Remember when we used to call each other holding a mobile phone sideways? Remember when everyone used to laugh at us when we used that phone? Yes, those were the innovation and convergence days indeed. It was like talking through a Gameboy or a PSP. You're right, we're talking about the N-Gage and N-Gage QD devices that Nokia released between 2003 and 2004, before taking them down for good. Why? I'll leave that up to you to decide.
Those devices are dead; however, the name lives on.
Nokia had decided it was time to revive N-Gage as the "next-gen mobile gaming platform" and suddenly, the devices we had in our hands transformed, thanks to their dedicated music (and later on gaming) keys, to more-or-less powerful gaming gadgets. Things looked good...initially. Major developers were on board, cool titles coming out, it was a gamer's heaven.
Whether you like gaming or not, you've got to consider the following: when purchasing a Nokia device, you are actually paying for the handset AND several services like maps, gaming, email, music (CWM), etc. I used to find that a big bonus, something which made Nokia the true leader in the market, not only selling devices, but beefing them up with services too. Then came OVI - the portal to every service related to Nokia. And while many fell in love with the idea of N-Gage (including myself), I found it to be struggling in my country. With over a dozen games installed on my N82, I'm finding it hard to let go of it. The camera could be replaced by the N86's, but I'd have to transfer all my games and accounts to my new device. Is that possible? NO. Yes. Of course not. Yes it is. Make up your mind Nokia, is it possible? Well...if you get in touch with a moderator on the N-Gage forum and ask him to transfer your account, THAT might actually work. Cool then. How do I do that? Well you download all the games to your handset (that's if you don't have them on your PC) and try to activate them all once again. After that, you get in touch with the moderator and you give him your IMEI, and he would consequently be able to transfer your accounts to your new device. You can do this only once, so pick your device carefully, knowing all games would die with it one day.
Are you serious? How hard could it be to come up with a system that lets you download the games onto your microSD card and then transfer them to a new device? Since everything happens online, your scores would be kept within your account, and once you log in on your new handset, everything gets updated. Why isn't that possible? I have no clue.
Besides, most of the games that N-Gage had offered could be found online on various forums and for no extra fees, if you know what I mean. So why bother and pay for them? Are you willing to pay 5 Euros just to be able to post your score online?
Personally, I think N-Gage could have been improved if ALL and not just a few games were injected with support for Bluetooth multiplayer mode; imagine racing against a total stranger within 10 meters during your daily commute, or shooting the hell out of your friend’s enemy troops during a business course in college (stay in school kids!)… How about better graphics? How about supplying certain devices with better hardware to support HD gaming? In short, there was room for much improvement.
Despite all that, we were gaming like hell. My thumbs grew weary and so did the N82. And while playing “the ONE”, I was No.1 in my country and climbed up to 6th in Asia at one point, but there was only another guy from Lebanon posting his score for that game. What a shame. I really loved that game, I still play it, but I wish more people from my region were involved. Why weren’t they? Is it because of the poor marketing? Is it because of our poor telecom services? Is it because gaming on such a tiny screen isn’t fun after all? I am not sure why, but I think it’s the sum of all factors.
Where does this all lead to? Nokia’s announcing that the N-Gage platform will be retired, for the second time if you wish, and will “evolve” thanks to the OVI Store. In short as well, the service will stop in September 2010, but up till that time everything will function normally. The games which have been purchased will still work, indefinitely, or at least until you destroy your device; the only thing that will be down is the community-related aspect; no more posting scores, chatting, etc. So from now on, talk not about N-Gage but about OVI Gaming. And for the latest games you need to log on to http://store.ovi.com/games.
If you'd like to find out how this next-gen mobile gaming will evolve, check it out here.
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