Finland’s Nokia has announced it plans to shut down its struggling N-Gage mobile gaming service in 2010, rolling games and other entertainment offerings into its broader Ovi Store, where it also offers mobile applications, music, and other mobile content. Nokia plans to keep N-Gage running for most of the next year, shuttering the service in September 2010. However, Nokia will be migrating the N-Gage Arena and community features to the Ovi Store, and does not plan to launch any new gaming titles for N-Gage.
Tag Archive: N-Gage
N-Gage Users Enraged Over Device Lock-In
Customers of Nokia’s re-launched N-Gage mobile gaming service are lashing out at Nokia as they realize purchases made through the service are locked to a specific Nokia device, and cannot be transferred to a new handset when a user upgrades. According to the N-Gage terms and conditions, “All Content shall be subject to the End User Software License Agreement (”EUSA”) and limited to one private installation on one N-Gage compatible Nokia device only.” Although users can re-install a purchase as often as they need to on a particular device, the activation codes are linked to that device. If a user wants to move on to a newer or more sophisticated phone, they need to purchase their N-Gage content all over again.
N-Gage Gets an Official Launch
After moving from concept to public beta testing through the First Access program in February, Nokia’s N-Gage gaming service for its mobile phones finally launched officially on Monday. It includes a marketplace of made-for-mobile games for download, the N-Gage Mobile Arena for multiplayer gaming, plus message boards and live chat for discussing games and setting up tournaments.
Initially, only six games will be available for players to download: FIFA 08, Brain Challenge, Asphalt 3: Street Rules, World Series of Poker Pro, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep and System Rush: Evolution. Nokia will expand this listing shortly, though, with the addition of seven more games, including Tetris and The Sims 2 Pets.
Nokia Puts Back N-Gage Launch
Nokia has had a grand plan for its N-Gage, reinventing the phone as a mobile gaming platform. The announcement of that, back in March, anticipated a Septemberlaunch for the device. But here it is, December, and it’s still not on the market. What’s happened? According to a post on the N-Gage blog, reported by Vnunet, it’s down to those pesky unexpected difficulties. "We have been doing an internal run with more than 1,000 global testers this week anduncovered an issue we feel we need to address. Overall, the games and service are working smoothly, but because of this issue we feel we could not release N-Gage First Access before the holidays asplanned." That has to be a blow for Nokia, which would have loved holiday sales, but in August the launch date was put back. Now Nokia is looking to get the N-Gage on the market early inthe new year.
Nokia N-Gage Games Moving to N-series
At its Nokia Mobility Conference in Barcelona, Finland’s Nokia admitted it’s failed to meet its goals with the Nokia N-Gage combined phone and portable gaming device. Nokia had boasted it would sell 6 million units in its first three years, and instead the company managed to sell only 2 million units worldwide.
The N-Gage, originally designed to compete with products line Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance handheld game unit, has faced strong competition from Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) and faces a new challenge with from the Nintendo DS. Sony estimates it will sell 13 million PSPs by March 2006.
N-Gage Shipments Pass The Million Unit Mark
“The company’s senior vice president for games, Ilkka Raiskinen, announced the achievement at the European Games Network trade show in London yesterday – where the firm is also showcasing itsforthcoming N-Gage line-up.
While the figure represents shipments rather than sell-through, company spokespeople indicated that channel inventories are quite low, so the installed base isn’t far behind the million mark.
Raiskinen also revealed that around 150,000 N-Gage users have signed up to the N-Gage Arena service, representing around 15 per cent of the installed base of the system, and that the game deck has had a global tie ratio of “more than one, but less than two” software units.”
Nokia Cuts Target For New N-Gage Games
Nokia, which has been losing market share to rivals in its core mobile phone market, is looking for new revenue sources and wants to take a slice of robust mobile gaming market from the likes of Nintendo.
After a major launch of N-Gage last year, however, the Finnish company has admitted sales missed expectations due to the phone’s small screen and an awkward way of changing games that requires the user to first remove the phone’s batteries, among other things.
Source: Reuters
Nokia N-Gage QD Shipping Overseas
Nokia today announced that the latest addition to the N-Gage platform, the N-Gage QD game deck, started shipping today for markets in Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific. With a street price starting at
Atari And Capcom Join N-Gage
Nokia announced an agreement with industry pioneers Capcom and Atari are to produce a variety of titles for the N-Gage platform. The first N-Gage titles from Capcom are expected to be announcedin the coming weeks. “Capcom is proud to become a part of the N-Gage title family and we look forward to bringing mobile gamers hours of fun as they play Capcom games while on the move,” saidKenzo Tsujimoto, President and CEO, Capcom Co.,Ltd. “Working with Capcom will mean fantastic additions to the N-Gage games catalogue,” said Pasi Pölönen, Director of Game Publishing, GamesBusiness Unit, Nokia. “As one of the industry pioneers, we feel that Capcom will bring a wealth of experience in the games industry to create innovative games that will take full advantage of theN-Gage platform.” The first Atari titles for the N-Gage are expected to be released in 2005 and will include Civilization®, one of the most celebrated strategy games ever created andDRIV3R(TM), the latest installment of Atari’s hugely successful driving adventure franchise. Civilization and DRIV3R for the N-Gage platform will combine familiar storylines andaction with N-Gage multiplayer features to create a new spin for these brands. “Having Atari on board as a developer of N-Gage games is a superb addition to our roster, and Civilizationand DRIV3R will expand the N-Gage title line-up with two blockbuster franchises,” said Pasi Pölönen, Director, Games Publishing, Nokia. “We are looking forward to working with Atari toshowcase the power of the N-Gage platform, combined with the fantastic portfolio of Atari titles.” “As one of the largest third-party publishers of interactive entertainment software, Atarihas a great range of titles like Civilization and DRIV3R that can be developed for the N-Gage platform,” said Wim Stocks, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing forAtari. “Creating mobile multiplayer features for a select number of our games is an exciting opportunity for us to give fans of Atari products the value of mobility.”
Nokia To Showcase 11 New N-Gage Games At E3
From Nokia’s press release:
Nokia gears up for E3 2004 with a slew of new titles, its recently announced N-Gage QD game deck, and an impressive, immersive booth. Situated in the South Hall at area 1524, Nokia will be showcasing 11 N-Gage games: Pathway to Glory, Pocket Kingdom: Own the World, Ashen, Crash Nitro Kart, The Sims Bustin’ Out, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm, Call of Duty, Bomberman, Operation Shadow, Requiem of Hell, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004.
