Nokia Launches N-Gage Platform to Unsurprisingly Little Fanfare
By Chris on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 4:35 PM PST In Game Companies, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games, Portable
In case you’ve forgotten (which I can’t blame you for), Nokia has been planning on relaunching N-Gage, only as a mobile phone gaming platform rather than an actual system. The launch was originally scheduled for late last year, but was delayed into 2008. If you browse over to the N-Gage website now, you’ll be able to download the N-Gage application which is apparently supported by a whole five phones – the Nokia N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95, and N95 8GB. Support for the N73, N93i and N93 is coming soon, so if you’re an owner of one of those devices, then worry not.
Much like Xbox Live Arcade, each game has both a free trial and then a full priced version. There are presently six games available: FIFA 08, Asphalt 3: Street Rules, Brain Challenge, World Series of Poker Pro Challenge, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep and System Rush: Evolution, all of which I feel I can safely say I could not care less about.
Nokia claims it will be pushing community-oriented features in a very Xbox Live-esque manner, with friends lists and things of the sort. While that idea sounds promising, the lack of support across all phones is a major drawback and certainly a significant obstacle for Nokia.
Why does Nokia keep beating a dead horse?