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N-Gage makes its comeback
Lydia Sung - Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 | 5:41PM (PT)


Is it a taco? No, it's actually a cell phone.

Who remembers Nokia's failure of a gaming device, the N-Gage?  Or, more accurately, who doesn't remember that ugly handheld.

Props to Nokia for attempting something new back in 2003 when they released the first N-Gage, which had an impressive list of features and capabilities.  But the N-Gage failed to pick up because of poor design; the buttons weren't suitable for anything but dialing numbers, while using it as a phone gave the appearance of speaking into a taco or pita sandwich.  Not very attractive.

However, the N-Gage is not dead, as Nokia drags its legacy from the ashes of a horrible defeat and tries yet again to impress us with that Finnish ingenuity.  Though the N-Gage's (re)debut was delayed twice already due to software issues, the service has finally been opened up to owners of Nokia's N81 multimedia phones.

CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood spoke to The Washington Post on Nokia's decision to relaunch a previously unsuccessful project; he believes the company is taking its first crucial steps into the "Web 2.0 services space," and it faces the challenge of getting the word out about this service while competing with established brands like Google.

The N-Gage service may also be downloaded to other supported Nokia phones, though the N81 would be my first choice.


N-Gage makes its comeback Image 1

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

Section: Announcements

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Comments:

February 5th, 2008 5:42PM(PT)
iamjoe56
People still own these things?
February 5th, 2008 5:46PM(PT)
OmegaFury
I don't see how you could play games on that thing comfortably. It doesn't really look like it has a good button setup. At least it looks better than the original N-gage.
February 5th, 2008 5:50PM(PT)
iamjoe56
That looks worse than a gameboy. :S
February 5th, 2008 6:46PM(PT)
kspiess
It looks like a taco!
February 5th, 2008 8:41PM(PT)
Zeon I

It looks like a Burrito now...
February 5th, 2008 9:07PM(PT)
efg
Burn it with fire!!?
February 6th, 2008 9:45AM(PT)
rummanzrulz
some 3rd world country richies would like to show off with this thing...
February 6th, 2008 6:33PM(PT)
OmegaFury
I feel a bit hungry. I think I'm going to eat the new N-gage at Taco Cell.
February 7th, 2008 8:11AM(PT)
Frizzeh
"It looks like a phone swallowed a gameboy.."
Decline of Video Gaming 2
February 7th, 2008 10:41AM(PT)
VeGiTAX2
Good to know the typical "lulz a taco, lulz sidetalk wid mah pizza" comments are still around. The meme universe seems to have held those together well.

As far as this as a burrito or taco or whatever food desires are up next go, how are the N81, N95 or other higher end series phones actually aesthetically flawed compared to other phones on the market? I'd take the pictured N81 over an LG Chocolate or the overly abused design of the RAZR anyday.

Meh typical garbage to be expected in an Ngage post. Maybe you can go ahead and throw up some cat meme's to help strengthen the point. Btw how many of you had a QD or played a game on one again? Right. thought so.
February 7th, 2008 12:13PM(PT)
iamjoe56
Is it really so bad to hold a grudge against a horrid gaming Devices Succsesor, Vegitax? I mean REALLY.
February 7th, 2008 5:14PM(PT)
RabidChinaGirl
From other pictures I've seen, the N81 seems to slide open like an LG Chocolate.

BTW, you know I have a Chocolate, Vegi. Why you hurt me so?! D':
February 7th, 2008 8:34PM(PT)
VeGiTAX2
Joe, go look at the Nokia site, then go realize that the N81 is just another one of their smartphone products.

Apparently you fail to realize that the N-Gage software onboard the N81 and other devices is nothing more than a gaming store just like on other services, only this one is exclusive to Nokia.

So yeah, it's absurd to go "The N-Gage sucked so anything Nokia makes must suck" because it lacks sense.

=P because everyone is slaming the N81 which basically looks like your Chocolate. so why not add any remotely similar looking phones into the firing squad as well.
February 7th, 2008 10:43PM(PT)
iamjoe56
>_>

Why do I always fail to realize obvious things? I new that, I am jsut saying that some thought the N-Gage concept was bad in the first place...why would it be better now?

Also, the chocolates are actually kinda nice. I like the whole Slide open deal.

Also, can I ask why the backwords smiley things? Case in point "D':" Just confusing.

February 8th, 2008 1:22AM(PT)
VeGiTAX2
D: is like horror or shock.

like

"oh god I just ate 12 course meal and shoveled pie down too, D:"

See, not only will the person go into a 12yr food coma, but they're probably in such a state that their mouth hangs in person as well from the scenario. Now lets hope that one never becomes the case, that would be absurdly painful to imagine.

The N-Gage in original form was a single piece of hardware. You couldn't own a S60 and play N-Gage titles on it, you actually had to buy the N-Gage or N-Gage QD and then buy memory cards with a single game on them for like $10-$25. Painful yes, the games some of the time though, were worthwhile for the money. In the end the phone never set itself apart from the failure that was the original. Personally I didn't mind the QD much and I still have the unit around here somewhere from our coverage on it.

This new version though is like the sprint / verizon / t-mobile games store on your phone where you might purchase pac-man, bejeweled or other games, but given the hardware changes in the N81 and other phones you can play games on those that you couldn't do normally on an LG or Motorola. Originally about 2 years ago they planned to run the N-Gage compatible phones with ATI chips or something to give them a competitive edge.

The games now should drop in price without needing a giant SD card spot in the side, a new OS or other drastic changes. Which should make it more enjoyable because it's now a focus of a phone that can play games as well if an owner wishes to, not a gaming device that can make phone calls.

- This news story is archived and is closed to new comments now -

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