N-Gage success or failure?

[Vandenh]

The Register has an article (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/03/nokia_n-gage_numbers/) about the sales figures of the N-Gage.

Which is, of course, what it should have done at the start. When the N-Gage was launched, Nokia was adamant that the device was a console first and a phone a distant second. Such a notion was doomed from the start: its phone heritage was blatantly obvious - the tiny screen, primarily - and Nokia needed carriers to subsidise the device's price to make it affordable. Inevitably, consumers were going to treat it as a game-playing phone, and arguably Nokia should have accepted that and pushed a multimedia handset rather than something that wasn't a good console and wasn't a good phone either.
At a German games fair last month I saw and played Settlers of Catan on the N-Gage and it was very good. Sadly my N-Gage broke down so many times that I have left the Nokia camp a long time ago. A missed opportunity?

[fitbabits]

A failure. There's no other way to look at it. From the infamous 'side-talking' to the horribly designed first model, there's little left to be positive about.

Whether it was a missed opportunity is harder to answer.

[m0nk3yb0y]

I played One at Gencon and it was surprisingly good. The frame rate wasn't absolute shit like a lot of the other games. I have an N-Gage but I hate the damned thing. I can never hear well out of it. I love the Settlers of Catan boardgame, so I might have to check it out. And by check it out, I mean download it.

[Librum]

It's hard to conceive how much money and effort was wasted on both the Ngage designs that showed up here in the states. It was pathetic to see them sit and slowly gather dust at the local Gamestop while the price went down, and then down again, and then one day, they were all gone. I never saw a single person ever using one in public. So, in case that's not clear enough, I vote dismal failure.

[The Iron Weasel]

The thing is the laughing stock of the gaming community (the gizmondo is going to do that WAY better then the N-Gage ever did).....I'm pretty sure failure

[DigitalFirefly]

I also hated the loud movie theater commercials for Ashen on the N-Gage.

[Ka_Feosh]

I liked my N-Gage QD enough that I got another one when I switched carriers. Granted, both have been free with long term contracts. The QD wasn't a bad device (although it could have used the stereo MP3 support of the first model). When trying to sell a device to gamers as a gaming device, though, it's wise to not wait nearly two years to start putting out good titles. If there's a bone in your body that loves turn based strategy, you owe it to yourself to pick one up.

If you ever pick one up, I recommend: Pathway to Glory (and it's sequal that comes out next month), Catan, Rifts, Worms: World Party and High Seize for starters. Civilization is coming out soon (which is mostly based on the second game) and there's a turn based Warhammer game coming out next year.

Did I mention these all have online play if you have mobile web access through your carrier?</NearFanboyism>

Overall, though, the thing was a dismal failure. The early commercials didn't really even tell you what the thing was, the only people who knew anything about it were gamers who recognized the fact that 19/20 of the titles from the first year and a half blew hardcore, and the first model was an engineering nightmare. They really should have plugged it as a phone for gamers and gone through cell carriers instead of retail stores, not to mention better educate the general public and sign some good developers early on.

[Ka_Feosh]

I also hated the loud movie theater commercials for Ashen on the N-Gage.
Yeah, those commercials were terrible.... Come to think of it, almost all the N-Gage commercials were terrible.....

Ashen was fun, but the default controls were flatout terrible. Thankfully they could be remapped.

[alienchild]

failure? how about CATAFUCKINGSTROPHIC SUCKAGE!!?

[amusedtoe]

I think the QD was pretty decent, but Nokia made one mistake after another from the very start. If they had started out with the QD and acctually turned out some decent games before the thing was already beyond recovery it could have been something other then a shameful mark on Nokia.

[The Great Gatsby]

I'm surprised it even sold period. That first model was quite gay looking with its taco phone shape. Only the truely hardcore and truley stupid could fall for something so...

Taco-licious.

[Major Scud]

I wouldnt buy anything nokia makes game-wise unless they team up with nintendo to make a gameboy micro-gage. Then my wallet will lighten ;)

[see colon]

i'm pretty surprised nintendo hasn't licensed GBA tech out to any of the phone manufacturers, actualy. seams like it would be a lucritive buisness opportunity for them, since they wouldn't need to manufacture or support the hardware, just sell the rights to play nintendo games.

back on topic, i own both the taco ngage and the qd. the qd is a better phone and a better gaming device, and there are actualy some pretty decent games for the system. most people who bash them haven't spent enough time giving it a chance, or played the shittier games on the system. it's not like we're talking game.com here. the system is viable because it does so many things, and it does them competantly.

my primary mobile gaming system is the DS, though.

[kickmybum]

I have an N-Gage QD as my main phone still. I whip it out every once in a while still and play some FIFA2005 or Tiger Woods PGA 2005 while I'm waiting in rediculous lines at movies or waiting for my gf while she's shopping. I'm not gonna say its an awesome phone/game thingee, but I will say that its saved me from boredom more times than I can count.

[Rirath]

Is anyone outside the press even asking this question?
Does anyone outside the hardcore gamer even know what the Ngage is?

Gizmondo will fail just as hard.

[Ka_Feosh]

Is anyone outside the press even asking this question?
Does anyone outside the hardcore gamer even know what the Ngage is?

Gizmondo will fail just as hard.

Most non-gamers who see my QD have no idea what it is. Most gamers who see it have never seen anyone other than me with one. Most gamers who knock it for being a QD have never played one.

And they say there's no such thing as bad publicity.

[see colon]

gizmondo will fail twice as hard. at least nokia had a decent channel to retail. pretty much every cellular shop had them or could order them when they were new, and they were carried at gaming outlets like EB and gamestop. if i wanted to go to a store to buy a gizmondo i need to drive to the far side of MA, and i live in NY. it's only available in 8 states!

[mister_slim]

If they can roll the functions (and the R&D expenses) into their regular phones it could work out quite well for them in the long term. The N-Gage itself is a failure, though.

[Spigot]

Actually, I read an article in The Escapist (Issue 2 or 3, I believe) and Nokia is planning on incorporating the N-Gage functions into all of their new phones within a year or so. That would technically make the N-Gage the most popular mobile game system by default (although how many people would actually use that aspect of their phone remains to be seen).

I've never been that interested in the N-Gage although I have heard that it has a couple of good games (as mentioned in previous posts). It was never something that I could see myself justifying the purchase of though. The original version was a joke as well. At least the QD addressed most of the glaring issues...

[Edit] A ha! Found a few links.

Gizmondo article (http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/nokia/e3-blip-nokia-ngage-will-be-crossphone-platform-103933.php) from E3 about N-Gage going cross-phone-platform.

The Escapist article (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/2/10) about same.