Nokia is reviving their N-Gage gaming platform. This time, the N-Gage takes the form of a software application that is installed in compatible Nseries phones. Recent phones such as the Nokia N81 8GB, N82, and N95 8GB already come with a preview N-Gage application pre-installed. The actual release was originally promised in November, but was later postponed to December.
The two earlier incarnations of the N-Gage were, to say the least, not very successful. Hopefully this time around the third try N-Gage will emerge with better results. The N-Gage is now not a specific piece of hardware, but rather a gaming application installed in a compatible phone, and surrounded by online services for downloading, trying and buying (they hope) games, as well as an online community.
Since the N-Gage will run on several different types of phones, it may be possible that the gaming experience may differ depending on actually which phone you use. For example, the top-of-the-line premium Nseries such as the N95 8GB supports portrait/landscape gaming modes, 3D engine, TV out, etc. The N73 for example, doesn’t have any of these features. The N82 won’t do landscape mode, and although I expected that the N82 does include a 3D engine, apparently this isn’t listed at the N-Gage Nokia N82 writeup.
Anyway, it won’t be long before we get to experience the new N-Gage. Actually I’m just waiting to try it out… it’s already December now but we’ve not heard any updates. Ok fine, so December isn’t over yet.
Update (31Dec2008): Nokia has postponed the launch of N-Gage again, and is now targeting early 2008. Check out reports from TrustedReviews, Softpedia and the blog posting on the N-Gage site.
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