R.I.P. N-Gage: 2003-2009/10

It was a tumultuous ride that spanned six years. On October 30, 2009, Nokia announced on its N-Gage blog that the gaming platform would no longer be supported by end 2010.
On the N-Gage blog post, the Nokia Games team wrote: "Thank you for being part of the N-Gage community and your participation over the years� We appreciate your contributions and loyalty to the N-Gage community and service, and we hope to continue to hear from you via Ovi."
In an email response, Nelson Wee, marketing manager for Nokia Southeast Asia Pacific, explained the decision.
"In April, we communicated that our long-term goal was to integrate all Nokia services under the Ovi umbrella--and this includes Games. Since then, we have been working hard to make this happen. Rather than having multiple channels for purchasing games, Ovi Store will be one single storefront to find and buy mobile games," Wee told CNET Asia.

The first Nokia N-Gage debut in 2003.

At the beginning

The first N-Gage was a portable gaming console introduced circa October 7, 2003. It was a cool concept at that time when mobile phones and handheld gaming devices were the rage. However, hardcore gamers were put off by the design miscues and compromises of the handset. As a result, the N-Gage didn't gain mass popularity even though it had a passing semblance to the older Game Boy Advance. Meanwhile, Sony was already preparing to launch its PlayStation Portable in late 2004.
Nokia tried to right its mobile gaming system the following year in April with the second-generation N-Gage--the N-Gage QD. It had a revised design, but again, the console was hit with criticisms for its removal of MP3 playback (there was a workaround with third-party software, but audio output was in mono) and USB connectivity.
A year later on May 18, 2005 (and again on May 9, 2006), Nokia announced its intention to shift the N-Gage concept from a hardware device to a service/application that would run on its smartphones. That didn't actually take off until February 18, 2008, in a public trial of the First Access program.
The service subsequently launched on April 7, 2008, with EA Sports Fifa 08 by EA Mobile, Brain Challenge and Asphalt 3: Street Rules by Gameloft, World Series of Poker Pro Challenge by Glu Mobile and Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep and System Rush: Evolution by Nokia Publishing. Games typically cost between six and 10 euros. Compatible handsets that would run the software included the N81, 8GB N81, N82, N95 and 8GB N95.

The second-generation Nokia N-Gage QD.

That's the N-Gage most people have been familiar with the past two years--a mobile gaming service that runs on the Symbian S60 3rd edition smartphones. However, all that was soon eclipsed by announcements of the Apple iPhone 3G and App Store on June 9, 2008.

Game over

Last week, Nokia put the final nail in the coffin of its ambitious N-Gage platform, which had been constantly under attack by critics.
That said, Nokia has learnt a few lessons from its N-Gage service.
Wee said: "N-Gage helped us learn the complexities of offering rich game content on a global scale. Mobile gaming keeps evolving and we believe that moving to Ovi Store and integrating with other Nokia offerings make lot of sense.
"We are now expanding the opportunity for game publishers to better target and reach consumers through the Ovi Store which supports 100 Nokia device models, as compared with N-Gage which supports about 20 Nokia device models."

So what does this mean for N-Gage users?

According to Nokia, the N-Gage Web site will remain operational throughout 2010 so users can still download games from the N-Gage Store until end September next year. Likewise, gamers can post their high scores, join events, play and chat with other gamers on the N-Gage Arena until 2011. Games can continue to be played after that, but the community features will be disabled.
When asked if the N-Gage community features will be ported over to Ovi, Wee said only that the company is working on it.

Nokia's endgame

Moving forward, new devices will not be preinstalled with the N-Gage application. Instead, games will be available on Ovi Store which is available in over 180 countries, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Spain and the UK. The service is compatible with Series 40 and S60 devices.
For game developers, Nokia currently offers a games-specific development tool for evaluation purposes, but did not elaborate further.
Also, since the launch of the iPhone 3G, publishers and developers have flocked to the App Store camp. It's going to take Nokia some work to woo back these people. As for the games, the current N-Gage titles offer a huge difference in the gaming experience compared with the iPhone.
Whether porting over the N-Gage to Ovi will be successful is too early to tell. But Nokia has its work cut out if it wants to play catchup.