Sales of downloadable mobile games to N-Gage users have outstripped sales to Nokia 3510i users by eight per cent despite a huge disparity in the installed base for the devices, according to UK mobile game retailer mProvision.
The company, which operates mobile gaming portals ngagegames.co.uk and mynokiagames.co.uk, says that although N-Gage users account for only 4.5 per cent of its subscribers (as against 17 per cent for the 3510i), sales of games for the device have broken all records.
This is both good news and bad news for Nokia. It proves that the device, despite a critical battering over many technical or design flaws, is being used enthusiastically as a games console; however, it suggests that users are choosing to purchase downloaded games (which cost around �5.75 apiece) rather than full-price N-Gage releases on MMC cards.
This will come as no surprise to mobile game developers, many of whom have privately expressed the opinion that the N-Gage will prove popular as a platform for standard downloaded Java games, rather than for full-price retail games.
"We manage opt-in subscriber databases for all phone game enabled handsets in the UK," explained mProvision managing director Fox Tucker, "and while our N-Gage users account for just 4.5 per cent of our total subscriber base, we've seen game sales for n-Gage games via our sites break all records. Our opt-in N-Gage subscribers have clearly demonstrated that they bought the handset predominantly as a handheld games console."
downloadable java games are good, but i don`t think they are good as the official games of N-Gage. I don`t think there will be a game like THPS in downloadable java games...
i don`t agree that the N-Gage users download more and more games is a bad news for Nokia...
Originally posted by drager
downloadable java games are good, but i don`t think they are good as the official games of N-Gage. I don`t think there will be a game like THPS in downloadable java games...
i don`t agree that the N-Gage users download more and more games is a bad news for Nokia...
It's not really bad news but it really shows the wrong decision made by Nokia to choose the expensive and limited in size(MB) mmc cards as the medium for the N-Gage games.The downloadable java games is good news for Nokia. But not good news for the developers who want to really support N-Gage.
Just think of it. What would be best for a company. To release a game written only for the N-Gage (using the expensive MMC cards), or a downloadable java (or even better a Symbian C++ Series60 for better graphics&sound) game wriitten for wider compatibility with other phones?
Originally posted by MemphisX
It's not really bad news but it really shows the wrong decision made by Nokia to choose the expensive and limited in size(MB) mmc cards as the medium for the N-Gage games.The downloadable java games is good news for Nokia. But not good news for the developers who want to really support N-Gage.
Just think of it. What would be best for a company. To release a game written only for the N-Gage (using the expensive MMC cards), or a downloadable java (or even better a Symbian C++ Series60 for better graphics&sound) game wriitten for wider compatibility with other phones?
Hello, have we forgotten that MMC's are getting bigger every quarter! We have 512 MB mmc for the n-gage and the 1 gb is coming soon.. Memphis, what are you talking about???
MMC is thin and light weight and is growing monthly...
Get a Gage!
I can pick up a 128mb mmc for �30 that is $32...cheap
Originally posted by MemphisX
It's not really bad news but it really shows the wrong decision made by Nokia to choose the expensive and limited in size(MB) mmc cards as the medium for the N-Gage games.The downloadable java games is good news for Nokia. But not good news for the developers who want to really support N-Gage.
Just think of it. What would be best for a company. To release a game written only for the N-Gage (using the expensive MMC cards), or a downloadable java (or even better a Symbian C++ Series60 for better graphics&sound) game wriitten for wider compatibility with other phones?
ok i agree that using mmc cards is not the best idea, but think, if you have a GBA, do you have any option like downloading and installing new games? you have to go and buy the official games written only for GBA. same for GB, GBC, and it will be the same thing for PSP. if it is not MMC cards for N-Gage, a new and invented by Nokia medium is used, will there be an option like installing new apps, games, and etc. etc.? maybe there will be but it won`t be free as the MMC cards.
and think again the GBA and nintendo. Ninendo don`t sell the storage cartridge to developer companies... you show how a company you are to nintendo, if they like you they let you develop a game under their name. take the game from you, installs it to their cartridges and distributes your game under your company`s and nintendo`s name. but Nokia used a universally accepted medium as storage. you can find and buy it from everywhere. you are not dependent to nokia by this way. they fallow the way of nintendo in distributing the official games. if they like and accept your game, they distribute your game. but you are free to distribute a game under your name, for n-gage. It won`t be a official nokia supported game but you can do it (none of the PC games are distributed officially by IBM 😊 companies distribute and sell it by themselves) .
i think usage of MMC cards is good for independent developers. because this let them make their products disributed over internet. they can sell their software from their websites (and they are doing this).
and i think again releasing a game for only specific for N-Gage is better than a crossplatform game. because if you develop a game specific for a device, this means you can use the feathures of this product that other products don`t have. all devices have some better qualifications than others and using these qualifications will make your product special between the all other ones. yes, i`m not against crossplatform products, but if the features of the devices are same, then crossplatform can be better than a platform specific product. i think it is not like linux and windows cross platform products. because they can run on the same devices. and you cannot format (as far as i know as like this) your n-gage and install another OS until there is a new one written for this device. and in here java comes into play. the feature of java is it is a platform independent language and this makes it this large and powerful. if some developer want to write a software that runs on multiiple platforms, developer can write is on java (or Symbian C++ for for Symbian devices).
i talked too much i know 😊... MemphisX don`t think i am totally against you about what you think. i agree in some parts but i think you are looking to this from only one side. n-gage is the gaming device. all other Series 60 phones can run the games but the n-gage is designed especially for game playing. so i think it is normal that nokia wants developers develp their games especially for n-gage. and i think again they give the best thing to the independent developers by using a worldwide avaible and buyable and editable storage cards. you can get a 128MB MMC around $30-$45... and you can install tons of software inside it. if it is a cheaper but uneditable storage, will it be better?
you don`t have to agree all i have said, if you comment about these i will be very glad 😃
drager,you can get a RW Gameboy cartridge and a PC adapter for 100 euros.
the point in here what i want to tell is the MMC cards are not a bad option for N-Gage.
and i`ve read a book 1 or 2 years ago, i think it is called "How Nintendo takes over the American Entertainment World" or something like that. things i write here about nintendo are what i`ve learned from this book... and in this book it says nintendo don`t sell them to any company. i feel like i am the liar of this book 😊
do you know how much only the RW Gameboy cartridge, not with the PC Adaptor?
and Ghost do you think it is an bad idea usage of MMC cards in n-gage?
Originally posted by drager
the point in here what i want to tell is the MMC cards are not a bad option for N-Gage.
and i`ve read a book 1 or 2 years ago, i think it is called "How Nintendo takes over the American Entertainment World" or something like that. things i write here about nintendo are what i`ve learned from this book... and in this book it says nintendo don`t sell them to any company. i feel like i am the liar of this book 😊
do you know how much only the RW Gameboy cartridge, not with the PC Adaptor? and Ghost do you think it is an bad idea usage of MMC cards in n-gage?
First of all. Yes there is a gameboy cartridge with flash memory (I don't remember the exact url but the capacity were up to 128MB and it also had an app installed in order to select which game/rom you want at the boot.)but that is not the point.
The real reason I believe MMC was not the right choice was first the price (and could you please tell me OMEGAMAN where you find so cheap cards? Here in Greece the price of an MMC at 128MB is more than 70euros+tax(18%) and by the way this is the larger Nokia officially supports.) and secondly the age of the MMC technology (MMCs are very slow).
I didn't compare it with the Game Boy but even if we compare it we compare a next generation gaming device with a previous generation.
And let's face it. If a company wants to sell a really good game for the N-Gage then this game will be really big in size at MBs. just think of it a 128 MB game will cost to much for the company only for the MMC. After all not many will be willing to pay more than 100 euros for a game... So the companies will not release big games. But even that way the prices are still high. And considering that piracy hit N-Gage very soon and the sales of N-Gage are not the expected companies will not support with enough (not only in quantity but also in quality) games.
What's the solution? A better type of card such as SD cards would be quite enough. Greater capacities and cheaper than MMC's (not to mention faster and all the other advantages like SDIO devices). But not enough for me.
In my opinion the perfect N-Gage would be a mix of tapwave zodiac-Sony psp. The zodiac have 2 SD slots (the one compatible with SDIO). Sony PSP on the other hand will have an optical medium.
So why not Nokia produce their own medium (optical most preferably) for the games and a card medium (MMC, SD whatever you like but HOT SWAPABLE) for saving purposes or MP3 , Apps and all the other stuff Smartphone users love... AND instead of series 60 (with the limited size/wrong aspect ratio screen for games) use series 90...
What do u think...
and Ghost do you think it is an bad idea usage of MMC cards in n-gage?
Yes,i think it was a bad idea to use MMC as a gaming medium.
Originally posted by MemphisX
I didn't compare it with the Game Boy but even if we compare it we compare a next generation gaming device with a previous generation.
i`ve made a comparison with gameboy (GBA, GBC, GB), because i believe that the biggest competitor of N-Gage is now GBA and nintendo. regarding to this i talked about the mediums nintendo uses and their strategies about their stategy about games of their products.
i agree with you about the price of a good game because of it`s size. they say N-Gage supports upto 128MB MMCs officially because they produce maximum 128MB MMCs as you mentioned 😊 . but unoffically it supports also 256,512 MB MMCs too. and as omegaman said 1GB MMCs are on the way. so i think there is no trouble about size of the game (most PC games are maximum 700MB, a 512 MB game for N-Gage would be really really huge). but as you said MMC technology is a expensive technology nowadays. Maybe there will be price drops and it will be a common and cheap technology but, as i said maybe 😊 SD cards can be used yes. and i would prefer SD too. i am not agaist a card like MMC or SD. i just want to say, i think they prefer a storage like this, because it is small, and it allows people do whatever they want on it. and again now i agree with you about the seperate game and storage card. but maybe this is a bit phyical design issue. because all in all they have to put a phone inside this device. and an optical slot may make this device huge for a phone and a handheld gaming console.
i am totally with you abut the screen size. i was complaining about screen size and shape of n-gage from the moment i got my n-gage. because i`ve never seen a gaming device with a vertical screen. i really don`t know much about series 90 and it`s qualifications and feathures. i will read about it but i can`t say anything now about prefering s90 instead of s60 or s60 is better than s90 for n-gage because of bla bla bla...
Originally posted by MemphisX
The real reason I believe MMC was not the right choice was first the price (and could you please tell me OMEGAMAN where you find so cheap cards? Here in Greece the price of an MMC at 128MB is more than 70euros+tax(18%) and by the way this is the larger Nokia officially supports.)
first of all i want to say that 70euros is really expensive for a 128MB MMC card. i know you can buy through internet but if you really want, i can send you from here because 128MB MMCs are $45-$55... (if you really want, i can seriously send 😃 )
Originally posted by GhostDog
Yes,i think it was a bad idea to use MMC as a gaming medium.
ok 😊 but there must be a logical explanation why they`ve used MMCs, because all you say is MMCs are a really bad idea...
ok but there must be a logical explanation why they`ve used MMCs, because all you say is MMCs are a really bad idea...
Well,there is a logical explanation.Its their own proprietary standard 😉
they can use a new and again their own proprietary standard. but better?
There rather expensive as well. I noticed that a compact flash card (i think) was �15 for a 128mb whereas its �30 for mmc.
Originally posted by GhostDog
Well,there is a logical explanation.Its their own proprietary standard 😉
MMC is a standard:
http://www.mmca.org/The N-Gage game MMC's are MMC ROM cards.
MMC was a good choice by nokia. how else would they be able to double the phone as a MP3 player? or be able to watch .RM's with real player?
as for java games, i do not think i would of purchased the ngage if it did not play them. there are much more out there, and a bigger variety. i doubt that there will be a solitare or casino game on MMC.
playing both java games, and nokia's MMC make the ngage worth it.
Wow, lots of talk about MMC... I like em an they are available at Mediamarkt for �34 for 128mb... you can find them on the net for less. I like Hama because they all work.... 128mb 256mb and 512mb from hama work in the N-gage!
Originally posted by jaybadass
MMC was a good choice by nokia. how else would they be able to double the phone as a MP3 player? or be able to watch .RM's with real player?
jaybadass, others say that MMC is a wrong choice for Gaming Medium... and they say nokia can use a better (maybe as MemhisX said Optical) medium for games.
i believe that MMC is good only for the size. an optical drive will make n-gage bigger (and i think n-gage is big enough for a phone). and i think that they used MMC for design purposes. if anyone say why not SD, i can`t say anything to this. i believe N-Gage is a test product. maybe they don`t wanna waste money and time for finding a new opical medium for n-gage (this is just an assumption...). i am not an advocate of neither nokia nor MMC. i am not saying MMC is the best choice... but i say MMC is not as bad as you said, if you consider everything about N-Gage.