GDC: Games Management Vodcast

The N-Gage blog has published an interesting interview about some N-Gage management members who are answering questions related with everything about the new gaming platform.

Featured in the interview are Jaakko Kaidesoja, Gregg Sauter, and Dr. Mark Ollila. The questions are moderated by Matthew Kumar of Gamesondeck.com.

Nokia plans to release 3D accelerated N-Gage Games

I reported about the lack of 3D acceleration in N-Gage games. A real shame, because devices like the N95 are so much more powerful: They can display amazing graphics, much better ones than normal devices.

Now there are very interesting new from the N-Gage Blog:

In a talk this afternoon, Nokia’s Peter Lykke Nielsen — with an assist from the guys at Digital Legends Entertainment — showed interested game developers how the OpenGL ES 1.1 standard will be incorporated into the N-Gage Software Development Kit (SDK) in the near future. Nielsen is the product manager of the N-Gage SDK.

Glu Mobile unveils initial line-up of titles coming to Nokia N-Gage

The range of N-Gage games and Nokia’s cooperation with other game enterprises is constantly growing:

Nokia and Glu Mobile Inc. (Nasdaq: GLUU), a leading global publisher of mobile games, today announced its initial line-up of games to be launched on the N-Gage platform in 2008. The titles launching are based on two major forthcoming films from Warner Bros. Pictures, SPEED RACER and The Dark Knight, as well as Super Slam Ping Pong, a new original Glu title in the spirit of Glu’s runaway hit, Super K.O. Boxing!

Worms: World Party officially announced

Nokia and THQ Wireless Inc. (wholly owned by THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI), a leading publisher of mobile games, announced an agreement to bring Team17’s Worms World Party to a range of Nokia devices through the N-Gage games service.
 
Adam Comiskey – International VP THQ Wireless commented, “Worms has always been a great success on mobile devices and the N-Gage technology has allowed us to produce the most advanced, faithful and visually impressive mobile edition of Worms to date.”
 

Yamake – Make, Play and Share Games

Yamake for N-Gage, by Nokia Games Publishing, makes it possible for players to create their own games from a range of mini games by adding content, then playing and sharing them with friends and the wider Yamake community.

“Yamake is a groundbreaking new game for the N-Gage platform. Players can make, play and share games that are customized using user-generated multimedia content, and we are proud to be pioneering this new way of playing,” said Dr Mark Ollila, Director of Technology and Strategy and Head of Games Publishing, Nokia. “This is exactly what the future of mobile gaming should be about – creating games that you love and want to play, then sharing them with other players.”

Two new N-Gage 2.0 Games coming: “Worms: World Party” and “Dchoc Cafe: Solitaire”

The rumours about a “Worms” title on the N-Gage 2.0 platform seem to have been confirmed.

“Worms” is a famous game originally developed for PC, but is also available on lots of other platforms now. The game’s goal is to eliminate all worms from the opposing teams. The real fun of the game is the lap based game precept, within you can move your worm or attack your enemies with great, exotic weapons.

Now finally screenshots of the game “Worms: World Party” which will be part of the N-Gage platform have been appeared:

N-Gage Highlights: “ONE – Who’s next?”

Today I present you my personal “N-Gage Highlight”: the fighting game “ONE”.

Information

Name: ONE – Who’s next?

Genre: Fighting

Developer: Digital Legends

Publisher: Nokia

Well, today the great fighting game “ONE” is previewed here in my “N-Gage Highlights” series.

“ONE” was actually the flagship of the “New N-Gage Platform” ever since its announcement.

Due to its unbelievable graphics and animations, it impressed people being interested in the platform.

At the beginning of the game, you can create your own fighting character. The look as well as the clothes are free customizable.
Being confident with your character, you can dare other fighters. The great thing of “ONE”’s concept is, that your are not only able to persist a single fight.

Digital Legends wraps the proper fights into a real story. As the title says, your aim is to become the best fighter in the world, the “ONE”.

N-Gage Highlights: “Asphalt 3: Street Rules”

Second Part of my little series: Today I will present you the racing game “Asphalt 3″.

Information

Name: Asphalt 3: Street Rules

Genre: Racing

Developer: Gameloft

Publisher: Gameloft

If you are just a little common with mobile phone games, you will have heard about the “Asphalt” racing game line, the most famous one for mobile phones.

Gameloft, early announced as cooperation partner with Nokia for the N-Gage platform, decided to publish the third part of the “Asphalt” line exclusively on N-Gage phones as part of the platform.

New File Format for coming N-Gage Games

The new N-Gage games will have an own new file format.

Although they are also Symbian files (*.sis, *.sisx), Nokia decided to create the ending “*.n-gage” for the coming games.

The guys from Project NeXt discovered, that these file types are already supported by the latest Nokia PC Suite (6.85.14.1). As you can see in the screenshot, “*.n-gage”-files obtain a Nokia application icon.

Installing such files is only possible in case you have installed the new “Nokia N-Gage Platform” application (not the demo preinstalled on newer N-Series).

Source: Project NeXt

N-Gage Highlights: FIFA 08

You all know, that the launch of the new N-Gage platform has been delayed again.

Now that we are in year 2008 and the release comes nearer and nearer (presumed it isn’t delayed again), I thought it would be time to show you the highlights of the coming games. Maybe it will bridge the time until the launch date for you.

The first game I present you is the sports game is FIFA 08.

Information

Name: FIFA 08

Genre: Sports

Developer: UK Mobile Studio

Publisher: Electronic Arts

I think a lot of PC gamers know the famous football / soccer game series “FIFA”. Electronic Arts usually publishes its games on as many platforms as possible, so it is not a miracle, that ”FIFA 08″ is also part of the coming N-Gage platform.

Actually, there is not a lot to say about the game itself. You select two from a lot of full-licensed teams for a match and choose whom you want to play. One player is always controlled by the player, the rest of the team is game controlled.