Nokia Shows N-Gage Game/Phone Combo At London Press Event

Nokia held a press event in London showing members of the press the new N-Gage game deck. The N-Gage game deck is described as a games platform and a cell phone combined into one package. Nokia says that software developers and publishers should be excited about the N-Gage, as it would be priced to be competitive with Nintendo's recently announced Game Boy Advance SP. One of the most exciting features of the N-Gage is the ability to play multiplayer games via the included Bluetooth wireless technology.

It appears out of the gate N-Gage will have support from a variety of software publishers including: Eidos (Pandemonium, Tomb Raider), Nokia (Bounce, Kart Racing, Virtually Board Snowboarding II), Sega (Puyo Puyo, Sega Rally, Sonic N, Super Monkey Ball, Virtua Tennis), Taito (Puzzle Bobble, Space Invaders) and THQ (Major League Baseball, Moto-GP, Red Faction). Other software developers and publishers are said to be evaluating the platform for possible development.

With some good buzz already about the N-Gage, this might be one to keep you eye on. The Nokia N-Gage game deck is planned to be available in volumes across five continents in the 4th quarter 2003 well in time for the holiday shopping season.

Here are some of the specs on the N-Gage -

* Large color screen with backlight, 176x208 pixels with up to 4096 colors

* Series 60 platform and Symbian Operating System (OS)

* Bluetooth wireless technology for gaming

* An eight-way directional controller "Rocker" for game play

* Multimedia messaging (MMS)

* Triple band GSM (900/1800/1900), GPRS mobile phone

* Digital Music player (AAC/MP3) & Stereo FM radio

* Nokia Audio Manager PC SW for managing own music files

* Comprehensive range of applications; e-mail and personal information management

* XHTML browsing

* Java(TM) application support

* Connectivity: calendar synchronization with PC, USB for music file and application download

* Usage times: Games up to 3 - 6 h (depending on game type), Talk up to 2 - 4 h, Standby up to 150 - 200 h, Music up to 8 h, Radio up to 20 h