All About Symbian - N-Gage News

Review: Pro Series Golf a must-buy, despite flaws

Reckoning that Pro Series Golf is everything my own Fairway could have become, and more, after extensive gameplay I pronounce myself a fan. From the great 3D modelling to the genuinely exciting online multiplayer mode, Pro Series Golf is arguably the best N-Gage game yet. Yes, it has its flaws and glitches, as detailed in the review, but there are no showstoppers.

Having trouble controlling Pro Series Golf? Here are a couple of tutorials...

If you've purchased the rather good Pro Series Golf (which All About N-Gage will be reviewing very very soon), you may feel a bit confused by the controls as they're not really explained within the game itself. The method for choosing a club for example is far from obvious. However, help is at hand from two sources: the game's producer has posted a general how-to on the official PSG forum, and N-Gage Arena member ShadowSpawn has done a more extensive illustrated tutorial concentrating on swings and putts. Fore!

Telenor goes Ovi

Telenor and Nokia today announced a cooperation on mobile services using the Ovi service platform. Specific Nokia devices will be customised with services such as Nokia Maps, N-Gage, Telenor Music Store and Mobile TV with more to come in the future. Ovi services will be launched in the second half of 2008 and will be offered to Telenor customers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Hungary.

Pro Series Golf gets underway

Pro Series Golf, one of the most eagerly awaited N-Gage titles, is now available. If you can't see it in your N-Gage client, then 'View available games' and look down the bottom of the list. Screenshots and first impressions are below. It's 21MB and takes 5 minutes to install(!), by the way - I'll have a full review up before the weekend.

Disappointing games: N-Gage no different

The current run of poor N-gage games is to be expected, argues Ewan. Every games platform has this problem, it's just a question of maturity and of time. The launch titles for N-Gage classic were worse and even those for the bestselling Sony PSP were comparable. What do you think of N-Gage so far and do you agree with Ewan? Comments welcome.

Midnight Pool proves a wasted opportunity

If you've tried out the new Midnight Pool game on N-Gage, you may have spotted that, four hours after the game being released, I'd completed it and was sitting atop the N-Gage Arena rankings. Which really isn't a boast, since Midnight Pool is simply far too easy. I explain why, with copious screenshots and comments on interface (good) and performance (bad) in my in review of Midnight Pool over on All About N-Gage.

Midnight Pool now available on N-Gage

The 3D simulator Midnight Pool is now available in the N-Gage application's showroom. If you can't see it, click on the headline for instructions on how to make it appear. You can see some screenshots and the official trailer on AAN's Midnight Pool game page.

Insight 30 - E71, E66, Z10 and more...

As Ewan puts it, it's another madcap show - All About Symbian Insight number 30 right here, in which we talk about Missing Sync for Symbian, the launch of the Nokia E71 and E66, plus first thoughts on the Motorola MOTO Z10. Note that this show was recorded last Thursday and so predates Tuesday's Symbian announcements - we'll bring you audio content to do with this very shortly.

Sims 2: Pets house-trained in (sadly) a couple of hours

The steady flow of N-Gage games titles continues, but the latest, The Sims 2: Pets, is distinctly underwhelming, with Tzer2 on our sister All About N-Gage site awarding it only 55%, declaring it to be almost devoid of gameplay and saying that it can be effectively finished in a few hours. Here's looking ahead to Pro Series Golf... (Update: We've now added a 7 minute gameplay video at the beginning of the review.)

Sims 2 Pets now available on the N-Gage platform

The simulation game Sims 2: Pets has now gone live on N-Gage, you can download it directly to your phone from the N-Gage application's showroom. Naturally we'll be bringing you a review in due course. Now, where did we put that dog lead?

Will The N-Gage Platform Get An FP2 Client In Time For Christmas?

Over at All About N-Gage, we're wondering when the Next Generation Gaming Platform is going to fully launch? With the initial roll-out of S60 v3 Feature Pack 2 phones not shipping with the N-Gage Client, phones aiming for a large user base, including the currently available N78 and impending N96 and Nokia 5320, and no sign of a compatible N-Gage client, the question is whether these devices will have the client in firmware before 2009. (Update: the official N-Gage blog has just announced the first FP1 phones with embedded N-Gage apps have begun to ship, starting with the N81. No word on FP2 yet.)

This week's N-Gage news roundup

Well, we haven't seen the hoped-for releases of Sims 2 or Pro Series Golf, but there have been one or two N-Gage-related developments this week. Click on the news headline to see a complete rundown.

A theme per game - not a bad idea

As part of the promotion for the game, Nokia's N-Gage team has designed a dedicated theme for Snakes Subsonic for any S60 3rd Edition device, to remind you of the game. What a good idea - maybe they'll do one for every other N-Gage game? Mine's the Pro Golf one in the corner...

Should Nokia introduce touchscreen-based N-Gage games?

Over on All About N-Gage, we've just published a special in-depth article looking at the pros and cons of touchscreen phone gaming, and we ponder whether Nokia should start making touch-based N-Gage games. Is touchscreen gaming the mainstream future or just a niche market? And does it matter either way?

Symbian S60 3rd Edition gaming explained

Over on All About N-Gage, we've just published a guide to S60 3rd Edition games, or "unofficial N-Gage games" as we like to call them. If you're new to S60 gaming, you might want to check out this article which goes through what S60 games are, where you can get them, how you install them and which games you should download or buy. It's written with owners of N-Gage-compatible phones in mind, but the article could equally apply to almost all S60 3rd Edition devices.