NGage now $199

[Oobgarm]

Gamestop is having a sale, beginning today. I dunno if anyone else is participating. I'm also unsure as to how long this sale is going to last.

Starting today, the NGage will sell for $199. No extra games to buy, no stupid gimmicks. $100 is taken off the price tag at the register.

Looks like someone wants to get out of selling the NGage, and quick! LOL

Just a heads up in case someone here was sitting the fence on making a purchase.

[Darth Sensei]

Pilot to co-pilot, we going down in flames. LOL LOL

[Ed Oscuro]

Hmm, that's quite a bit better than before.

Still pretty down far on the totem pole for me, especially given that I don't see any games on the thing I want :P

[Jive3D]

12345

[jaybird]

I bet that's going to make the 10 people who bought one last week REALLY mad.

[Ed Oscuro]

Heh, the 10 * 500 in the U.S.

Yeah, there might be ten pissed off people in my county plus some of the surrounding areas (maybe more people in Kalamazoo bought it).

[Neil Koch]

More info from Gamepro

"Major U.S. games retailer GameStop.com has reduced the price of Nokia's N-Gage handheld game console to $199, only two weeks after the system launched. The limited time offer includes 30 days of free service, a SIM card from AT&T or T-Mobile, and free shipping. This $100 price cut is one of the fastest drops in price that has been seen in the video game industry, showing that perhaps Nokia’s claims aren’t telling the whole story."

[Gamereviewgod]

Wouldn't that be THE fastest price drop in gaming history? Seriously, I can't think of another console that dropped that fast.

[zmweasel]

Wouldn't that be THE fastest price drop in gaming history? Seriously, I can't think of another console that dropped that fast.

Unquestionably the fastest ever. I think it's already safe to declare N-Gage the biggest hardware flop in the history of the game industry. GameStop is washing its hands of the thing TWO WEEKS after launch! That's unprecedented and staggering news.

Of course, I don't blame the current shaky state of the videogame industry so much as Nokia itself for not listening to six months of constant complaints about the design, and for not hiring a single executive who knew a damn thing about the game industry.

-- Z.

[portnoyd]

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ..... hahahahahahahahahahahaha... hehehe... hehe... heh....

dave

[MarkM2112]

Gee... THAT was quick! :roll:

[AB Positive]

I'm listening to the one I got. It's on radio since I can't figure out how to get the mp3 functionality to work, or how to play the game that came with it (Tomb Raider).

But, I can rock out to Bon Jovi.

I'M A COWBOY!
ON A STEEL HORSE I RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE

I'M WANTED
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANTEEEEEEEEED!

DEAD OR ALIVE!


-AG

[kai123]

Drop another $100 and I will be the first in line.

[Rev. Link]

Yeah, I'd be tempted to buy one for $100, just to add to my collection.

Of course, I'm waiting for it to drop to like $30. ^_^;

[autobotracing]

Ill get one at $150.00 but thats after I get a regular taco and talk to it to see it I like talking that way. :D 8-) LOL

[ClubNinja]

Of course, I'm waiting for it to drop to like $30. ^_^;

Just last night, I decided that I would buy one for $40 or less. That should be the first week of December at this rate! :)

[Balloon Fight]

If it goes to $50 or below, then it will get its place on my shelf.

[Balloon Fight]

Damn my stupid internet, double post. I wish i could delete my damn posts. @_@

[djbeatmongrel]

Does anyone think this is just a way to clear space for the N-Gage Ver 2: Taquito form?

[AB Positive]

Of course, I'm waiting for it to drop to like $30. ^_^;

Just last night, I decided that I would buy one for $40 or less. That should be the first week of December at this rate! :)

I paid $40, but I'm selling on eBay.

-AG

[jonjandran]

E-Bay Auctions for the N-Gages already sold (http://search-completed.ebay.com/search/search.dll?GetResult&sortproperty=metahighestpricesort&rfisactive=1&category1=1249&maxrecordsperpage=50&from=R14&tmp=1&ebaytag1=ebayctry&ebaytag1code=1&query=ngage&ht=1&completedonly=1)

[AB Positive]

Hmmm, seems like I can at least get my $40 back 8-)

-AG

[sisko]

Take another $200 off and I'm there :)

Doesn't Gamestop have a "buy an NGage, get $100 in NGage credit" deal going on too?

[whoisKeel]

you will never believe this. talking to a friend at work today, he mentions that his friend (who i sorta know, and bought a tv off of before) bought an n-gage!

then i told them how you had to take out the battery to switch games and they were like "ewww"

i don't know if he paid $200 or $300...but the moral of the story is...somebody actually bought one!

[Epicenter]

You'd have to pay me to take one of those piles of horseshit. ;P

[SoulBlazer]

Update to the story:

EB is doing it as well:

http://www.gamespot.com/ngage/news/news_6077311.html

So, did Nokia aprove this or were they caught by surprise and are taking steps to cover themselves?

The plot thickens..... :)

[Dobie]

Hmm.... whats a gamer to do? I mean, Xbox... Ngage. Playstation 2.... Ngage. Gamecube (or two)..... Ngage. GBA & Flash card full of NES ROMS.... Ngage.

The choice seems obvious. N-Gage me!! LOL J/K.

A pile of crap still smells up the barn, whether it comes from a $300 cow, or a $200 cow. Nokia should change their name to "Mooooooooo."

[ubersaurus]

Pop it down 50-100 bucks, and I'll have to pick up one of em.

Maybe Nokia realized 300 bucks was an idiotic price to start at x_x

[hezeuschrist]

Well, this is supposedly only a one week deal. If (and when) they see that the $100 cut doesn't help move units... it'll be really interesting to see what happens.

[Oobgarm]

I dig the price change, but I'm gonna have a tough time parting with $200 for something like that.

Nokia says that it's part of a "Halloween Sale", but if only GameStop and EB are doing it, wtf?

I think they realize that their ship is sinking. x_x

[Zaxxon]

It doesn't seem like much of sale when there already was $100 rebate in place before. Good thing it's an open system so anyone can write a game for it. There won't be many more commercial games at this rate.

[punkoffgirl]

you will never believe this. talking to a friend at work today, he mentions that his friend (who i sorta know, and bought a tv off of before) bought an n-gage!

then i told them how you had to take out the battery to switch games and they were like "ewww"

i don't know if he paid $200 or $300...but the moral of the story is...somebody actually bought one!


We have at least one forum member that owns one, so we probably can believe it :)

Hey, Achika, do you think you can return yours to get the deal?

[mitmoe]

my local EB has them for $189. x_x

[ianoid]

I like the panel of slammers. << irritating nasal voice says >> Nintendo is the only handheld for me! Kill the heretics!

<<resume normal voice>>

Aside from it's clear design issues, how does it play? Is it fun? Do you care? Won't it be a great system to collect if it flails?

Was marketing the issue? Tough to sell people on getting a new provider, when most of us are locked into some horrifying contract that allows for switching providers 1 hour of 1 day of the year. And dammit I missed it, I was on the can!

I think the cell phone thing is more impediment than advantage. Consolidating functions is clearly an advantage. I'll run out and buy the palm/camera/phone when it becomes affordable. And palm games are enough to pass short periods of time, as opposed to PS1 quality titles... But most people have cell phone service and weren't waiting for Taco to change...

another item I wish I had money to waste on, because it will be like Super Mega Game.com... Perhaps even playable!

ian

[Oobgarm]

Well, I've decided to give into the evil beast that is consumerism and get an Ngage. I'm not getting any games or anything(I'll wait until they're on CLEARANCE, which I'm sure they will be soon), all I want it for it the cell phone features-which, despite the silly taco look, which is pretty darn ridiculous, is pretty good. I use T-Mobile anyway, so I just popped my little SIM card into the Ngage, and I made a call with it. Everything is clear, much better than the other phone I'm using now. I sat and played with that silly thing for close to an hour, put it back in the box, and put it back in the drawer, waiting for me to buy it Friday.

Quite honestly, only one game really stands out to me, and I'll probably get it when it comes out, and that's Taito Memories (http://www.n-gage.com/R1/en/games/games_taito_memories.html). I really want it since it has Qix on it, but Super Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble are welcome titles.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think that the Ngage plays OK, nothing to write home about. It just doesn't feel like you're playing a game system. I think it could be the fact that the thing is so darn skinny. Funny thing is, I've owned the Game Boy and it's many iterations over the years, and I've found my portable game playing time to be less and less. Perhaps it was when I could start driving, since playing in the car on trips was a big deal for me. I do very little portable gaming now.

Is it fun? The games I've tried thus far say no. Super Monkey Ball is a choppy port, Tomb Raider is, well, Tomb Raider, and Pandemonium is a classic that didn't need to be re-released. I'm sure the library for this thing will be rather small, so it should be easy to collect for once the plug is pulled and retailers start dumping their stock.

Was marketing the issue? Yeah, I think so. Not only are their ads stupid and full of sexual references, they're marketing it as a game machine. A game machine that's nearly double the price of the Xbox/PS2(their target competition), and triple the amount of the GBA. The Ngage is a cell phone that hapens to play some more advance video games. That's all. They're also hyping the Bluetooth wireless technology, but with so few active systems, finding a partner near you will be tough.

But you could always play with this guy-I'm sure he has an Ngage since he's HaRdCoRe:

http://www.dustincarter.com/images/head.gif

:D LOL :eek 2:

[jonjandran]

In case you're looking to buy one. Here is GamePros view of the faults of the system:

1. Phone reception is worse than most newer phones
2. The MP3 player requires you to put in a card like the games.
3. No button to load games. You have to select the game from a menu.
4.The obvious problem of taking the thing apart to change games.
5.It takes the NGage 20 seconds to start up. Quite annoying to wait this long after changing games and then still have to go to a menu to start the game.
6.Game volume is adjusted in a menu screen for each game, and they start very loud. No buttons for volume.
7.Screen is tiny and vertical instead of horizontal.
8.Games have huge amounts of slowdown and a lack of color contrast.
9.BlueTooth connection takes between 5-20 seconds and it disconnects frequently.


Well like we said, It sucks. Bargain Bin here we come. LOL

[GrandAmChandler]

This quickly going to be one of two things happening for the N-gage:

Either it will end up like Game.com, where no one wants it.

Or.

It will be highly coveted among collectors.

How many were shipped to the U.S? I know only 5000 or so have been sold.

[jonjandran]

400,000 were shipped to retailers.

[Oobgarm]

400,000 were shipped to retailers.

And Nokia says, because of that figure, the launch was a success. Unfortunately, sell-through numbers tell an entirely different story.

I say let the cellphone stores sell it, the game stores don't need to. If this $100 off sale is any indication, they're washing their hands of it.

[SoulBlazer]

400,000? That's more then some games get. O_O

At least there should be enough for all the collectors here. LOL

[rbudrick]

At least it's easier to put a game in a real taco....and the batteries last longer too.

Mmmmm...batteries.

-Rob

[Captain Wrong]

I like the panel of slammers. << irritating nasal voice says >> Nintendo is the only handheld for me! Kill the heretics!

<<resume normal voice>>

As someone who has been completely UNDERwhelmed by the GBA, I'd love to see a real competetor. Saddly the N-Gage appears to be an overpriced "jack of all trades/master of none" type of device.

It's hard for me to even take the thing seriously as a game console based on what I've seen thus far. Whoever said the things about them marketing to "xtreme" casual gamers, must be right. Looking at the lineup of games, there isn't a damn thing I'm interested in playing, I don't want a cell phone, and I already have 2 mp3 players far better than the tokien ability the N-Gage has.

If Nokia was selling just a game machine at a third the cost and with a more promising lineup, I might take this seriosuly. As it stands, I have to agree that this is going to be the game.com of this generation of machines.