Recreate the classic console games, or emphasis the differences in a mobile phne. Which direction will the Mobile Games Market take (ask The Feature)? Given Pathway to Glory, Snakes and Pocket Kingdom were the games that showed the N-Gage could actually work (and Call of Duty failed to do anything impressive in the handheld), it's a fair bet Nokia are banking on the second. What do you think?
Somewhere in Finland, they've worked out that Demo copies of the N-Gage games sells more N-Gage games. Now we've got a demo version of X-Men Legends for free download over at the N-Gage Arena, along with Worms, Colin McRae, Pathway to Glory and others.
Richard Hodges has been happily falling off the road, crashing, and chasing the opposition round some of the craziest road courses seen on a Symbian device, in Fathammer'sStuntcar Extreme. Find out more in his review of one of the smoothest looking games yet on Series 60.
...and you can download a free demo version of Worms World Party for your N-Gage from the N-Gage Arena. Looks like the releasing demo versions meme is working for N-Gage sales. Good.
Actually no, it's just a very good photoshop, but given Nokia's product cycles, it's a a fair chance that there'll be a new N-Gage model at some point in 2005. So have a look at the pictures here and ask yourself if adding a 1.3 mega pixel camera, and a landscape sized screen (which means using the latest version of Serries 60) is something Nokia would do with the N-gage?
Vampnet have announced the availability of vSun, a SNES emulator for Series 60. The emualtor features sound, load/save functions, key mapping and support for zip files. It runs best on a 6630 thanks to its faster processor, but runs at roughly 10 fps on the N-Gage (depending on the game). You can find some public domain ROM's here.
Part of Nokia's Financial Results for 2004 included numbers on the sale of the N-Gage and N-Gage QD - 1.3 million units to the end of Dec 2004. Given Nokia launched the device in October 2003, that works out to an average of around 92,000 units a month. Nokia have been reluctant to give out any more figures on intermediate sales, so it's hard to place an exact number per month, or if the QD really did shake up the market, but let's have a look and compare those numbers.
Nokia giving away a game? Yes that's right, for those of you living under a rock, the N-Gage Signature Game is here. Ewan's been addicted to Snakes since it arrived in the Offices early last week. Read the first review on the internet on All About N-Gage. If you believed the spin that the N-Gage was dead, then let Snakes make you think again.
Fathammer's X-Forge driven race, Stunt Car Extreme arrives for Series 60. This is racing, the ultimate daredevil sport, with high powered cars, hundreds of feet off the ground, racing round tracks of diabolical ingenuity. Formula 1 this isn't. An almost essential demo to download.
Activisions First Person, World War Two Shooter, is a strong franchise on the home consoles. But is it any good on the N-Gage? Ewan reviews Call of Duty and wonders just how bad it can get.
UK Retail Charts organisation ELSPA will no longer report weekly retail sales of N-Gage games and units (reports Spong.com). Nokia are pointing out that the N-Gage is still being counted in exactly the same way as previously, and will still feature in the monthly charts and reports. There may be mitigating circumstances (such as "does this chart include Mobile Phone Stores or just Gaming stores?") but this will not inspire confidence in the marketplace - which is something the N-Gage family needs in abundance.
Congratualtions to Platycus for winning An N-Gage Christmas. He walks away with the N-Gage QD and 7 Top MMC titles. Runners up are HPJ545 and Lonewolf who win some N-Gage merchandising and 512mb MMC cards. Thanks to Allack, N-Gage User and Nokia for their support. We'll have another prize competition in the next few weeks.
Now the final article is posted, you can all enter our festive competition to win an unlocked N-Gage QD, along with seven of the latest MMC Games (including Asphalt: Urban GT and Colin McRae Rally 2005. The entry form, links to the articles and more details are on the An N-Gage Christmas Homepage. Thanks to Allack, N-Gage User and Nokia for their support. We'll draw the winner on the 5th January 2005.
