Somehow the first time it came around I totally missed out on the whole N-Gage craze, so when I went to meet with the people from Nokia this time around, I was determined to catch up. Or at least try my best to. Thankfully it seems that Nokia's goal this time around is to reach people just like myself. That is, people who are gamers, own a cell phone, but so far seem to have been missing combining the two experiences into one. My thoughts on mobile phone gaming are that it has always been too hard to find the games, to know what games will work on my phone with my carrier, and know ahead of time exactly what it is I'm paying for. Solving these problems is one of Nokia's primary goal with their new N-Gage system. For those like me who aren't familiar with what N-Gage is now, it basically is a hand held game system and phone combined. And, well, to put it politely, it has generally been considered a flop; didn't really work well as a gaming platform, and didn't work as a phone either. Nokia is trying to fix that by revamping both the devices that N-Gage will be offered on, and changing the service itself in this next generation of gaming experience. I had an opportunity to meet with Dr. Mark Ollila, Director of Technology and Strategy at Nokia Games Publishing, during the Game Developer's Conference last week. The first, and most encouraging news, he had to share was that the new N-Gage will be available on between 5 and 7 devices at launch this fall. This will give consumers some choice in what features they want on their N-Gage capable phone, as well as a wider variety of price ranges hopefully.
So what will the new N-Gage experience be? Simply put, it will be a community of users coming together around cell phone gaming. In addition to tracking your experience with the games, marking milestones in games, and having “trophies” for various games, you'll also be able to build a reputation as a gamer in the community. More of the games will have a multiplayer component to them than in the past, though not really be multiplayer games. It looked more like a place for gamers to compete with others for high scores than to play directly against one another. Some of the games will be multiplayer over local area through Bluetooth technology, but we didn't see any of them demonstrated at GDC. They have also improved the 3D graphics capabilities on the new systems, giving a smoother overall gameplay experience. Some of the games were rather impressive looking, especially considering they were being played on a cell phone.
The other part of their presentation was geared more toward the game developers who were attending the conference. They introduced SNAP Mobile to us. SNAP stands for Scalable Network Application Package. It is Nokia's platform for developing Java based mobile games to be played on the new N-Gage experience. The complete package includes game development tools, client-server technology, service hosting and community management tools. It seemed to be an accessible tool set for the developer who wanted to make and publish their game on Nokia's platform. For those interested, you can find more information on SNAP on the Nokia Mobile Website.
In general it seemed that Nokia is on the right path toward bringing mobile gaming to an audience that had no previously experienced it through their new “N-Gage Experience”. If they can simply overcome the hurdle of helping customers figure out what games are available on their device and their carrier, they will be well on their way as far as I'm concerned. The next step will be making the devices that play these games affordable to the average consumer, but whether they have been able to do that or not will have to be seen in the fall when the new devices are released. In the mean time, hopefully developers interested in creating new games for mobile will take advantage of the SNAP technology and get to work on making something that will be that final step toward making me feel like I really NEED a new phone if I want to truly call myself a gamer.
I’ve played computer games since college, addicted first to story type games like Might and Magic. I have 3 children who also love computer games. My oldest son is a typical kid who loves the challenge of pressing the right combination of buttons and levers on a joystick in just the right way to make something happens, and frequently gets frustrated with mom’s slow fingers. ;) We use computers for both education and entertainment, and sometimes even bribery for good behavior.
The “glory days” of computer gaming for me were when games like Spectre Supreme, Pirate’s Gold, the Might and Magic series, the original Prince of Persia… those sorts of games were coming out on a regular basis. Back then I owned a Macintosh and was a die hard Mac fan. I was one of the first in my area to buy an iMac and on it learned the joy of playing games on the internet like daily crossword puzzle and “mind bender” type puzzles. My first online RPG was given to me for Christmas the year EQ was released, and I was hooked from day one. I played EQ for about a year. I started playing DaoC during late alpha testing, and was hooked on it.. well, to be honest I still am. I’ve tried pretty much every MMORPG I can get my hands on, from big names like EQ, to more obscure ones such as Underlight. I’ve been writing for IMGS since the first DaoC guide, and find I love the challenge of learning a game and presenting what I’ve learned (and sometimes my opinions), to other players.
I’m not a very strong player as far as learning PvE or quick reaction times, so I tend to stay away from games where I’m pitted against someone else in a way that requires physical (rather than mental) response. I still enjoy story and puzzle games, and in a way that’s how I still approach online games. I would much rather spend hours working through a quest than 5 minutes in combat against another player. I still get lost in simulation type games, obsessing over them until I’ve gotten them beaten. And I like being able to sit down at the computer when I’ve got less than half an hour and playing through a few levels of a puzzle game. I tend not to like first-person shooter type games, or anything with person to person violence, so I steer away from them unless they are fantasy based settings. All in all, I enjoy computer gaming so much that my life feels incomplete somehow when my computer is down.
