In another superb and comprehensive piece, our very own Krisse analyses the successes and (mainly) the failures of the original Nokia N-Gage, then looks at the way the new next-gen gaming platform will directly address each problem. It's all looking rosy - apart from the name! Krisse explains...
Almost unnoticed in a post about another topic, the official N-Gage Blog recently revealed for the first time a specific month for Nokia's Next Gen Gaming Platform's launch: September 2007.
Just a note that I've now updated my big one-page S60 device comparison table over on 3-Lib to include this year's new Nokia S60 3rd Edition smartphones. As usual, comments and corrections welcome!
According to a report on Pocket Gamer, a secret workshop for American and Asian publishers and developers on Nokia's next gen gaming platform was held in Santa Monica last week. Perhaps most notable in the article is the incredible list of publishers that apparently attended the event: Disney, Sega, Sony, Universal, Square Enix, Capcom, THQ, Glu Mobile, Digital Chocolate, EA, Tecmo, Namco and Vivendi. The article also claims 3rd party publishers just got their development kits in January, which could suit a Summer launch and Xmas advertising push fairly well (old generation N-Gage titles usually took 6 - 12 months to make). These revelations seem to confirm what All About Symbian exclusively revealed last October. Another event will apparently be held in Madrid next week for European publishers and devs.
If you're into trivia, pub quizzes or fact finding, note that my free Trivopaedia (... a trivia enecyclopaedia) has had a huge update and is now up to v2.2, with over 300 entries. It runs inside (the also free) Mobipocket Reader for all Symbian OS-powered smartphones. Comments welcome!
According to GamesIndustry.biz, British game publisher Eidos has apparently just done a deal with Nokia to provide "embedded Tomb Raider games on N-series handsets". The phrase implies games built into handsets, rather than sold on Nokia's Next Gen games platform, and it's also unclear which models will contain the games. Rather encouragingly, Eidos went on to say "There's a real market there, it's no flash in the pan - particularly when you see some of the newer handsets, and how good content looks on those." (Story spotted by mathias_szil on the N-Gage Arena boards)
After a number of disappointing game titles recently, I'm pleased to announce reviews of a couple of real crackers. Ewan is delighted by STPuzzles for UIQ 3 smartphones (like his new consort, the W950i), while krisse is utterly blown away by K-Rally for S60 3rd Edition (also available for S60 1st/2nd/N-Gage, coming soon on UIQ3). Enjoy.
AAS chief Rafe Blandford weighs in with his official predictions and challenges for 2007, along with an assessment of what he got right and wrong from last year's predictions piece. Essential reading for anyone in the industry or who is interested in where the Symbian OS world is going. Plus, a bonus preview of the front cover of Symbian magazine, Dec 2007...
Nokia's Future Watch site devoted to their Next Gen gaming platform on S60 3rd Edition smartphones has now officially launched. The site tries to answer the most frequently asked questions about the new platform, something N-Gage Arena members have been waiting for ever since the Next Gen was announced. While Future Watch mostly repeats the information that Nokia's given out at various press conferences over the last year, this is the first time all the official statements have been collected in one place, and in amongst the familiar facts there are one or two gems of significant new information as well. Click here to find out more...
