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Is N-Gage The Future For Mobile Phones
by Charles March
www.mobile-phone-games-world.co.uk
On 7 October 2003, Nokia released their long awaited N-
Gage, putting it head to head with existing devices such as
Nintendo's GameBoy Advance, a product that has sold over
one hundred million units and has a huge stock of available
games.
In contrast the N-Gage launches with a handful of games,
none of which are original, most of which are based on
formats that are several years old.
When the GameBoy was originally launched it game with
a 'killer application' - Tetris. People bought the device
because they wanted to play Tetris. When Sega launched
their Mega Drive it came with Sonic. There is no such game
bundled with, or available for, the N-Gage.
So does it have a 'Killer Application'; a reason why you
and I will buy this device over a GameBoy, or the mobile
PlayStation in development by Sony?
We see two possibilities; Firstly Nokia are counting on
the fact that users will not want to carry a phone and a
games machine. There is a lot of logic in this argument. We
like playing games on our phones and to date these have
been lacking. Compared to other mobile phones, the N-Gage
is streets ahead of the competition.
It has to be said that the designers seems to have
struggled getting a phone into a games machine (or a phone
into a games console.) Having to turn the device on it's
side to make a call is unique to say the least, but this is
probably a small issue, if you can play Tomb Raider while
you are waiting for that call.
The second potential Killer App is the wireless
connectivity built into the device. The ability to compete
against other N-Gagers over Bluetooth, so avoiding paying
connection charges puts the N-Gage ahead of the
competition. Other consoles have Bluetooth add-ons in
development or are being developed to include wireless
connectivity, the Zodiac being a case in point. Nokia have
the advantage of being the first into the market. Whether
this lead time will be enough to make the N-Gage a market
leader is yet to be seen. It should give developers time to
work on new games and maybe give Nokia a foot hold in the
market.
This article courtesy of http://www.mobilephonesites.co.uk.
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