confessions of a serial hobbyist

It’s no secret that the original N-Gage system was a flop. Sure it sold a few million units, but console and handheld sales aren’t counted in millions, they’re counted in tens or hundreds of millions. Sure there are still some people playing the games, but then there are still people out there using Amigas also.

The Next-Gen N-Gage stuff looks exciting, it looks cool, and I’ve played with it a bit at GDC. But what does everyone ELSE think about it? They don’t know it exists. Outside of some N-Gage loyalists (the types that would go to the N-Gage site and look around) and some S60 enthusiasts, the majority of the world doesn’t know there IS a next-gen N-Gage platform coming out, or if they’ve heard of it they assume it’s a joke like the previous N-Gage was considered to be.

Nokia, it’s time to prove them wrong.

There are four months until the new launch (assuming it’s still aiming for September as was previously mentioned). There are four announced games. Why not launch one game demo a month until the official launch? Hell, make the demos only available for one week and then take them down. Make it something people go back and check for (don’t want to miss a new free game demo right?). I know the demos for atleast three exist (System Rush:Evolution, Creatures of the Deep, and Mile High Pinball) because I’ve played them. Why not put that to good use. Give the people like me who ARE excited about this something to show everyone else.

I spend some of my time in an office at a game company who has a branch MAKING a game for the next-gen N-Gage platform. You know what everybody thinks about it? A joke. You know why? Noone there has seen anything. Having someone like me in there with System Rush: Evolution, showing them what the Arena interface is like (let them compare it to Xbox-Live, it compares favorably) and maybe this assumption that it’s all a joke can be changed. Get people, with the interface and games on their phones showing it off now before it launches, so that when it does launch there’s more excitement. Otherwise I fear it’s going to be a dozen bloggers and a few dozen N-Gage fans hopping on to this thing as it plummets down again.