TORONTO (djc) — This week Nokia released the N-Gage. What’s that? It might be quicker to talk about what it isn’t; it’s got more features than a year’s worth of newspapers. It’s an MP3 player, an FM radio, a tri-band mobile phone, and more. Nokia’s primarily pushing it as a portable wireless game unit, and has already secured top publishers like Eidos, Activision, and Sega to bring major franchises like Tomb Raider, Tony Hawk and Super Monkey Ball to Nokia’s new gaming device.
To get more on the N-Gage, we talked to Norm Zapata, Business Development Manager for emerging channels at Nokia Canada.
“People don’t only want to game at home,” Zapata said, explaining the thinking behind the N-Gage. “They want to game while they’re waiting for a bus, or waiting for a class to change, or if they’re in the doctor’s office, waiting in line with everybody else. If that’s what people wish to do with their game device, why don’t we take what they want and offer a wireless experience?”
Handheld game devices, even though they have made tremendous strides in the past few years, are often seen as a haven for sidescrollers and “lighter” types of games. Anyone who thinks that’s all N-Gage has to offer should take a look at its versions of Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, which don’t look all that different from their console cousins (Movies of the games can be seen at “>http://arena.n-gage.com). Zapata describes it as “a gamer’s specific website focused on everything N-Gage, but also the multiplayer game experience. People sharing experiences, how to get to different levels, take each other on in head-to-head competition, or post their best score. What you’re familiar with now with online communities for special interests, that’s what N-Gage Arena offers to the N-Gage user.”
N-Gagers can also get “shadow” games from the Arena—game sessions from other players which you can download to your N-Gage and then try to beat.
“The downloads themselves — the actual services that are available through N-Gage Arena are free,” continues Zapata. “The actual traffic that is created by that download as it comes from the N-Gage Arena site to your device is subject to a wireless service charge from the service providers.”
The game aspects alone would be an impressive package, but again, the N-Gage has so much more. In addition to the things mentioned at this start of this article, the N-Gage can be used to surf the mobile Internet, supports voice dialing for 20 numbers… that’s an almost insane amount of features, and Zapata says it’s what Nokia customers want.
“Any direction that we’ve taken with Nokia and how that’s reflected in the N-Gage is based on feedback from the consumer. Where the consumer really wants us to go? The consumer wants more features. We try to anticipate what their requirements and what their needs are, and deliver on that.
“What N-Gage expresses is the best of the wireless world, and the best of the gaming experience as well.”
The Nokia N-Gage is now on sale, with a price tage of $449 (CDN). Accompanying game cards will be sold for between $45 and $55.
