In today’s issue of Edge, the future of electronic entertainment industry magazine, is an article confirming the internet images of the next N-Gage. Mark Squires, Nokia UK’s Director of corporate communications, talks about the new N-Gage. ‘The new device concentrates on the gaming side of things, and adds a number of changes’. These include: Slightly smaller footprint but thicker 65,000 colours rather than 4,096 to improve clarity No more side talking Hot-swapping MMC cards In addition Mark Squires hints that the original ‘contains an MP3 player and a number of other things, like the radio’, where as the new ‘device is a pure gaming experience’. So it looks like the MP3 player and radio are not included.
N-Gage QD aka N-Gage 2 launched on www.N-Gage.com, quote below: 'Meet the newest member of the N-Gage family! The N-Gage QD game deck has all the gaming features of the original game deck, plus a few welcome adjustments - like hot swap for your game cards. We trimmed off the MP3 player (and some of the price!), gave it a slick, non-sidetalking design, and shrunk it all down so it fits better in your pocket. The N-Gage Arena launcher software is also pre-installed and ready to go, so you're that much closer to owning the mobile gaming world. Hey, you talked, we listened!' P.S. Interestingly in the specs it says that its still only has a 4096-color screen.
Before you skim past this post and say "Oh no It's that idiot bashing N-Gage again", I'd like to say this post is actually more about the industry in general but is being posted here because it;s the only current thread in which this subject comes up. Has anyone noticed that console lifetimes seem to be getting smaller and smaller? I mean, it's only been about a year since Nokia released the N-Gage and they've already released concrete specs for and actual pics of the sequel. No one's giving the consoles long enough to shine and start producing some really good quality games, I mean the Xbox has been slogging along with only one really good exclusive game for almost a year but now there are several realy good looking games on the cards that will come out over the next six months. That's a whole year with only Halo to keep it afloat (shut up Dionysos and DOTMS, I know what you're gonna say)! The N-Gage has been out for even less and already the sequel has been announced, does that really seem fair to you?
The simple answer that is what Nokia do, they release a phone then update it every 6-12 months. Having played with the QD which is out next month I'm upgrading.
What they don't seem to grasp is that N-Gage is supposed to be a games console as well as a phone, and therefore will be more expensive for both them and their customers. It may deter any N-Gage fans from supporting them in future because, in their opinion, there would be no point in buying one if a superior equivalent is going to appear in six months time. This is the console industry, not the phone industry. The two have different sets of rules and Nokia will need to adapt to these rules to survive. Consoles need time to shine, and seeing as the N-Gage is closer to a console than a phone it needs more than a mere 12 months. Phones are closer to games software than consoles, which mean they need the regular updates or people will grow bored of them. Nokia is treating the N-Gage as a phone and not a console, which is a bad idea seeing as the console idea is supposed to its main selling point!
The format stays the same, thus giving people the choice of an all in one device or a cheap game phone. This will increase the user base and so the number of games. It's a model Nokia have used to become the biggest mobile phone manufacture and ranked inside the top 20 company of the world, so I don't see them changing it.
Definately looks easier on the ol' fingers as well, which was one of the reasons I didn't like the original: Long fingers like mine are good for playing guitar but they sure give you hell when playing on an N-Gage.
