Games - N-Gage

	Games - N-Gage

*Colin McRae Rally 2005

Pathway to Glory
System Rush
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Worms World Party
X-Men Legends
Catan
Rifts: Promise of Power
One
Asphalt Urban GT 2
Mile High Pinball

Snakes

Hailed as one of the best games on the N-Gage when released in January 2005, Snakes saw Nokia take an innovative route to promoting the N-Gage platform. Likely spurred on by the success of the demonstration versions, the full version of Snakes was made available online. It also featured an option that allowed the game to copy itself to another N-Gage unit using bluetooth as the carrier.

Recent developments

As of September 2005, it is estimated that Nokia has shipped more than two and a half million N-Gage game decks. The "N-Gage" brand name still has a very poor reputation, due to the weakness of the system's first games and the original model's limitations. Many gamers are unaware of the later QD redeisgn and still consider the N-Gage as a joke. The situation has not improved either with the arrival of the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS handhelds. As of September 2005, Nokia has more than 50 games available for retail on the system, with at least 10 more expected up to and including Q1 2006.

While the N-Gage hasn't had any significant financial successes, it does have a handful of critical successes. Pocket Kingdom: 0wn the W0rld received a handful of glowing reviews when it was released, and Pathway to Glory is Nokia's first self-published success. These games haven't seemed to have had much effect in improving the perception of the N-Gage hardware itself in the eyes of consumers or press.

While the N-Gage QD hardware itself, sold unlocked and without a SIM card, has held steady at $250-300, the price with a contract in the US has continued to decrease. In the US, T-Mobile initially offered it for approximately $200 with contract, then sold it for between free and $150, depending on the promotions and contract. As of April 2005, the N-Gage QD retails for $99 at EB Games without the contract requirement.

In January 2005, UK sales-tracking firm ChartTrack dropped the N-Gage from its regular ELSPA chart, commenting that "The N-Gage chart, though still produced, is of little interest to anyone. Sales of the machine and its software have failed to make any impact on the market at all." Although only directly reflectant of the UK market, this was interpreted by some as a serious blow to the N-Gage as a viable gaming platform. Despite this, Nokia has reaffirmed their commitment to the N-Gage as a platform, to the point where a new version of the hardware was rumored after GDC 2005.

February 2005 saw Nokia appoint Gerard Wiener, formerly of Sega Europe, to the post of Director and General Manager for Games at Nokia. Wiener has steered Nokia away from looking at the N-Gage as primarily being a games console to "this is a mobile phone that is great for playing games on." This strategy, along with targeting niche franchises such as the table-top Warhammer 40,000 series, the Rifts RPG series, and the Settlers of Catan board game, has kept sales of the N-Gage healthy and given the platform a modicum of respect from some quarters of the media. It should be noted that this change coincided with the initial releases of the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS.

After E3 2005, Nokia announced their intention to make it possible to play unspecified certain N-Gage games on their next wave of smartphones. (At E3, games were demonstrated on the Nokia 3230, 6680, Nokia 6630, and N90, but Nokia has not yet announced what phones will be compatible with this as-of-yet unnamed service.) These phones won't be compatible with the games sold on MMC in stores, but will be able to download games over the cellular network, or play games downloaded on your computer. All of the details of this scheme have not yet been stated, but this network/scheme should be in place sometime in 2006.

In July 2005, retailers began trying to clear out the N-Gage from their stores. Many game stores, such as EB Games and GameStop, have dropped prices for N-Gage games significantly. For the few stores that still have N-Gage games left, they are priced at $6.99.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for N-Gage ]

Games - N-Gage

Snakes

Recent developments

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