Nokia Abandons N-Gage Gaming

[Lazlow]

Handset maker Nokia plans to shut down its N-Gage games service in 2010, the firm has announced.

N-Gage was a mobile gaming platform launched by Nokia in April 2008 with about 30 games available for download direct to certain Nokia handsets.

No new N-Gage games will be released, although users will be able buy existing games until the end of September 2010.

The N-Gage community website will be available until the end of the year.

N-Gage had a difficult birth - an earlier version which launched in 2003 also failed to capture the market.

In the future all games available to Nokia handset owners will be shifted to its apps store, Ovi Store.

"It's much more convenient to have one place to get all your mobile games, and this it what Ovi Store provides," said Nokia on the N-Gage blog.

"Mobile gaming is one of the most popular activities in the Ovi Store, with games being the second most downloaded category for premium content."

People commenting on the blog were generally saddened by the news.

"Sorry to hear it, N-Gage was a pioneer in many ways," posted a blog reader called Jo.

But not everybody was in mourning.

"I am so happy that we get into this point," wrote Frax. "N-Gage2 was simply a joke..."

Nokia has recently taken a financial hit after sales dropped by one fifth in the last quarter.

The Finnish company made a net loss of 913m euros (£838m) between July and September 2009 - during the same period in 2008 it made a profit of 1.1bn euros.



Writing was on the wall when they suffered their first losses in a decade.

[JimmyKane]

The N-Gage is still around?

[Pauly]

Not THE N-Gage. But I'm pretty sure that all N series phones are the modern N-gage.

[SOX]

They have an app on the N series phones called N-Gage. It's like an emptier App Store with pricier games and achievements.
I played a fair few of them and they were onto something but obviously Apple did it and advertised it muchhhhhhhhh better so it's no surprise they are abandoning it.
It actually had the Metal Gear Solid for mobile on the store (the only game I ever dropped cash on in there). It had decent graphics but was criminally short. The gimmick in it was that you used the phone's camera to change the colour of your camo.

[Serenity]

The N-Gage is still around?

That's exactly what I thought when I saw this topic.

[TrinityJayOne]

Sounds like Nokia now have time to N-Gage in something useful, like making a phone that includes all their good ideas instead of randomly not including things in an otherwise awesome phone* (eg- removable memory).

* I haven't had a Nokia in a few years, so this may no longer apply...I just wanted to make a pun >_>

[fishfishmonkeyhat]

2010...

handset maker nokia plans to shut down its ovi store games service this year, the firm has announced.

"oh god, i just bought a new house!" said nokia on the n-gage blog.

[JubeiSaotome]

http://i36.tinypic.com/2rm33ip.jpg

[StorminNorman]

Nokia (http://www.apple.com/iphone) is (http://www.android.com/) doomed (http://www.blackberry.com/) anyway, so this is not surprising.

[aubergine]

Nokia peaked at the 3315 unfortunately. After the bombs fall, its time will come again, 3315's will be the holocaust survivor's phone of choice.

[Fenrir]

Nokia (http://www.apple.com/iphone) is (http://www.android.com/) doomed (http://www.blackberry.com/) anyway, so this is not surprising.
No HTC mention, therefore not canonical.

[Stevorooni]

Nokia 6085 still going strong and it does everything I need a phone to do

[sausage]

http://imgs.idnes.cz/mob_prakticky/A030625_RUDI_KROLLOP_MOTOROLA-DYNATAC__N.JPG

lol portable telephones; whatever will they think of next.

[StorminNorman]

No HTC mention, therefore not canonical.

As I recall, HTC make Android phones, which was the middle link there.

[McChimp]

http://media.newtimes.com/1935286.47.gif

Seriously, when a mobile gaming solution/ phone needs to have the battery removed every time you insert/ remove a game, and their 'genius' initial model had to be held like the notorious 'Ngage Taco'...

http://www.bruceongames.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/ngage-taco.jpg

....THAT is an instant FAIL. The fact that they've still got ANYTHING running, relating to the Taco, amazes me. That thing failed the minute it left R & D.

Oh, and that's not me in that picture. I look slightly less retarded.

[Vindik8or]

Oh, and that's not me in that picture. I look slightly less retarded.

I'm not convinced.

[SOX]

Kinda shows how the failed again if all of you guys have nfi what n-gage currently is..

[Fenrir]

I had kinda hoped that Nokia's hardware division would crumble first, and that they'd offer the N-Gage software platform/service for other phones.

I er, don't really care much, though.

As I recall, HTC make Android phones, which was the middle link there.
Doesn't really register with me, since their better phones run Windows Mobile, and the ones running Android at the moment are a sort of sideshow. On that note, I don't even think Android has achieved notability, really.

Also, if your list is by operating system, I'll blatantly point out that you're missing Windows Mobile.

[StorminNorman]

That's because Windows Mobile is almost as much of a joke as Symbian.

[McChimp]

I had a Windows Mobile until recently........until it 'accidentally' struck a wall at about 100 km/h. Calling it absolute crap would be doing the term 'absolute crap' a disservice.

[RunningMild]

Nokia peaked at the 3315 unfortunately. After the bombs fall, its time will come again, 3315's will be the holocaust survivor's phone of choice.

The new Star Trek film seems to support your theory. :p

[Fenrir]

That's because Windows Mobile is almost as much of a joke as Symbian.
I currently consider it at better option than the still-immature Android (though I strongly admire the move to a JVM-based managed platform, I'm really not convinced of Dalvik), which is considerably better than Darth Jobs' iPhone OS (seriously, no background processes? No JVM? Yet another vertical integration? **** off).

[Lex]

Used an iPhone before, rap? It doesn't need shit running in the background, and if my friends windows mobile is anything to go by, it's better off without it. lovely and snappy - the way a phone should be.

[Fenrir]

I can only conclude that we are very, very different people. I should probably just leave it at that.

[SOX]

Sure there isn't any multitasking but it is so polished and usable that the only person that could have a beef with the system or at least not appreciate what it is, is someone misinformed or without experience with the platform.

Android looks like it has potential and I'd like to give it a bash.

[Fenrir]

Sure there isn't any multitasking but it is so polished and usable that the only person that could have a beef with the system or at least not appreciate what it is, is someone misinformed or without experience with the platform.
It's not that I have a beef with the system, per se - Apple's aesthetic will always clash with me, but functionally the thing is quite effective - it's that I can't tolerate having what I'm allowed to do with the system dictated to me by Apple. The no JVM bit probably irritates me more than the background process functionality Apple have switched off, though.
I personally don't want to get a Mac just to write apps for the damn thing, either, but I'm probably not about to lump that complaint on Apple.

I don't really see any sense in the Windows Mobile hate going on in here, anyway. Stormin's Mac bias and culturally-ingrained power-user hubris made his opinion predictable, and I could've paraphrased Lex's response before even reading it thanks to his two-bit mindset and predisposition to chiding me; but I've been using a Windows Mobile-based system for a while now and really, really like the OS.
The rest of your opinions really don't compute from there - there must be some mitigating factors or systemic bias, or maybe you had shit hardware, but you're unquestionably wrong on this one regardless. To me the only discussion worth having here, would be figuring out exactly where you were led astray.

Android looks like it has potential and I'd like to give it a bash.
Yeah, this, definitely. It could probably end up replacing Windows Mobile for me, but I'm holding on to my reservations about the Dalvik VM, etc.

[Lex]

Hahaha what? YOUR ARGUMENT ARE INVALID BECAUSE I DO NOT AGREE WITH THEM.

You're a joke dude.

[Fenrir]

Seriously, Lex - if you took home a game, played it, absolutely loved every second of it, and then went online to find it had received a Metacritic score of ~30 and gamers everywhere were rubbishing it, you wouldn't be swayed by such bullshit, would you?

[Lex]

What's that got to do with anything? No, Seriously.

[tau]

He took home windows mobile, played it, absolutely loved every second of it and then went online to find it had recieved a Hypercritic score of ~30 and users everywhere were rubishing it. He isn't going to be swayed!

[Lex]

Ohhhhhh. Lol.

[Fenrir]

Stormin: I'm calling in my developer veto on this one. >_>

But seriously, you disagree, good for you. I can tell you that Windows Mobile has a strong following, a strong presence in business, and isn't likely to be leaving the market any time soon*, though, and probably should be mentioned as far as forces likely to undo Nokia are concerned.

*In favour of anything that isn't tabled by Microsoft as a replacement, that is. I think Microsoft will stick with 6.5 for a while though.

What's that got to do with anything? No, Seriously.
I guess the easiest answer is that it's subjective, and in forming my own subjective opinion my own personal experiences are far more significant than the majority of others' subjective opinions. So I'll go with that.

If you want to argue that there's a measure of objectivity in which OS is better, then keep in mind I already mentioned several more objective measures (solid core functionality like background processes, et al), and usability is probably the most subjective consideration of all (not to mention hardware-dependent).

Oh, and if you felt there was an objective air about my words and this entire piss-and-moan is over that, it's probably worth looking over other posts here, and anywhere on any subjective subject in IT. I was at least kind enough to say "you're wrong because I really, really like Windows Mobile", which is a little less zealous than the typical IT flame war.

[Australian Ninja]

Nokia N-Gage 4 life!!

[Australian Ninja]

But seriously, didn't they dump all of them in landfill by this point? I'd prefer they just bundled up all the N-Gage's in a giant net thing and have Superman throw them into the sun like he did with those missiles in that movie of his.

[StorminNorman]

Now, if only Nokia would do that with the rest of their shitty phones.