Nokia bringing N-Gage beta testing to an end, dishes out free game
Well, it looks like we're now one step closer to a full-fledged launch of Nokia's N-Gage First Access service, with the company announcing today that the beta testing phase will end on March 27th. As was announced before, that means all your scores and other data will be reset and, while you won't have to repurchase any games you've bought during the beta test, you will have to reinstall them when the final version launches. As a bonus for beta testers, however, Nokia is giving away a free copy of the upcoming Mile High Pinball game to anyone that completes a survey, along with 1,000 "community points." There's still no firm word on the rollout of the final version of the service, however, with Nokia only going so far as to say that it's coming in the "next few weeks."
[Via All About Symbian]
[Via All About Symbian]
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
iPhone Games @ Mar 20th 2008 12:56PM
Sorry, I don't think the games for the N-Gage will ever touch what will come out for the iPhone.
Once the big companies get a taste of what they can do with the SDK it's going to get crazy! :)
But that's just my hyper-biased opinion.
- Max
http://iphonegaming.com
Sandy @ Mar 20th 2008 1:16PM
Idiot.
I don't think mobile phone games will ever get up to the standards of dedicated handheld gaming devices, they will however offer a welcome change.
We'll have to wait and see though.
Daren @ Mar 20th 2008 1:16PM
Not pushing your own website at all I see?...
wootman @ Mar 20th 2008 9:04PM
actually, this has a major advantage over the iphone, in that it has a xbox live like interface, allowing for friends, online play vs others, and reputation and achievements.
and it will most likely have 5x as many games, thanks to their active searching of games, and a real D-pad and A/B buttons (on the n81 and n96)
too bad we have no n96 statesite yet.
Poom @ Mar 21st 2008 2:05AM
Complete idiot. Not only that there are wayyyy more phones that will work with the N-Gage platform, the platform itself is specifically designed for gaming and interactive community. Get educated before you post.
iPhone Games @ Mar 21st 2008 11:55AM
Poof - While I agree with you that there are more phones which will be compatible with the N-Gage you fail to recognize that there are huge strides being taken with the iPhone SDK. EA announcing they'll make games, GameLoft doing the same. On top of this you have a massive community which is dedicated to all Apple products - giving them instant clout.
The two platforms resemble each other in a few ways but IMHO they won't touch what comes out for the iPhone....again...IMHO.
iPhone Games @ Mar 21st 2008 11:56AM
Sorry, POOM :)
y3k.nik @ Mar 20th 2008 1:00PM
Nokia has failed once before with the N Gage concept, it is going to be interesting to see what happens again especially with all the iPhone hype.
But, as far as the numbers go, there are wayyyyyy more Nokia phones in the world than the iPhones, so if Nokia does it right this time around, if may indeed become DS or a PSP competitor.
Very interesting indeed
Pdexter @ Mar 20th 2008 2:06PM
Nokia got it right this time by not releasing game phones more like providing game soft. I cant see this being a flop, but i dont think it will make any difference to Nintendos and Sonys sale numbers either. Ngage got alot of potential like above poster said because of the over million phones Nokia sells a day....though of course many of them arent going to be able to run Ngage games ;)
Games have been looking good on my N95 8GB!
y3k.nik @ Mar 20th 2008 2:32PM
I agree, back in the days when I had my 6680, it was fun playing games on it.
Ever since I moved onto Windows Mobile, because I fancied the touch screen, stopped playing games completely on my phone.
Although, my DS took care of my gaming on the move problem after that, so it was all good.
Jack @ Mar 20th 2008 1:28PM
The picture above looks strangly similar to xbox live...
Peacho @ Mar 20th 2008 4:39PM
I agree, that's immediately what I thought of when I saw it.
Jack @ Mar 20th 2008 8:41PM
I immediatly noticed that and thought it was strange.
krisse @ Mar 20th 2008 3:04PM
Erm... "First Access" isn't the name of the service, it's the name of the beta test. First Access is what's ending. The actual full service is just called "N-Gage".
--Once the big companies get a taste of what they can do with the SDK it's going to get crazy! :)--
Gaming has never been about what you can do with a platform, it's only ever been about how many people buy games on a platform. The publishers are there to sell games, not to make tech demos.
The Atari 2600, PS2, NES etc etc were technically significantly worse than their rivals, but became dominant platforms because they had far more users than anyone else.
iPhone Games @ Mar 20th 2008 3:43PM
Ouch. Thanks for the friendly remarks Sandy.
You can now go back to being the Internet master.
Thank you.
peacebyanymeans (AKA: Moorio) @ Mar 20th 2008 3:52PM
Wow... that looks awfully a lot like a 360 gamercard...
Not that that's a bad thing, it's actually makes me a bit more interested in NGage's whatever-the-hell-they're-doing thing.
...
I'm still waiting for Live Anywhere on my cellphone, Microsoft! >:(
SoreThumb @ Mar 20th 2008 4:40PM
I think that this whole gaming platform/network requires somebody to own an N-Gage. That's probably why the game network's called "First" access: nobody's used it yet.