You can only transfer N-Gage games to another phone once

[Tzer2]

You may remember back in May AAN ran an editorial criticising Nokia for refusing to transfer games from one phone to another. Well, Nokia seemed to change their minds and announced that transfers would be possible after all, but as many of our readers can testify, there's a nasty catch: these transfers can only be done once. In a follow-up editorial, All About N-Gage takes a look at this one-transfer limit and why it's such a daft idea for the N-Gage gaming platform. Nokia say this transfer limit is temporary though, with a more permanent multi-transfer solution on the way, but they have so far failed to announce any details about it.

Read on in the full article.

[Tzer2]

Just to emphasise, Nokia do seem to be very sure that a multi-transfer solution is on the way, but so far they haven't made any public announcements about how it would work or when it would appear. They won't even say when it will be released.

In the absence of such a solution, the one transfer system is going to carry on causing all the problems listed in the editorial.

[ebo]

Strict DRM or otherwise hard consumer policy will just lead to people downloading these games from P2P networks. As far as I know, these games are reasonably small files to download on your broadband.

I'd guess it would be a better strategy to sell the games at least once per consumer rather than not selling them at all.

[fernando20]

wtf

haven't we complained enough about this already? why nokia hasn't learned?

[Ratkat]

I haven't bothered with N-Gage other than the odd demo since the last time the subject of transferring games to other handsets blew up, and I won't until they sort it out.

Shame really cause some of the games are quite nice, and all Nokia really need to do is tie the games to your Nokia ID/N-Gage gamer account.

However, long term, I still think N-Gage is a dead duck anyway, completely ignored by the mainstream gaming sites like eurogamer etc, I doubt it will ever be as popular as other handhelds such as the PSP/DS.

[macwhu]

This is the reason i don't by n-gage titles.

its quite possible to loose/damage your phone twice in a year - get a replacement.

today we DEMAND - cloud based syncing off all content and DRM licenses.

its not rocketscience.

[eccleshill]

OK, let's say this in words of few syllables. I have bought around half a dozen games from N-Gage. If Nokia don't let me keep the games I paid for, I will NOT buy any more N-Gage games. Clear enough, Nokia?

[wampyre]

It is quite frustrating to know that they won't allow transfers for more than once.

But aren't that the same for other software companies?
I haven't tried transferring any software / game licenses myself, so I've bought two copies of for instance X-plore, QuickOffice and Profimail (One for my N95 which I gave away to my little brother and one for my current N82)

In that regard that it is indeed not that "strange" or unjustified that they do this that way.

(You can of course argue about how long you really use a phone, or what about using it one several phones etc.)

So all in all that they will allow us to transfer the licenses to another phone for that matter is great.

However I do understand the frustration, which I, in my opinion, stands in the middle of this discussion.

When it comes to the N-gage games I did use modified versions of the N-gage games due to this policy, but also because I now have played all the games before I know which is worth buying.

(After I sent my N82 for service, they updated my fw to version 30.x.x, which makes me unable to hack my phone anymore, thus also not enable me to play those modified games).

Don't get me wrong on this one as I do like to support them for a good cause, by buying their games.
Currently speaking I even got licenses for 11 of the N-gage games.
(4 of them in which I bought during the N81 First release, using a modified version of the N-gage app)
That's licenses for about 50% of their released games. (11 of 23)

So this matter of being able to transfer the games concerns me a lot too.
Therefore I also see that it's easier to just use modified versions of the games as using legal versions, will bring much more further cost for those who switch phones regularly.

The question however that comes to my mind is, what should they set the limit to?
Personally I think that 3 to 4 times is enough if you think about using a phone for up to 2 years before switching. That means that your license will be valid for 6 to 8 years which is more than even most of the PC softwares.

(I know I tend to drag out examples to the PC's but that's how I regard the Smartphones, they are my lightweight laptops)

What I also like to see in regards to the N-gage is the ability to backup your game progress and transfer that to another phone.
(One of the main reasons why I'm disapointed that I can't hack my N82 anymore)

[argh]

To wampyre: I don't think that there should be any limit to the number of transfers at all, but I'm not sure of the best way of handling this.

I imagine that the requirement would be to deactivate the game/account on one handset before activating it on another, to prevent you giving your account or game details to friends so they all get access to them simultaneously.

This leads to 2 issues:

1) People with multiple handsets have to keep transferring which handset is active. This could be particularly annoying if you have to transfer your whole account, rather than just games.

2) If your handset is destroyed, you can't deactivate from your handset. As n-gage doesn't go online to verify activation each time, allowing a transfer without deactivating the first handset is insecure and allows multiple simultaneous activations.

I'm not sure of the best way to deal with these issues (particularly the second), and I'd guess that this is what is causing Nokia to take so long to reach a solution too.

[viipottaja]

The once only transfer is a temporary stop-gap measure and they are working on a more permanent solution. Not quite sure why everyone is treating this story as if it was saying that the once only transfer is the final outcome... :(

[Rafe]

I think what's frustating people is that they're still waiting for a solution and there's little or no formal information (would have been a logical thing to talk about at Nokia Games Summit).

Thus far N-Gage has exactly managed to deliver mnay things on time. The potential is still there, its just taking longer that would be ideal.

[viipottaja]

I agree 100%. What I don't agree with is that people make comments as if this once only transfer thing was the final, be all end all state of things. Even if frustrated doesn't mean that one should start making unfounded accusations/comments.

[malerocks]

Originally Posted by Rafe

Thus far N-Gage has exactly managed to deliver mnay things on time.

I disagree. Where's the n-gage that was promised for the 9.1 devices?

As a user of the 'old' N-Gage QD using the MMC's and the butt of some of the 'New N-Gage's 'elite ,all I can say is:Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wampyre]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

As a user of the 'old' N-Gage QD using the MMC's and the butt of some of the 'New N-Gage's 'elite ,all I can say is:Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's really nothing to laugh at really I still own the N-gage Classic "the Taco" and takes it out occasionally to play with the games.

Indeed there's no hassle with the exchange of licenses for games there.
(And even here I have some modified versions of the games)

What's lacking in both N-gage Classic and QD is that the storage in the internal memory is too less to have too many save games.

The good thing though is the ability to copy those save files to swap them out or back them up on the memory card or a computer.