Nokia N-Gage: First impressions
Okay, sure, we're doing a lot on the N-Gage, but it certainly is a different sort of device. While most of the discussion so far has been from the perspective of the wireless industry, it's probably more interesting to hear what folks in the gaming industry have to say. The first impressions of the people at gamedindustry.biz don't seem very good - and the issues mainly have to do with things that a company in the gaming industry would know - but a wireless company wouldn't. So, for example, they say Nokia is making a big mistake in not subsidizing the device, since the gaming industry has always worked on a "razors/razorblade" strategy of giving away the platform at a loss and making money on the games. They also say there are way too many buttons for game play. Finally, they're worried that Nokia is going too gung ho in courting the developer community by giving out a free SDK. They're basically afraid of people creating crappy (or even broken) games, since there's no real quality control. So, an underwhelming first review from some gamers. It remains to be seen, though, whether people are buying this device to be a phone with some neat gaming ability... or a gaming device that also acts as a phone (or whether people are buying this device at all, actually...).
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
