N-Gage challenges Game Boy

Nokia lauches a pocket device halfway between cell phone and handheld videogame

Millions of units sold is the target that Nokia wants to achieve next year for its N-Gage, a pocket device halfway between a cell phone and a handheld videogame, designed as a competitor for Nintendo's Game Boy.
With 150 million phones sold last year, a whopping 40 per cent of the market, Nokia is the undisputed leader in mobile telephony. Thanks to that position, the Helsinki-based company decided to launch N-Gage, this interesting cellphone/console hybrid.
The strong points of N-Gage include a decently sized colour screen, an ergonomic design developed for gaming, and a series of deals with computer game producers such as Electronic Arts, Sega, Taito, Activision, and more, which ported to N-Gage famous titles, e.g. Tomb Raider, NCAA Football, and Doom.
Nokia's device also works as a cell phone, is equipped with Bluetooth connectivity enabling it for network gaming, can play MP3 files and includes an FM radio.
The Finnish manufacturer is betting high stakes on the success of this product, specially conceived to respond to the market trend towards fusing the gaming and telephony segment. This process began a few years ago with simple games such as Reversi/Othello and Snake, and progressed thanks to the J2ME technology that allowed masterpieces like Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell to be ported.
The design resembles a Game Boy Advance, with a 176x208 backlit display with only 4096 colours (GBA reaches a maximum of 32,768), a directional cross on the left and a 10-key numeric keypad on the right, plus several hot keys to speed access to some functions.
The integrated Bluetooth module allows wireless connection among multiple devices, thus enabling multiplayer games with up to four players.
This mobile device from Nokia looks like a versatile and complete product, also thanks to the GSM/GPRS Tri-Band phone it incorporates. According to data released by the Finnish company, battery life will support 6 hours of play or over 200 hours on stand-by when used as a phone. The games will come on interchangeable 64-MB memory sticks.
If from the technical standpoint N-Gage looks like an interesting portable platform, as a gaming system it might run into trouble due to its price, as it sells for almost $450.
This is where Nintendo's GBA remains a better solution, in consideration of its cost, quality, and choice of available software. Integration with the world of telephony could be enough to prompt some people to buy it, but it will be hard to turn this into a mass seller.
Industry displayed keen interest, but most think that N-Gage represents an experiment. At present the choice of software is limited but very interesting, although it probably still lacks an exclusive title that could boost sales. Clearly, markets will have the final word.

Publication Date: 2003-11-02
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3301