Nokia's Official N-Gage Blog has now confirmed that the "First Access" beta testing phase will end on the 27th of March. It's unclear exactly when the full version of N-Gage will launch, but it should be "in the next few weeks". Nokia's also started a survey about the beta test and will give away the next gen version of Mile High Pinball to everyone who takes part. Click on the headline for some important details.
Read on in the full article.
Cool cherry cream and a nice apple tart
I feel your taste all the time we're apart
Coconut fudge--really blows down those blues
But you'll have to have them all pulled out
After the N-Gage trial is oveeeeeeeer.
For those of you wondering about the previous message, it's apparently Savoy Truffle from the Beatles' "white album".
I am losing much of my love for N-Gage and its policy. Nokia are shamelessly backing the N81. Earlier, they were giving out HO:COTD for free to N81 users, and now it's the turn of Mile High Pinball. What is this crap? One device gets two free games and others? Nothing. Even if those devices are priced higher or are more powerful.
Nokia are shamelessly backing the N81. Earlier, they were giving out HO:COTD for free to N81 users, and now it's the turn of Mile High Pinball.
Sandy, what you're saying just isn't true.
They're not giving any N-Gage games away with the N81. If you buy an N81, there are no free N-Gage games included.
What they're doing is giving Mile High Pinball away to people who have taken part in the beta test and then complete a fairly detailed questionnaire about their experiences.
Would you prefer Nokia to give the beta testers absolutely nothing at all for their trouble? Remember that most beta testers have actually bought the games they did the testing on, Nokia didn't provide any free games during the testing period.
As for the COTD giveaway, that was only for users in Asia who entered a certain contest.
@ s1988, I'm assuming it's Nokia's pathetic attempt at justifying the N81s worthless existence (overpriced lackluster devices). Only at this stage of the game(pun intended), this access is the only thing validity the device's real worth, imo
What they're doing is giving Mile High Pinball away to people who have taken part in the beta test and then complete a fairly detailed questionnaire about their experiences.Would you prefer Nokia to give the beta testers absolutely nothing at all for their trouble? Remember that most beta testers have actually bought the games they did the testing on, Nokia didn't provide any free games during the testing period.
As for the COTD giveaway, that was only for users in Asia who entered a certain contest.
First of all, if they had opened up the beta test and the subsequent survey for other handsets' users, many of them would have happily filled up the questionnaire for a free game. And during beta testing, other users also could have bought games and could have faced the same 'trouble' you mentioned. Sorry, but I don't think beta testing is really a trouble. After all, the beta testing involved installing the apparently harmless N-Gage client, and furthermore harmless games. What they could've lost at most is 6 - 10 euros for a game, which, thankfully didn't happen to even 1% of the buyers, I think.
And the COTD giveaway was indeed a giveway, it just involved filling up another form and submitting the IMEI.
Make no mistake, I have nothing against the N81, but Nokia's policies surrounding it seem shameless, and seems that they are trying to clear their stock of this crappy overpriced device. @ the unregistered user, I agree with your point.
Good news for me; I just got a new n95 8gb and I've had no luck installing first access on it. I kept getting a message about a missing pipe during installation and a 'System Error' when I tried to open it after the install.
Hopefully the final version wont do that! N-gage was part of why i decided on the n95 rather than a G810/ iPhone/ k850i.
Great game for a freebie, played the first one on the original N-Gage alot, was one of the stronger N-Gage games, especially for pick up & play with plenty of replay value.
Sadly I don't own an N81 so couldn't take part in the beta testing, will probably be buying this game when the full roll out launch takes place and the N93 is supported though.
Sandy, you're going way over the top and into conspiracy theory territory. Using words like "shameless" is just silly.
First of all, Nokia's just said that anyone who fills in the survey will get the free game, even if they don't have an N81, so that sort of destroys your theory about Nokia trying to promote the N81:
http://blog.n-gage.com/archive/fasurveyupdate/
The reason they only had the N81 in the testing is because it's much easier to beta test software on a single hardware platform. As soon as you introduce lots of different devices, you complicate the test and it becomes harder to track down bugs.
Secondly, only a few tens of thousands of people even took part in the beta testing, and of those only a fraction are going to fill in the survey and get a free game. At best, they're probably only going to give maybe ten thousand of these games away. A successful smartphone is meant to sell millions, so this kind of promotion makes virtually no difference at all.
Nokia didn't actively advertise this beta test, they just put out some press releases and sent out a handful of N81s to reviewers who asked for them. We might know all about it, but I bet the majority of N81 owners didn't even know it was going on.
Thirdly... the game Mile High Pinball isn't even out yet! We don't even have a release date for it, so it's hardly the same thing as bundling a game with a phone.
And the COTD giveaway was indeed a giveway, it just involved filling up another form and submitting the IMEI.
...if you were in Asia, and you knew about the giveaway, and you knew the URL, and you bothered entering it, and you had an N81, and you bothered installing the First Access software three months later. How many people actually fulfilled all these criteria?
But even if you see it as a giveaway... is it REALLY that bad for a phone maker to promote one of their models by including a free game?
Would you think Nintendo was shameless if they gave away a free game with one of their console models?
Sandy, you're going way over the top and into conspiracy theory territory. Using words like "shameless" is just silly.
I am extremely sorry if I sounded rude in my earlier posts.
First of all, Nokia's just said that anyone who fills in the survey will get the free game, even if they don't have an N81, so that sort of destroys your theory about Nokia trying to promote the N81
When I posted, they were not allowing other phone owners to take part in the survey. It was clearly stated in the feedback form to enter "your N81 IMEI no.". It is only after rants from numerous users, they opened the feedback up.
The reason they only had the N81 in the testing is because it's much easier to beta test software on a single hardware platform. As soon as you introduce lots of different devices, you complicate the test and it becomes harder to track down bugs.Secondly, only a few tens of thousands of people even took part in the beta testing, and of those only a fraction are going to fill in the survey and get a free game. At best, they're probably only going to give maybe ten thousand of these games away. A successful smartphone is meant to sell millions, so this kind of promotion makes virtually no difference at all.
Nokia didn't actively advertise this beta test, they just put out some press releases and sent out a handful of N81s to reviewers who asked for them. We might know all about it, but I bet the majority of N81 owners didn't even know it was going on.
Thirdly... the game Mile High Pinball isn't even out yet! We don't even have a release date for it, so it's hardly the same thing as bundling a game with a phone.
I don't have any problem with only N81 getting the First Access. Yeah, technically, it could have been difficult for Nokia to carry out a larger beta test. What I said is, giving out games for free only to N81 users isn't fair. If they conducted a contest (like the Charter Member Program) and gave out licenses to gamers, I wouldn't even have ranted. They could have given out 1, 10 or 50000 or even millions of licenses for free in that way. But getting a license only for the reason someone has bought a specific handset leaves other device owners a bad feeling in their mouth. Imagine yourself buying an N95 8GB and you have to buy Mile High Pinball, and your friend gets it for free, only for the reason he has bought an N81. Make no mistake, I am not against N81, I am against the 'only N81' policy.
...if you were in Asia, and you knew about the giveaway, and you knew the URL, and you bothered entering it, and you had an N81, and you bothered installing the First Access software three months later. How many people actually fulfilled all these criteria?But even if you see it as a giveaway... is it REALLY that bad for a phone maker to promote one of their models by including a free game?
Would you think Nintendo was shameless if they gave away a free game with one of their console models?
Initially I didn't know about the giveaway. Nokia sent me a promotional mail through which I came to know about it. And I didn't need to know the URL, it was there in the mail 😉. Regarding Nintendo, they don't give out their games for specific pieces of hardwares. Whenever they bundle a game with their console, every owner of the console gets that. That's what I am ranting about.
Thankfully, Nokia has paid a heed to our rants, and has opened up the survey for all beta testers. I hope, they will support all the promised devices in the coming months.