All About Symbian - N-Gage News

A really really easy way to install N-Gage on a compatible phone

2008-07-23T09:55:54+01:00

If you have an N-Gage-compatible phone (at the moment that means the N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95 or N95 8GB) you may like to take a look at this article over on AAN which details an ultra-simple method for installing the N-Gage application. It works entirely through the phone's browser, and doesn't require a computer at all. We've mentioned this method before in other articles, but it seems a lot of people missed it and Nokia doesn't really publicise it either, so here it is again in greater detail.

N-Gage client queue gets hijacked

2008-07-22T13:39:04+01:00

In a not unsurprising move, Nokia's XpressMusic 5320, Nokia N78 and Nokia N96 are now listed as receiving a compatible version of the N-Gage games client ahead of the older Nokia N73, Nokia N93i and Nokia N93. Let's hope the latter three don't drop off Nokia's to-do list completely.... [mutter]

N-Gage News Round-up

2008-07-19T21:49:17+01:00

It's been a busy week over on All About N-Gage, with videos, polls, sales charts, themes, the big Brothers In Arms review, and other assorted gubbins. For those of you who haven't been following AAN lately, we present a quick round-up.

- AAN's current on-going poll is attempting to find out where people play N-Gage games the most. To take part in the poll, visit this link.

- The latest global game sales chart for the N-Gage platform has been published, and you can see it on All About N-Gage.

- An interview with Scott Foe for the Portfolio.com website has apparently revealed the launch date for Reset Generation.

- All About N-Gage has done four brand new gameplay videos of the excellent Hooked On: Creatures Of The Deep, with each video covering one of the game's resorts in depth.

- An official S60 3rd Edition theme based on Pro Series Golf has been made available for download from n-gage.com.

- For those of you still a bit unsure of how to choose a club or fine-tune a shot, AAN has done a gameplay video of Pro Series Golf in action, and you can find links to tutorials on Pro Series Golf's AAN game page.

- As N-Gage is part of Nokia's Ovi suite of online services, it looks like N-Gage player names will eventually be replaced by Nokia Account usernames. If you want to make sure you get your favourite username, you should register on Nokia Account ASAP.

- Brothers In Arms has been released on the N-Gage platform, and Ewan Spence has done a screenshot-laden review of the game (along with a very justified rant about the stupidity of 20 second demos).

- AAN's survey of favourite retro computers, consoles and handhelds has closed, and the results can be read in this article.

...and that's it for another week, see you next time!

If you want to find out more about the new N-Gage platform take a look at AAN's N-Gage FAQ.

If you have a Nokia N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95 or N95 8GB you can install the N-Gage platform right now directly onto your phone, see this step-by-step tutorial on how to do it.

Nokia Account working again

2008-07-17T14:47:24+01:00

Nokia's unified login system Nokia Account is now working again and accepting new registrations, just click on the "New Account" link below the login form. As we noted before, it's not yet in use by most Ovi services, but the plan is for your Nokia Account username to replace all the separate logins Ovi currently requires. If you want to make sure you get your favourite username, it's worth registering it on Nokia Account now so you're ready for the unification. (Note that the registration only requires an e-mail address OR a phone number, you don't have to give both.)

How much should you pay for a game?

2008-07-17T10:06:41+01:00

You've written your Killer App, now it's a matter of selling it. But at what cost? Ewan thinks about the issue of pricing games and applications in the modern world. In response, Steve points out the true cost of gaming and argues that purchase price is almost irrelevant. Comments welcome!

Tuesday's review of Brothers in Arms for the Next Gen N-Gage platform led to some interesting discussions in the comments on one of the under-reported issues in mobile application development - that of the cost of a game. Even with the various options available to promote a game, be it the N-Gage's options for free demos and time limited ‘full' versions of the game at reduced cost, or Sony Ericsson's Try and Buy system of shareware demos; the ultimate decision on whether to make a purchase will usually be determined by the price of the title in question.

So how much should you charge? Well it's not an easy question to answer. The obvious reply is "as much as you can get away with", but how do you get to that number? And would you sell more copies at a lower price, thus gathering more revenue? If you work out the magic formula, let everyone know.

Read on in the full article.

Brothers In Arms storms onto N-Gage, but how good is it?

2008-07-15T15:23:08+01:00

Ride across the river with All About N-Gage's Ewan Spence as he takes a far away look at Gameloft's latest trick Brothers In Arms. The review starts with a very direct editorial about the idiocy of having a demo that lasts 20 seconds, though the full game is much longer of course and apparently it's great fun. Is it money for nothing, or is the game too strong?

Nokia's 70,000 euro game concept competition ends soon

2008-07-15T12:30:16+01:00

Nokia's Mobile Games Innovation Challenge is a contest to find the best new concepts for mobile gaming on either N-Gage, Symbian or Java. It's open to all professional game development companies, even the smallest ones, and the top three ideas will receive prize money to develop their ideas. Nokia doesn't want any actual code, they just want a text outline of an innovative unpublished game idea and optionally some mockup screenshots and/or video too. The contest closes on the 20th of August.

The top three game ideas will receive development funds as follows:

1st prize = 40,000 euros

2nd prize = 20,000 euros

3rd prize = 10,000 euros

The winners will also be offered contracts to be published on the platform their idea was intended for.

Unified login for Nokia services on the way, Nokia Account site goes live

2008-07-14T12:39:17+01:00

Nokia is going to unify its Ovi and other online services using a single login system called Nokia Account. In theory you can already register your Nokia Account username on the official website, though the registration section seems to be down for maintenance right now so you may want to check back later (it did work yesterday and many have already registered). At the moment Nokia Account is only being used by a few services, most notably Nokia Chat, but eventually it will be used by the entire Ovi suite including Ovi Share, Nokia Maps, Nokia Music, N-Gage etc. We've mentioned this before in other recent AAS items, but a lot of our readers apparently still don't know about this unification, so we thought it deserved a bit more publicity.

If you're wondering exactly how the Nokia Account service will be implemented, there's an excellent help section on the Nokia Account website which answers most of the main questions.

One interesting little nugget: If you register for Nokia Account through the Nokia Chat application, you get given a username in the form username@ovi.com, which perhaps suggests that Nokia may start an Ovi e-mail service at some point in the future?

Brothers In Arms now available on N-Gage

2008-07-13T23:27:47+01:00

The World War Two action game Brothers In Arms is now available from the N-Gage application's Showroom section. If you're having trouble seeing it, select Options and then Update Now, which should make it appear in the Latest Games section. If you still can't see it, exit N-Gage, open the phone web browser, select Options, then Clear Privacy Data, then Clear Cache, close the browser, start N-Gage up and click on the Available Games section of the Showroom. (Thanks to ccraig for tipping us off about the release)

The unpacked installation file weighs in at a massive 37 megabytes, so this game can take many minutes to install. Don't worry if the installation seems to be progressing slowly, it does get there eventually.

If you haven't yet got N-Gage on your phone, here's a step-by-step guide on how to install it. The platform is currently compatible with the Nokia N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95 and N95 8GB, with more phones due to be added fairly soon.

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

2008-07-05T09:24:21+01:00

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.

"The developers have done a stunning job in optimising their 3D code, with hole flybys and ball animations appearing surprisingly fluid and with only the occasional stutter and the rapidly warming device alerting you to the fact that the phone's processor is working flat out to generate your virtual golfing world. (In fact, playing an hour of Pro Series Golf is enough to get through half a full charge on an N95 8GB - but seeing as I've just explained why the battery is being hammered so much, I think this is acceptable.)"

Read on

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

2008-07-05T05:26:10+01:00

If you've purchased the rather good Pro Series Golf, 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

2008-07-03T11:17:46+01:00

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.

The Telenor follows on from similar announcements from Vodafone, Telefonica, TIM, Orange and T-Mobile. It is interesting to see that 10 months on from the birth of Ovi that initial operator resistance to Ovi has largely crumbled away, much as we expected. Nokia is placing itself in a very strong position to deliver its Ovi service platform to a larger number of users. Its agreement with operators should give it a significant strategic advantage over it rivals.

Here's an extract from the press release:

"Our ambition is to be a leading operator providing new and user-friendly services accessible on mobile devices. The agreement with Nokia is the beginning of an exciting collaboration where we will extensively deploy the capabilities of our high-speed third generation mobile network," said Morten Karlsen Soerby, Executive Vice President and Head of Telenor Nordic.

"We are pleased to announce this cooperation with Telenor and strongly believe that it will lead the way in the Scandinavian market in integrating devices and services together. Openness is at the core of the Ovi environment and we are constantly looking for new ways to offer consumers a great variety of experiences that they can choose from according to their own preferences," said Timo Ihamuotila, Executive Vice President of Sales, Nokia.

Pro Series Golf gets underway

2008-07-02T23:01:15+01:00

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.

Initial impressions are good, although it'll take a while to master the controls and really push the game. You'll get a flavour from these screens - it's midnight now and I'll doutbless be playing this much of tomorrow.... 8-)

Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 2 July 2008

Disappointing games: N-Gage no different

2008-06-30T13:24:57+01:00

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.

Read on

Midnight Pool proves a wasted opportunity

2008-06-29T17:45:55+01:00

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.