N-Gage (service)

"N-Gage 2" and "second generation N-Gage" redirects here, for the redesign of the N-Gage console, see N-Gage QD.

File:New ngage logo.jpg

The new N-Gage logo

The application running on a Nokia N81

The N-Gage 2.0 (officially referred to as simply N-Gage) is Nokia's mobile gaming service that is available for several Nokia S60 3rd smartphones from the company's Nseries. It is a follow-up to the N-Gage handheld game console. N-Gage 2.0 is a part of Nokia's Ovi initiative.

Overview

The new N-Gage, also referred to as N-Gage Next Gen or the N-Gage platform/application, saw a change in concept as Nokia explained to the world during E3 2005 that they were planning on putting N-Gage inside several of their smartphone devices - rather than releasing a specific device (although their N81 model with its two dedicated gaming-buttons next to the screen is being marketed as a phone built for gaming). Working behind closed doors, it took a little more than a year before Nokia actually started showing off next-gen titles such as System Rush: Evolution and Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep, with the fighting game ONE perhaps being the most visually impressive - even making use of motion capture.

A public beta test of the N-Gage application took place from February 4, 2008 to March 27 2008 and the client was then released on April 3rd the same year for the Nokia N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95 and N95 8GB.

Compatibility

Because N-Gage 2.0 is a software based solution, the first generation MMC games are not backward compatible, though some games are making a comeback in form of a sequel (e.g. System Rush: Evolution) or a remake/port (e.g. Mile High Pinball). Similarly, games developed for this next-gen N-Gage does not work on the original N-Gage nor N-Gage QD models.

Devices

So far, the N-Gage website has the following devices listed as being compatible with the new N-Gage platform: Nokia N81, N81 8GB, N73, N82, N95, N95 8GB, N93, N93i. Nokia will continue to announce N-Gage compatible devices on an ongoing basis.

Some less powerful devices will have to wait for the client to be released which probably has to do with memory issues, as the problem is with the N73 which was pointed out in an interview.

First Access

On February 4th 2008, after several delays ever since the beginning of 2007, the new N-Gage platform was released to the public - though limited only to users of Nokia’s N81 device. This period of time was referred to as "First Access" and only a public test of the client which could be downloaded for free from the N-Gage website. While not the final version, the user had access to most of the features that the new application had to offer along with three games to try out: Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep, System Rush: Evolution and Space Impact Kappa Base. Eventually, Nokia also released Tetris, Block Breaker Deluxe and World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge for the users to try out. None of the games are entirely free but all offers a limited trial for testing purposes. In order to experience the full game - it has to be either purchased or rented.

Shortly after being released to the public, the N-Gage installation file was unpacked into components, which can be then installed separately, thus removing N81-only limitation. N-Gage has since been reported working on other Nokia N-series devices , such as N73 and N95. In response, Nokia released an advisory asking users not to install this unsupported version as it could cause errors or other issues.

On March 20th, the N-Gage blog reported that First Access would come to an end on March 27th, though all downloaded games at that time would still be playable through the application until the updated version was released - which occured on April 3rd.

Launch

After numerous delays and many vague release dates, the N-Gage platform was finally (and also quite suddenly) released to the public on April 3rd 2008 through the N-Gage official website, though only five phone models are compatible to begin with. This probably has to do with the older models being less powerful as was pointed out in an interview earlier the same year whereas an N-Gage representative mentioned some memory issues with the N73. The launch titles also changed from six to only five: Asphalt 3: Street Rules, Brain Challenge, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep System Rush: Evolution, and World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge. The first two weren't even on the original list but Block Breaker Deluxe and Tetris instead. The sixth game that was postponed was Space Impact Kappa Base. Some hours after the launch, Ikona (the man behind the official N-Gage blog) had this to say about the delay:

"We are currently ensuring Block Breaker Deluxe, Space Impact Kappa Base, and Tetris are running smoothly with our new application. These should be available in the showroom next week or two."

Four days later, on April 7th - Nokia posted their official press release commenting on the release of their new mobile service, and at which point FIFA 08 also became available for purchase.

With this release, the website also saw a small change in appearance with price tags added to all games available for download, an event calendar, a tab for support on both the application itself and N-Gage compatible devices and much more. Players logged onto the website could now also see their Reputation level, N-Gage level, and gathered N-Gage points.

There was also a release party held at the N-Gage chat room shortly after the release, with several members from the N-Gage team attending to answer any questions asked. A few t-shirts were randomly handed out during the three hour long event and everyone was also promised a few N-Gage points for coming to the "party".

As expected, the launch was not problem-free but numerous people reported having trouble downloading, purchasing and activating games, installing the application and logging on to the N-Gage Arena.

The N-Gage Application

With a user interface that resembles Microsoft’s Xbox Live service, at the top of the N-Gage launcher there are five icons that can be navigated through by simply pressing left and right on the phone’s thumb pad. These represent your games library, profile, friends list, and the showroom - all as explained thoroughly below.

File:Ngage home.jpg

Home

The launcher welcomes the user with a Home screen where the last game played is shown along with some quick links to your friends, progress (score table), the Featured Game that Nokia wants to "highlight" for this week, and your Inbox for messaging within the launcher.

File:Ngage mygames.jpg

My Games

This screen shows all the games that are currently installed on the phone - be it a Trial version or the full game (purchased or rented). The ones that are trial versions have a pink stripe that says "TRIAL" to the far right of the game icon, overlapping what looks somewhat like a battery meter that, once you pay for the game, illustrates your progress with that game. At the bottom of the list of installed games is a quick link (Get More Games) that takes you to the showroom.

Games that are not paid for will show a pop-up every time you play it - asking whether you’d like to try the free trial or either purchase or rent the game. More on this below.

From this screen, the user may also rate any of the games downloaded from 1 to 5 stars, as well as write a small verdict on it.

File:Ngage profile.jpg

My Profile

The next tab is your profile which shows how many N-Gage points you’ve scored so far from playing, your reputation level (ranging between 1-5 stars), the number of friends you have enlisted, and your chosen avatar/picture to represent you (will display a white silhouette of a person with an orange background per default). Further down is your current status (offline, online or away - the last two can each be assigned with a personal message), N-Gage Point Level, and a list of what games you have played (Gaming History). Selecting one will not only display how many points you’ve gathered within the chosen game - but also show how well your friends are doing with the same game. From here, users are also able to look at what achievements have been unlocked - or Point Pickups as they’re called.

File:Ngage myfriends.jpg

My Friends

This is where you go to add a friend to your friends list as well as check them all out. Once highlighted, you may choose to view recent conversations with the player, send them a message, view his or her profile, and rate the player. Messages can be sent regardless of whether the player is currently online or not and your friends list can be sorted by name, availability/status, or N-Gage points gathered.

File:Ngage showroom.jpg

Showroom

The Showroom displays all games that are available for download as well as Game Extras for expanding a game with extra content, such as downloading new episodes/adventures for the adventure game Dirk Dagger. Games may be browsed by genre, latest arrivals, or just in alphabetical order. Select a game and you’re able to read a small (though maybe not very informative) description of it along with details on how big it is, estimated time for downloading the game, the number of supported players, who the publisher is etc. Here you may also read what other players think of the game and view their ratings.

Payment can be made by either using a credit card or paying through the phone bill (network operator). Apart from actually purchasing a game, there’s also an option of renting one - where you only need to pay a few euro or dollars in order to get full access for a limited time of either 24 hours or a whole week. When purchased, the games are tied to the user’s account and can be re-downloaded if deleted for some reason.

Games can be downloaded directly to the phone over the air (by GPRS or WiFi), or the user may choose to download it to a computer and then install it onto the phone using a USB-cable and Nokia PC Suite.

First Access Verdicts

There have been a lot of hands-on articles with the First Access client and they all generally reflect both the positive and negative feedback of the official First Access forum, where N81 users shared their thoughts on what was good and what could've been made better - regarding both the launcher itself and the games currently available. The biggest issues at that point was that of players not being able to "activate" a purchased game but still having only the trial version to play. A lot of players have also been reporting connection issues.

Head of New Experience, Nokia Play, Jaakko Kaidesoja had this to say to Pocket Gamer in an interview on February 21st 2008 when asked about what early feedback they had received:

"The feedback has been positive and well received within the company and some critical comments were well received as well. We know it's not perfect yet and there are some features people want more of. Those are the things we want to check and get on the roadmap."

Game Reviews

The games themselves have received an overall good reception all over the Internet ever since the First Access beta, with Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep standing out as the most successive title.

Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep

• Pocket Gamer - 9/10
• All About N-Gage - 86/100
• Project NeXt - 96/100

System Rush: Evolution

• Pocket Gamer - 8/10

Space Impact Kappa Base

• Pocket Gamer - 8/10
• All About N-Gage - N/A

Block Breaker Deluxe

• Pocket Gamer - 7/10
• All About N-Gage - 78/100

Tetris

• Pocket Gamer - 8/10

World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge

• Pocket Gamer - 5/10

International Mobile Gaming Awards

Several of the N-Gage 2.0 games were nominated for International Mobile Gaming Awards in 2007. 2 out of 3 N-Gage 2.0 titles received an award:

ONE by Digital Legends

• won the Best 3D award

Dirk Dagger and the Fallen Idol by Jadestone

• won the Best Gameplay award

Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep by Infinite Dreams

• was nominated for Best Gameplay but did not receive the award

Future of N-Gage

In an interview that Pocket Gamer had with Jaakko Kaidesoja (head of New Experience, Nokia Play) on February 21st 2008, Jakko revealed that there would be "25 to 30 games released by the middle of the year" and "50 to 60 games released by the end of the year" (ideally). Nokia is currently working with game developers such as Vivendi, EA, Capcom and Gameloft only to mention a few.

In an interview that NokNok had with head of N-Gage first party games production of North America, Will Shen talked about some of the possibilities that N-Gage games can have going forward:

"Shen also stated that Nokia is seriously looking at location-based gaming via GPS, but level-headedly emphasizing that the 'focus is on innovation', and not gimmick gaming. Similarly, he echoed last week’s news of plans for touchscreen N-Gage gaming and even the possibility of first and third-party accelerometer-based games for Nseries devices with the capability."

Nokia held a presentation at GDC 2008 where spokesman Dan Scott, Global Head of Production - Nokia Games Publishing, had this to say on multiplayer gaming:

"We're going to be exploiting the capabilities of the N-Gage arena; more multiplayer gaming. As the networks become more capable, we're going to work in more real-time multiplayer. As soon as it's ready we'll be there. We're gonna be pushing the boundaries on that, we're going to be looking at MMOs."

Games library

As of April 7, 2008, there are currently 19 games in the Showroom of the N-Gage website, with many more known to be in production.

Currently announced titles are:

• Asphalt 3: Street Rules
• Block Breaker Deluxe
• Bounce Boing Voyage
• Brain Challenge
• Brothers in Arms
• Dogz
• FIFA 08
• Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep
• Midnight Pool 3D
• Mile High Pinball
• ONE (N-Gage game)|ONE
• Pro Series Golf
• Snakes Subsonic
• Space Impact Kappa Base
• System Rush: Evolution
• Tetris
• The Sims 2 Pets
• World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge
• Worms World Party

Some of these games are sequels or remakes/ports of the first generation N-Gage MMC games.

• Brain Challenge
  Brain Challenge
• Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep
  Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep
• Space Impact Kappa Base
  Space Impact Kappa Base
• World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge
  World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge
• System Rush: Evolution
  System Rush: Evolution
• Tetris
  Tetris
• ONE
  ONE
• Brothers in Arms
  Brothers in Arms

Other games that are in development but are not yet on the official N-Gage games list includes:

• Crash Bandicoot (exact game unknown)
• Creebies
• The Dark Knight (based on the film of the same name)
• DChoc Cafe™ Hold’ Em Poker
• DChoc Cafe™ Solitaire 12-Pack
• DChoc Cafe™ Sudoku
• Dirk Dagger and the Fallen Idol (also referred to as Dirk Spanner and the Fallen Idol)
• Midnight Poker
• Project White Rock
• SPEED RACER (based on the film of the same name)
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Super Mah Jong
• Super Slam Ping Pong!
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour
• World Rally Championship (FIA WRC official licence)
• Yamake

Launch titles

Six games were originally planned to be available for purchase when the service launched, with the possibility of one or two more being added, but only five made it to the launch: Asphalt 3: Street Rules, Brain Challenge, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep, System Rush: Evolution and World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge. The first two weren't even on the original list - which had Block Breaker Deluxe and Tetris on it instead. The sixth game that got postponed was Space Impact Kappa Base. Some hours after the launch, Ikona (the man behind the official N-Gage blog) had this to say about the delay:

"We are currently ensuring Block Breaker Deluxe, Space Impact Kappa Base, and Tetris are running smoothly with our new application. These should be available in the showroom next week or two."

Available games

The following list summarizes what games are available for download and purchase as of April 17th 2008.

Title	Price	Release Date
Asphalt 3: Street Rules	£8 / €10	April 3rd, 2008
Brain Challenge	£6 / €7	April 3rd, 2008
FIFA 08	£8 / €10	April 7th, 2008
Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep	£8 / €10	April 3rd, 2008
System Rush: Evolution	£8 / €10	April 3rd, 2008
World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge	£8 / €10	April 3rd, 2008

External Link

• N-Gage’s official website
• Nokia’s official website
• For The Love of Gaming, a gaming quiz, purportedly related to Project White Rock by RedLynx, background music by 8 Bit Weapon, website is owned by Nokia
• Get Out And Play, an N-Gage promoting website, owned by Nokia