E3 2006: Nokia's Next Gen Microsoft

[dgbfdeng2]

The N-Gage isn't dead yet. In fact, Nokia has big plans for the system everybody loved to hate.

May 10, 2006 - The Nokia N-Gage, the game-centric handset that the video game industry absolutely loved to bag on (side-talkin'!), has been mistakenly left for dead. If you've seen a horror movie, you know what happens when you don't check for a pulse -- a third-act resurrection.



And that's exactly what Nokia is doing at E3 today -- talking about resurrection.

Nokia is promoting the next generation of N-Gage, which at this point is not a specific handset, but a series of community and gaming services that work on Smartphones to deliver what Nokia believes is the true next gen of mobile gaming. Their classy E3 booth, which is undeniably cool, is stocked with prototype handsets (the N90 series) that run high-res, neo-N-Gage games like ONE, Mile High Pinball, and Creatures of the Deep. Quick play sessions with these games this afternoon revealed familiar gaming experiences (the original ONE and Mile High were two of the better reviewed N-Gage games), but with definite facelifts. Higher polygon counts, more colors, and better sound -- but playing on a high-res screens that look gorgeous.
In speaking to Nokia today, the company has no qualms about admitting that much of the inspiration for many of the new N-Gage community tools is Microsoft's incredibly successful Xbox Live. N-Gage players create identities which track game progress through trophies (essentially, Achievements), grade personal reputations, and monitor community activity, such as the number of message board posts the gamer has created on Arena services.
From this springboard, players can manage their downloaded games and demos. Creating a unified online gaming service is only part of Nokia's plan. Cleaning up the shopping experience -- which many mobile gamers say is the single worst part of the scene -- is of paramount importance. When shopping for games, players can download demos to sample game play, look at community reviews, and see media before committing a single cent.

If you read our coverage of Microsoft yesterday, some of this should sound familiar to you. Microsoft unveiled massive plans for Live Anywhere, which extends the Xbox Live experience to both Windows Vista and mobile phones. Some might think such an announcement would effectively take wind out of Nokia's sails, but company officials see it more as validation that they are steering in the proper direction.

One interesting step of the new N-Gage is that you can sync it up to your PC to manage and interact with content, but you do not need to install a standalone application like iTunes. When a N-Gage-enbaled handset is connected via USB, the PC will automatically log on to a central website where content can be managed in real time.

While Nokia is looking at downloadable content and Smartphone compatibility primarily, the company is not ruling out the return of what many competitors viewed as missteps with the original N-Gage. The N93 Smartphone is an amazing-looking media-enabled handset and only the start of a generation of high-end phones, but Nokia is considering releasing game-centric handsets that offer increased control inputs and different screen configurations. Nokia is also willing to allow games to be sold at retail locations, too. Publishers can sell CDs which users can drop in their PCs and then transfer the game over to their N-Gage phone. These plans are not yet concrete, at least as far as Nokia was willing to say today, but definite possibilities.



Smartphones are one of the fastest growing segments of the mobile market. 25 million Smartphones were sold in 2005 with an estimated 50 million to be sold by the end of 2006. That opens up a rather large audience to Nokia when the mobile maker rolls out the next-gen N-Gage service in the second quarter of 2007. Keep checking back to IGN Wireless for additional updates on the future of N-Gage, as well as sneak peeks at the games which run on the ambitious service.

[I.E.]

oh someone was telling me bout bringing that phone from europe, interesting....