Having initially failed to lure the console-based gaming masses to the initial incarnation of its N-Gage videogame platform, Finnish mobile phone titan Nokia Corp. has duly redesigned its approach, done away with physical game software, and returned with a new online service much more attuned to the growing placement of the mobile market.
Nokia announces official launch of its new N-Gage gaming download service. Credit: Nokia.
Launched yesterday (Thursday, April 03) ahead of a formal announcement due on Monday, Nokia has boldly exclaimed via the N-Gage blog that its revamped gaming platform is now officially “up and running.”
Following a series of launch delays attributed to ongoing software tests, the new N-Gage service is initially being rolled out on a selection of Nokia’s prominent mobile devices, which are the N95 smartphone (and N95 8GB) and the N81 (and N81 8GB) and N82 multimedia phones.
While the opening handset integration may appear small ahead of Nokia’s full push into the mobile gaming space, industry analysts have outlined that those first few handsets collectively account for between 10 and 15 million existing sales for the Espoo-based company.
Any doubts surrounding Nokia’s second crack of the N-Gage whip after the spectacular failure of its opening gambit have perhaps been compounded as of late after growth in the mobile gaming industry slowed somewhat during 2007.
However, despite complaints aimed at telecommunication companies regarding a slump in marketing investment for mobile games, Nokia’s revised plan for the N-Gage platform has already garnered considerable support from mobile gaming heavyweights such as Electronic Arts, Gameloft, and Glu Mobile.
Nokia, which manufactured around 40 percent of all mobile phone devices sold worldwide in Q4 of 2007, offers that as many as 30 downloadable game titles will be available for the N-Gage service by the end of Q2, with around another 30 expected to arrive before the end of 2008.
N-Gage functions in a similar fashion to Microsoft’s Xbox Live service by allowing users to download free trial demos of games prior to full download and purchasing while also enabling players to game and communication with/against other members around the globe in the N-Gage Arena.
Games currently available now or coming soon to the N-Gage service include the likes of FIFA 08, Asphalt 3: Street Rules, Creatures of the Deep, Brain Challenge, Brothers in Arms, The Sims 2: Pets, and Worms: World Party.
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