Will they or won't they? - Nokia's on-off relationship with 3D graphics chips
The full version of System Rush Evolution, an N-Gage game which has decent 3D graphics without a 3D chip. The 3D chip demo of this game looked even better though...
What are 3D graphics chips?
One of the major developments in gaming technology over the past ten years has been the spread of 3D graphics acceleration chips into gadgets that never had them before. First they were in PC graphics cards, then home consoles, then portable consoles, and now some mobile phones have them too.
These "3D chips" are slightly deceptively named, because you don't need them to do 3D. True 3D games have been around since the early 80s, first in wireframe, later solid and eventually with textures too. The original Tomb Raider games of the 1990s for example didn't require a 3D chip, yet they were obviously in textured 3D. The video above shows a similar example from the new N-Gage platform.
The reason 3D chips are useful is partly that they allow 3D games to have much higher quality graphics, but also because (for various technical reasons) they allow game developers to create 3D games more easily. A device with a 3D chip is easier to program 3D games for than the same device without it. It's worth emphasising though that 3D chips don't help at all with 2D games.
When these chips became small and efficient enough to be put into mobile phones, a lot of people assumed they would gradually spread into all models just as cameras had, starting at the top with the most expensive phones and then gradually moving into cheaper ones over many years. When Nokia launched its new N-Gage platform, many (including Nokia themselves) talked about 3D chips playing a part. However, despite the N93, N95 and N82 featuring these chips, Nokia's top-of-the-range flagship N96 doesn't have one, though it does have N-Gage-compatibility. What is going on? Why is Nokia dithering like this?
There are actually many reasons why they would dither over this, because every option they have in front of them concerning 3D chips has severe downsides. Let's go through them one by one:
Option 1: Why not add 3D chips to every N-Gage phone?
3D graphics acceleration chips are very useful for 3D games, but not much else. Most people who own N-Gage-compatible phones don't play games on them because they've bought them as phones rather than gaming devices. Those that do play games often play 2D titles which wouldn't use the chip anyway, and even those who play 3D games may not be that bothered about the graphics on a 2.4 inch screen.
If 3D chips were built into every N-Gage phone, they would make the phones unnecessarily expensive for most people, as the 3D hardware would be something they never ever use. If the phones are more expensive than they have to be, it will put people off buying them, which will harm the size of the N-Gage userbase. Userbase is more important than anything else in determining the success of a gaming platform.
Option 2: Why not leave out 3D chips from every N-Gage phone?
Going to the other extreme, there are some very good arguments for not using 3D chips in phones at all. The average phone screen is just 2 to 3 inches big, so it's fairly hard to tell the quality of textures used in 3D games. Many popular phone games like Tetris aren't even in 3D. As mentioned above, phones with 3D chips are more expensive which harms their sales.
But games written for 3D chips do look very impressive, they can be as good as anything you'd see on a dedicated games console, and they can attract a lot of interest and attention (which is something N-Gage needs right now).
And 3D chips don't just allow better graphics but also speed up the game development process. Having 3D graphics hardware in a gaming platform may make it more attractive to third party publishers, as they can more quickly and easily publish games on that platform. (UPDATE: One of our readers has said that apparently this may not be true, the 3D chips currently in phones do not actually help the game development process at all.)
Option 3: Why not have 3D chips on the more expensive N-Gage phones, but leave them out of the cheaper ones?
Again, there are many positive things to say about this option. By putting 3D chips on some N-Gage phones but not others, it would let those who don't care about graphics buy the cheaper models, while more hardcore gamers could pay more for better graphics. It would be the best of both worlds, with everyone getting exactly what they want.
Unfortunately, there's a serious downside to this option, which is that N-Gage developers would have to make two versions of each 3D game. If they only make one version of a 3D game, it would have to be a non-chip version because that's the only one that would work on all N-Gage phones.
Requiring third party publishers to make two versions of games could put them off supporting N-Gage, but if they're not required to make two versions then the 3D chips aren't going to be used by most games.
So all the available options are a bit rubbish... which one should Nokia go for?
It's a difficult choice for Nokia, but it's not quite as difficult as it seems.
For a start, a lot of popular phone games are 2D so the 3D chip debate is completely irrelevant to such titles. Publishers of 2D games wouldn't care about 3D hardware at all. Even among hardcore gamers, one of the most eagerly-awaited titles on N-Gage is Worms World Party which is 2D.
Another thing in Nokia's favour is that some third party publishers already have software-based 3D engines which they can use to make 3D games for non-chip N-Gage phones. Creating two versions wouldn't be that difficult for publishers who have access to such engines.
Perhaps the best balance Nokia could strike in the short term is to create both chip and non-chip versions of its own first party games, even if the third party publishers stick to non-chip versions. Nokia have actually confirmed they would be doing chip versions of their first party titles, though it's unclear when this would happen or which games it would apply to, and so far none of the games on N-Gage use 3D chips at all.
What about the long term though? What should N-Gage do about 3D chips?
What N-Gage should do in the long term depends on how widely and quickly 3D chips spread into mainstream phone models. The whole point of N-Gage compared to other phone gaming platforms is that it is available on a wide variety of models, from the 600 euro N95 8GB to the 200 euro 5320.
If N-Gage becomes most popular on cheaper mass market phones, which probably wouldn't have 3D chips, then it would make sense to stick to non-chip games. This is a distinct possibility as cheaper phones vastly outsell more expensive models, with the average phone sale price well under 100 euros. N-Gage would become a superior alternative to Java, rather than an inferior alternative to consoles.
But if mass market phones start featuring 3D chips as standard, which might happen over the next five years, then of course all N-Gage games should use those chips.
Third party publishers are always happy to publish on any platform which gives them access to a massive userbase and generates lots of sales. If the sales are there, the graphics quality or ease of programming become less important, as the purpose of a third party game publisher is to sell as many games as possible. That's why Java is still the top phone gaming platform, not because it has the best graphics (it doesn't), not because it's easiest to develop for (it isn't), but purely because it lets publishers sell games to far more phones than any other method.
Ultimately, Nokia should go for whichever option lets them sell the most N-Gage games to the largest number of people.
