An incomplete look at a bit of N-Gage propaganda.

[Ed Oscuro]

A few days ago I recieved a couple items sent out only to game store outlets, among them a large untitled booklet with various things about the N-Gage in it; sort of a large FAQ in 24-point letters in its later points. I'm working on transcribing it in its entirety, but so far I've gotten exactly as far as page 3. It's linked to in the new Features section of my webpage, found Here (http://home.comcast.net/~edoscuro/).

I realize it gets quite disorganized past the second image. I apologize for that; I'll clean up the writing later.

As always, I'd be happy for any thoughts people have on the N-Gage, any juicy stories (ones that won't get anybody fired or sued, that is) or corrections. All will be welcome, and properly attributed as necessary.

(In case you missed it, which I don't think anybody did or really cares much anymore, I will also be taking down the large PSIV scan as it's taking up a lot of space.)

[Duncan]

Your page won't load... X_x

Anyway, Target is now giving a free $100 gift card (not an instant discount or a rebate, but effectively a free hundred-dollar bill to use in-store or online) to guests who purchase both an NGage and a game card. That puts the price at $229 with the game included, which begins to approach sanity.

I still won't even consider buying one until it hits, say, the $50 level or so...

Meantime, it's now official that the N-Gage security code has been cracked. Heh-heh...read about it here: http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/12/technology/nokia_ngage.reut/index.htm

Apparently, N-Gage games can be transferred to other phones using the same architecture thanks to this breach. Oops...

Finally, I saw an ad touting FIFA 2004 and Madden 2004 -- yes, from that EA -- as being available for the digital taco. How the hell did that happen?[/url]

[Ed Oscuro]

Fixed. I had the wrong directory specified on the main page.

[sisko]

So I guess you got the package alright then :)

I read through it too and most of it holds true, but it looks like their marketing strategy was really half assed. I mean, I did projects that were better than that in college.

Maybe the NGage would have succeeded more if retailers and the manufacturer actually said what was in that booklet. I found a few excellent points in there that caught my interest that I had never even heard of before.

Then again, $300 is still way too much after what was said in the book x_x

[Duncan]

Good commentary. I'll add that, in my Target store that sold somewhere around 65-70 Game Boys over the big post-turkey weekend, not a single N-Gage was even removed from the shelf.

Well, I take that back. One guy did pull one out of the box to look at it, then put it back together...and placed it back in the showcase.

All total, we've sold one -- yes, one as in solitary -- N-Gage since the thing was launched. The other 23 remain unloved on the shelf, as do most of the games (I think one copy of Tony Hawk is gone now).

Haven't heard anything from our N-Gage rep since we received our demo display, either... x_x

[Ed Oscuro]

I found a few excellent points in there that caught my interest that I had never even heard of before.

Then again, $300 is still way too much after what was said in the book x_x

Yeah, package was really nice!

I'll look through the whole thing and have it up soon, hopefully :P

[AB Positive]

Well, you can get one with three free games of your choosing at gamestop for $199. That's always a good sign for a system O_O


-AG

[RichD]

Talking about the ngage, Has anyone seen the magazine "Stuff Gamer". About half the magazine was advertisements, ALL the advertisements were for the ngage. I picked up a copy from Blockbuster's of all places.

[Dahne]

Very eenteresting. My stance on the N-Gage is that, even with the unbearably stupid name, if I found one lying on the street, and no one picked it up from the lost and found after the prescribed 2 weeks, I might keep it for a bit. I like the commentary a lot. There's one thing I didn't understand, though.


and shows that the Nokia folks have little patience for handheld RPGs, Pokemon, and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, all titles that have done very well for Nintendo.

This seems like something of a non sequitor. How do you get that out of the chart shown? I didn't see anything at all related to other system's software, but I may have been missing something obvious.

[Dahne]

Creepy. I start looking around the site and find a freakin' hilarious feature on Johnny Turbo, the TurboGrafx's poor, misguided spokesman. Somewhere I see a reference to somebody named Tommy Tallarico. Curious, I type the name in to the Google. And the first thing that pops up?

A page on his very own site, written by none other than Zach Meston. @_@

[zmweasel]

I wrote that "forward" (the webmaster's attempt at foreword) roughly six or seven years ago, back when I still lived in southern California, about an hour from Tallarico's bitchin' Orange County pad. He's the nicest game-development fella I've ever met.

Fun fact: Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler -- real name Steven Tallarico -- is Tommy's cousin.

-- Z.

[Stark]

According to EGM an estimated 400 thousand N-Gage's were sold to retailers worldwide in the first few weeks of launch.
According to an independent research firm they estimated only 5 thousand units were sold to consumers worldwide in the first few weeks of launch.

I'd say that Nokia will lose more money on ads than on the units. Pick one up when the price drops real low before they pull them. Won't be hard to complete this units game collection. Maybe they will set a new record for the least amount of titles for a game system?

[RetroYoungen]

I don't know Stark, do you think it can beat the Game.com in that department? I remember the Game.com only had a handful of games released for it, but watching the battle between Game.com and the N-Gage for the lowest rated handheld of recent years will be more worth it than playing one.

[Ed Oscuro]

and shows that the Nokia folks have little patience for handheld RPGs, Pokemon, and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, all titles that have done very well for Nintendo.

This seems like something of a non sequitor. How do you get that out of the chart shown? I didn't see anything at all related to other system's software, but I may have been missing something obvious.

Sorry, I'll revise it when I get back from lunch (mmm lunch) so it makes more sense :) Like I said, after that last pic you're looking at maybe 10 minutes (max) worth of work...usually like to do more than "rough it out" when I'm presenting an article.

This thing is pretty long, but I'll try to get through it all :)

[Scoots]

Very nice commentary. Hilarious that they would compare themselves to the Game Gear of all things...! Too bad for them, if I could only have one or the other, I'd opt for the Game Gear. LOL