"Handheld games machine manufacturer releases a number of archive titles to their users, allowing them to purchase and download these games over the air." That’s pretty big news. And if you’re Sony, promoting the ability of the new Playstation Portable to play old Playstation One games, then everyone proclaims the second coming (even though it’s not going to ready until just before December 2006). When Nokia launch a similar system for the N-Gage Archive (of around 60 titles) the same media turn round and nail them to a cross for a tired and silly attempt to restart a failed system.
I find this attitude from certain professional industry watchers amazing. Both Sony and Nokia are pushing the limits of mobile gaming. Sony has taken the games machine as the starting point and turned t into a portable media centre, with video and MP3 playback, podcasting and Wi-Fi networking. The N-Gage, as a platform, took the mobile phone and networking over GSM as the starting point. Both devices are valid, and both are valid testbeds.
The difference of course is that Nokia N-Gage isn’t seen as a games platform, whereas Sony PS is. So nobody new is allowed to experiment – or if they do, they’ll meet with disdain, jokes and warnings of failure. How many people derided Sony before the Playstation went intergalactic?
Okay, Nokia misfired the advertising at the start of the campaign and really should have subjected the original N-Gage design to a panel of comedians to see what they could do with it, but their PR in the QD, even now, is typically bad. If I had a pound for every person I show the QD to that don’t realise that there was a reasonable redesign of the original machine a few months after launch, I'd be the proverbial rich man.
The knock-on effect of this inability to shift the negative buzz is less and less ‘bricks and mortar’ distribution of the device, making it harder and harder to find the titles in the shops (apart from 20 copies of Moto GP in every bargain bin). In part, moving to a totally electronic distribution of the games is a required step, but one that has been clearly trailed. And when the watchers take a pot shot at this new distribution system, they seem to be forgetting that when it rolls out to the whole S60 v3 Next Gen Gaming platform (whatever Nokia call it) then the user base jumps from 2-3 million to 20-30 million. At least double the number of PSP units shipped.
It’s a trick Sony are learning as well. Their PSOne emulation on PSP needs a number of technology steps tested, including the downloading of executables to hundreds of thousands of units, showing people how to access these games, teaching them to do more with the PSP than just play games. Their approach includes the use of “demo” versions of the latest titles – exactly what Nokia used with Pathway to Glory.
So carry on sniping at the Finns, by all means – if you can’t see the wood from the trees then you’re going to get an almighty shock in the future when Nokia can put up a title on their web site, watch a million or so waiting fans to download it, and they all pay Nokia the requisite $20.