Over on AAN, we've taken a look at the N-Gage platform's first card game, the Texas Hold 'Em title World Series Of Poker: Pro Challenge. Read our review to find out if this is a flush or a pair of twos.
Continuing his quest to find great time fillers for his transatlantic trip, Ewan's been looking at another Java game, Silver Ball. It's presented well and has classic gameplay, but it's let down by clumsy sound control and some overlong screen transitions.
If you're anything like Ewan and myself, you'll enjoy a good brain-stretching, language-challenging word game - and these have been few and far between on smartphones. However, the appearance of Scratchy, reviewed here by Ewan, has helped a lot, keeping him entertained on his American travels. It's Java-based and basically works on anything, by the way.
The makers of the free Xmas game Snowed In have come up with a similar Easter-themed free game called Eggstreme: Sizzler Supremacy. It's available for every Symbian platform (S60 3rd, S60 1st/2nd, UIQ3, UIQ2, Series 80 and Series 90). The S60 3rd version supports all screen resolutions including the N80 and E90. You can download the relevant game file by going here, and you can get the free unlock code by going here.
You may remember the original Space Impact from phones such as the 3310, but now it's back as a full commercial game called Kappa Base. All About N-Gage puts it through its paces in the latest Next Gen N-Gage game review. Is alien zapping as fun now as it was in the 80s and 90s? Click on the link to find out.
Over on All About N-Gage, we've just done an in-depth review and playing tips feature about Nokia's flagship N-Gage title Hooked On: Creatures Of The Deep, programmed by Symbian OS codemasters Infinite Dreams. Click on the link to find out whether it makes the grade or has to be thrown back in the sea.
The first batch of next generation N-Gage games has now become available through the public beta test, so we've started reviewing them. Our first ever Next Gen N-Gage review is Block Breaker Deluxe, an unofficial remake of the old classic Breakout.
Tzer2 has been busy, over on All About N-Gage, listing 10 things that would be really cool on the new next-gen games platform. Do you think any of these semi-predictions will happen? Let Tzer2 know in the comments!
With the MWC and now GDC events under our belt, Ewan Spence draws from all the clues that Nokia has been dropping and comes up with a connected, converged epiphany into the future of gaming. The unification of smartphone functions, social networking and gaming is just around the corner, perhaps. Personally, I can't see any real showstoppers.
There are two video interviews with three of the executives behind N-Gage over on AllAboutNGage now, with fairly frank and interesting answers to (more or less) the questions that you've been wanting to ask. Good stuff.
Nokia is calling on mobile developers with new ideas to take part in its Mobile Games Innovation Challenge, and at least one winning game will be published by Nokia on its new N-Gage platform (which is based on S60 3rd Edition). Entries will be accepted from the 3rd of April 2008, so if you're interested it might be worth starting work now. Established developers and publishers can already apply to publish commercially on the platform, or find out more on the N-Gage developer site.
If you haven't already, do check out All About N-Gage today as we have a huge wave of news about Nokia's S60 gaming platform. Perhaps most interesting of all is a leaked video of the upcoming Creebies game, a first party title exclusive to N-Gage which seems to be a bizarre mixture of (fluff)Friends, the Sims and Animal Crossing. Also appearing is a "Making Of" video for the N-Gage-exclusive 3D fighting game ONE.
This weeks All About Symbian Insight, #12, focuses on N-Gage First Access (the pre-release version of the N-Gage client and select games). In the podcast Ewan and Rafe talk over their first impressions and some of the choices Nokia have made in strategy, positioning and pricing. This weeks Insight is a shortened version as we're busy get ready for MWC next week.
Following his look at the N-Gage client, here's Ewan's preview of each of the four launch '1st Access' games, System Rush:Evolution, Creatures of the Deep, Block Buster Deluxe and Space Impact: Kappa Base. Do each of the demos lead on nicely to a full purchase? And if not, why not?