N-Gage commercial rollout in "a matter of weeks"

Damian Koh | Mar 07, 2008

Bits of information about the upcoming N-Gage are streaming in as we inch closer toward the launch date. According to Keith Liu, head of Go-to-Market for Games in Nokia, the commercial launch of the N-Gage First Access is due "in a matter of weeks", which will probably be either this or early next month.

There will be between six and eight titles at launch, with the number expected to grow to about 30 by mid-2008. Each game will cost approximately S$15 to S$18. Although testers are now able to transfer the license key for each game on up to two handsets, end-users will not be able to do so once the service rolls out commercially.

The N-Gage platform runs on only S60 3rd Edition (and onward) devices. However, not all phones on the OS can run the application due to specific hardware and software requirements. An example would be the E65. If you are wondering whether your Samsung S60 device will be able to support the N-Gage platform, the answer is a flat no, at least for now.

We already found out earlier that Nokia intends to develop games which will make use of the imaging and GPS capabilities on a handset. Although we didn't get to see it in action, Dirk Daggers and The Fallen Idol is one of the upcoming games that is supposed to come with camera-enhanced gameplay. Meanwhile, I still want my Super Sheep and Homing Missile to have GPS striking capabilities.

Filed under: Mobile Phones
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