Nokia releases N-Gage 2.0

A FEW DAYS ago, Nokia finally launched N-Gage 2.0, nearly 2.0 years after they announced their new strategy. If you have an N81 phone, you can now buy N-Gage 2.0 games, and this time, I think Nokia did things right.

The first thing right, other than it being available, is that N-Gage 2.0(NG2) is carrier independent. You can just download the games off the net, or via Wi-Fi should you phone be capable, and most of the target phones are. Airtime and data charges are your problem, but that should not be a big impediment for owners of N series phones.

This is not to say that there are no carrier partners are, just that they are not absolutely necessary. Telefonica and Vodaphone are signed up now, and should they pull any stupid stunts, you can go around them, but they do make billing easier.

That brings us to the next point, billing. You can pay for the NG2 games, costing ~6-10 Euros each, via a credit card or nearly any other type of online billing. NG2 is a complete e-commerce back end, social network, billing system and social network, not just a game API. In essence, Nokia did things top to bottom, which is why it took 2.0 years to come out.

There are still a few thorny questions, many of which will not be answerable for some time. The big looming one is how well the games will play across different phones, some with 3D acceleration, some not. Nokia claims this was all thought out, and will not be a problem, their goal is 1 SKU for each game, and it works on your phone, period.

If they can pull it off, they will have hit the holy grail of mobile content, write once, run anywhere. I hope they did, we need a stable phone gaming API quite badly, and this is the closest I have seen to getting there in a long while.

Speaking of the games, there were four at launch, six now, and many more sure to follow. Nokia has said that the service will be rolled out to most N series phones soon, and the reference device is an N73. Basically, sit tight, you will get your games soon if you have an N.

The last thing that I should mention is one that gives me great hope. I have an N95, and the games that come with it have one flaw, the buttons surrounding the joypad. This may not sound like much, but it is impossible not to hit them while playing a game, and it rips you right out of the action and onto the much more boring phone menu.

I am hopeful because when I mentioned this to the Nokia folk, they said they knew, and the API for NG2 forces these buttons off. To me, this says they are playtesting, getting feedback, and actually implementing the recommended fixes.

All this leads me to thing that NG2 will be a much bigger success than NG1, black taco or not. On the surface, it looks to hit all the checkboxes, but only time and the mass testing of games will prove that one way or other. I can't wait to try it. µ