Quote Nokia believes it can lure consumers away from Sony and Nintendo’s handheld platforms with its next-gen range of mobile phones. Established publishers and developers have already signed up to produce content for the Finnish giant’s Nseries phones and S60 software, which are due for release early next year.
And now Nokia’s head of games for UK and Ireland Martin O’Driscoll has told ME sister magazine MCV that games consumers will be forced to make a choice between its mobiles, Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS.
He added: “The consumer will have to make a decision: does he wants a standalone gaming device with a limited browsing capability or a phone with an MP3 player, a camera and a bloody good games platform? I think consumers will be prepared to spend £300* on a phone that offers all those different things rather than £100 to £150 for a standalone games machine.”
£300 = close to $600 I don't know about any of you, but I've never come close to paying anything close to $600 for a cell phone, regardless of what it can do.
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: UncleBob on December 05, 2006, 05:43:29 AM
That sounds really close to Sony's PSP vs. DS arguement...
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: vudu on December 05, 2006, 05:50:04 AM
I happen to like having different devices for playing games, talking on the phone, organizing and listening to music. I'd rather not try to cram all of that into one single costly gadget.
You'd think Nokia would have learned its lesson the first time.
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: Ian Sane on December 05, 2006, 06:15:32 AM
"a phone with an MP3 player, a camera and a bloody good games platform"
Sounds great. Too bad Nokia isn't making one! HA!
My cell phone came free with my plan. That'll give you an idea of how much functionality I really want from a cell phone.
Title: RE:Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: JonLeung on December 05, 2006, 06:29:05 AM
Isn't the NGage name tarnished? How many times have you heard "You bought an NGage, didn't you?" used as an insult on the Internet?
Even if they changed the name to Nteractive or Ntertainment or Ngrossing or anything else, Nokia's name is probably tarnished enough that people wouldn't even give it a second glance (or even a first if they sensed it was coming).
The PSP sucks, IMO, but even that is a much better purchase than an NGage. By far. Multiple times over.
The only reason I walked through the Nokia booth a couple times at E3 was because they had these mist walls that were cool (literally) to walk through.
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: KDR_11k on December 05, 2006, 07:01:54 AM
Their only chance is to appeal to the bling lovers or just to put these as free phones for contracts.
But really, I don't think it's a good idea to converge entertainment and productivity devices (game/movie/music player and cellphone/calendar/mobile internet/...) when they're running on a battery since it means your entertainment can drain the battery and leave you dry when you really need the productivity features. Would suck if you couldn't place a call because you just ran out of battery listening to music.
Title: RE:Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: UncleBob on December 05, 2006, 07:04:08 AM
Quote Originally posted by: JonLeung Isn't the NGage name tarnished? How many times have you heard "You bought an NGage, didn't you?" used as an insult on the Internet?
Even if they changed the name to Nteractive or Ntertainment or Ngrossing or anything else, Nokia's name is probably tarnished enough that people wouldn't even give it a second glance (or even a first if they sensed it was coming).
What if they changed it to NtendoDS?
Title: RE:Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on December 05, 2006, 07:38:02 AM
Quote Originally posted by: UncleBob
Quote Originally posted by: JonLeung Isn't the NGage name tarnished? How many times have you heard "You bought an NGage, didn't you?" used as an insult on the Internet?
Even if they changed the name to Nteractive or Ntertainment or Ngrossing or anything else, Nokia's name is probably tarnished enough that people wouldn't even give it a second glance (or even a first if they sensed it was coming).
What if they changed it to NtendoDS?
They would be better off releasing a DS phone card with a GBA cell antenna attachment. A touch screen keypad, in conjunction with the mic and headphone set-up, might actually be a better investment for them.
Or just release the whole package inside of a GBA cart so that we could still kep an active DS game in the slot, and then you have a possible winner on your hands.
Title: RE:Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: segagamer12 on December 14, 2006, 04:38:52 PM
dude I am so gonna buy that for sure. I can put it next to my psp and sega nomad that never get any play time. Nokia you rock!
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: nitsu niflheim on December 15, 2006, 05:43:35 AM
just go away and die already, we don't want your crappy offerings, stop trying to shove your crap down our throats, Nokia!!!!!
Title: RE:Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: vudu on December 15, 2006, 06:06:24 AM
Quote Originally posted by: nitsu niflheim just go away and die already, we don't want your crappy offerings, stop trying to shove your crap down our throats, Nokia!!!!!
Until I got to the last word of your post I thought you were talking to segagamer. Even though I thought it was a little harsh, I laughed.
Title: RE:Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: JonLeung on December 15, 2006, 06:31:11 AM
LOL, so did I. XD
Nintendo dominates handheld gaming. The fact that the DS vs. the PSP has the DS on top shows that you can't simply outmuscle Nintendo's offering, or expect that a popular brand name like the PlayStation will win against Nintendo's.
It would be difficult to really challenge the DS...if the PSP can't do it, someone with a much more tarnished name like Nokia doesn't have a chance. AT ALL.
Still, it would be interesting to see if there's any tech geek in the world who has a Gizmondo, Zodiac TapWave (?), that other thing whose name escapes me now, and that one other thing. You know, those wannabe handhelds that promised so much but were lucky if they even made it to a store. The few of them out there would probably be worth a lot just because there are so few of them, but its worth would only be seen by other tech geeks - if only there were any good games on them!
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on December 15, 2006, 08:20:23 AM
Nokia is just laffo and they're probably try to get the NgageDEUX into the next Bond movie.
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: couchmonkey on December 15, 2006, 09:13:09 AM
Nokia's approach proves that they don't get it. PSP is already more powerful and multifunctional than DS and it's failing hard. I think there is a market for game-playing cell phones, but it's a very casual market that deserves a different approach from competing head-to-head with the big handheld systems. Nokia would be better off seeking ways to better satisfy the traditional cell-phone gaming customer base. For example, join forces with Sega to offer a "virtual console" for cell phones. Nintendo would be an even better choice, but I bet Nintendo would see it as competition for their next handheld.
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on December 15, 2006, 09:35:31 AM
Ever since Nintendo revealed the GB micro I've wanted to see it built into a cell phone. Ideally, it would look like the GB micro normally, and you could play GBA games on it without ever noticing it was a phone. To use the phone function, you'd slide the mic and number pad out from under it.
Title: RE:Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: nitsu niflheim on December 16, 2006, 01:19:25 PM
Quote Originally posted by: vudu
Quote Originally posted by: nitsu niflheim just go away and die already, we don't want your crappy offerings, stop trying to shove your crap down our throats, Nokia!!!!!
Until I got to the last word of your post I thought you were talking to segagamer. Even though I thought it was a little harsh, I laughed.
I didn't want to look like I was attacking someone and then have to defend myself so I made sure that it was targeted at Nokia and not anyone who had previously commented.
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: BranDonk Kong on December 17, 2006, 03:14:50 AM
Why would anyone be FORCED to choose between a cell phone and a portable gaming system? I already have both.
Title: RE:Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: segagamer12 on December 17, 2006, 05:07:49 AM
I already tried killing myself once it didnt work sadly Im am still here.
Oh wait you were talking to Nokia, whew. Ok well then nevermind....
Serioulsy NOBODY gets it. GB was 2 colors (if you can callit color) 8 bit and clunky as hell. Lynks was FULL COLOR, 16 Bit and designed for rigthies or lefties and had Atari support when they still mattered. Game Gear was FULL COLOR and could watch TV onit or play MS games (superior NES ports) and the 2 color brick out sold them leaps and bounds.
The COLOR GB which was still 8 bit killed off the 16 bit Full Color Neo Geo Pocket Color which had Excellent games and the 16 bit portable Genesis
32 bit GBA killed of cellphone, pc, gamincmachine, evertyghing else in a box Ngage before it even came out.
N64 Mini with extra screan is killing Ps2-minidvdwannabe- walkman- super hype machine-
what makes Nokia so stupid?
Title: RE: Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: Ceric on December 17, 2006, 12:43:21 PM
On an unrelated note I wouldn't mind seeing some games from the Neo Geo Pockets, WonderSwans, and other portable consoles I never got to play show up on the VC or the handheld equivalent.
Title: RE:Nokia set to NGage the handheld sector one more time!!
Post by: segagamer12 on December 18, 2006, 05:08:37 AM
Neo Geo Console/arcade games woudl be better than the horrible pocket versions. But Gb and GG had soem great games that could show up if Nintendo runs out of console games to distribute.