to think that face-palming is a cool variation of "high-fiving".

      --
    5. Re:You did in the first place? by Mikkeles · · Score: 1

      So, from trains to eggs?

      --
      Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
    6. Re:You did in the first place? by _Sprocket_ · · Score: 1

      I bet their board meetings are a blast.

    7. Re:You did in the first place? by Etherized · · Score: 1

      Yeah... it's an odd name to English speakers, who will either associate it with the Latin "ovum" (and modern derivatives) or just be perplexed by it. Apparently "ovi" means "door" in Finnish, which makes a great deal of sense, as it's a portal service of sorts. But what percentage of Nokia's sales come from people who will actually recognize this?

      Despite being the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, from my perspective Nokia takes a very Euro-centric (and even Finn-centric) approach to their design and branding strategies. But as odd as Ovi is, I still think it's a good step up from "N-Gage," which I would assume has negative connotations in pretty much every market that saw the original device.

  7. We say goodbye to N-Gage, by Shadyman · · Score: 1

    And nothing of value was lost.

    1. Re:We say goodbye to N-Gage, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are too awesome for Slashdot.

    2. Re:We say goodbye to N-Gage, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      See what I mean? -1, Flamebait? I think you have to find a smarter website.

      HURRY, RUN AND DON'T LOOK BACK, CHOO CHOO

  8. If only.... by SoCalledNotion · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now if only they can get the Ovi app store to stop being a clusterfuck. Seriously? Have you seen the damn website? It's horribly unorganized. They may have hundreds of apps available for your specific phone, but you can only view a handful at a time on the page. They really need to improve their interface if they want this Ovi crap to take off

    1. Re:If only.... by Tellarin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not only that, but some apps that would be compatible with your phone simply do not show up. It is slow as dead (at least it was last time I tried).

      Also, what with having to login again every time you click on a link to other part of Ovi? If you go from store to photos, maps, or any other subdomain, you have to login again. Even though it's the same credentials.

      I do think they finally moved in the right direction with the current efforts, but there is still a looooong way to go to make the Ovi "experience" anywhere near useful.

      --
      -- SouNerd.com
    2. Re:If only.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speaking as an engineer that works for Nokia on the Ovi app store, and sitting next to some of the other engineers responsible for the desktop site, I'd like to say thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely pass this along.

  9. Re:And nothing of value was lost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Poopst!

  10. It's okay by countertrolling · · Score: 1

    T-Gage is much cooler..

    --
    For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
  11. Product failure by dUN82 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Nokia was quite insightful to discover the unique niche of mobile phone gaming market,which was suggested to be next hit of the gaming industry with the iPod Touch and iPhone as a gaming platform and further diversified gamers. However, the failure was foreseeable as well since N-Gage was not build on a solid foundation of users and the lack of support from the gaming industry. The hardware was also a big failure as well, you cannot make a phone call comfortably since you had to put a brick sideways to your ear; nor smooth running of a game due to hardware performance restrictionm but iI just can't stop wondering what would have happened if Nokia injected all those cash for N-Gage into its smart phone R&D...

    1. Re:Product failure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, N-Gage gaming "platform" emerged before Apple store, but they were (and still are) dumb enough not to use 10% of its potential. I hope they will score with their "Ovi" platform, whatever it is. So far it does a good job backing up contacts and calendar.
      And for the N-Gage "sidetalking" device -- even though it looks ridiculous to brainwashed by-standers, the concept of 'sidetalking' was one of the most innovative and common-sense in mobile industry -- it did look stupid, but with sidetalkin' you didn't have to grease the screen with the junk off your face. I own e-71 now and still regret it doesn't have the sidetalking feature, so I can use it without cleaning for the next 10 minutes. And for all the others who thing sidetalking was stupid - fuck you, have you ever tried it?! It was awesome! (at least for the user - who gives a fuck about the poseurs?!)

    2. Re:Product failure by dUN82 · · Score: 1

      Clam down dude, no body said it's stupid, it's just not very conformable, that's all I'm trying to say in comparison the good-old-fashion-way to make a phone call...

  12. About time by dgr73 · · Score: 1

    N-Gage was about as useful lately as a bottle of chipotle sauce without a pile of clean underwear to go with it.