Geography enthusiasts rejoice! The long awaited quiz game from Herocraft - the makers of such great titles as Robo, Revival and Stolen in 60 Seconds - has finally arrived to keep the smart player happy for hours to come. Read on for the details.
A lot of news over on All About N-Gage, with updates to the N-Gage app and new phones added to the platform, sales charts released, a new games announcement, and a couple of very interesting videos published. See below for the relevant links.
The N-Gage platform's client is now available for the Nokia N78 and 6210 Navigator. The easiest way to get it is to visit n-gage.mobi/d (note there's no "www") on your phone's web browser, and select your phone from the list, which lets you download and install the app directly. Alternatively, you can download the app from the official N-Gage website and install using PC Suite. (Other phones compatible with the platform include the 5320 XpressMusic, N79, N81, N81 8GB, N82, N85, N95, N95 8GB and N96.)
In May of this year there was quite a fuss when Nokia confirmed that new N-Gage games were locked to one phone forever. They then responded to the dismay by saying that transfers would be possible after all through Nokia customer services, but it now turns out that this can only be done once: you can transfer N-gage games from one phone to another, but they are lost forever if you move onto a third phone. In a follow-up editorial, All About N-Gage takes a closer look at this policy, and wonders where on earth Nokia's promised multi-transfer solution has got to. When will N-Gage users get the same transfer rights as Nokia Music and Nokia Maps users?
In All About Symbian Podcast 99 (Insight #46) we talk about the N96 which has received mixed reviews from initial users. In the second half the podcast Ewan provides his first impressions of One, the latest N-Gage game, before we move on to discussing manufacturer commitment to the Symbian Foundation and what the future may hold for UIQ.
There have been quite a few new games announced in connection with today's Nokia Games Summit, including FIFA09, Need For Speed Underground, Spore Origins, Monopoly Here & Now World Edition, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Boom Blox and The Sims 3 from Electronic Arts, Tomb Raider Underworld and Pandemonium from Eidos, Nokia's own Dance Fabulous, and Gameloft's Asphalt 4: Elite Racing and Real Football 2009. You can find out more about all of these by heading over to our sister site All About N-Gage.
The long-awaited 3D fighting game ONE is out now on the N-Gage platform. Go to the Showroom section of the app and select the Update Now option to see it. For more info see All About N-Gage's ONE game page, and the official trailer is visible below.
There's a new version of the N-Gage app available for all compatible phones which (amongst other things) fixes the infamous 10,000 points bug. You can download the new version straight onto your device by opening the app, selecting "Options" and then "Check For Updates". Alternatively you can download the new version onto your PC and then install it manually, which you can do from the official website's "Get N-Gage" section. You can read more about the new version over on the official forums. (via the Official N-Gage Blog)
Westward, originally released on the PC, is a cocktail that mixes in elements of town simulation, real sime strategy, adventure and humour. Does it combine the best of all worlds, or is it an unwieldy mess? Read Tzer2's review of Westward to find out... (Incidentally, this game is available for both S60 3rd and UIQ3, links for both at the end of the review.)
Astraware's latest cross-platform game port to S60 and UIQ fares well on graphics and smoothness but falls down on lack of raw speed. Or so reckons Ewan, who's been applying the arcade skills acquired during his mispent youth to this new side-scrolling shoot 'em up.