The Rules of N-Gage

Phones primary function is to do phone calls, I usually avoid trials and beta software to keep problems to the minimum.

It would be really nice if trial can be done without installation, especially for huge application like N-Gage games. Best if trial can be done outside the phones, maybe on emulator on computers.

PS: on computers, I use virtualization to run trial and beta 😊

I actually like the way it is, but it should be open to all S60 phones.

And Unregistered #1: You have nothing to do with gaming, do you?
You can't install any game trial to a virtual machine (well, you can, but new and hardware demanding games like Crysis won't run properly).

I think trials are right the way they are.

Phones primary function is to do phone calls, I usually avoid trials and beta software to keep problems to the minimum.

Erm... what problems would a trial game cause that a full game wouldn't? And surely you'd want to know about such problems before you buy the game?

In any case, there's no technical difference between an N-Gage trial version and the full game. They're the same file but the trial version is locked, and when you purchase the game the trial turns into the unlocked full game.

It would be really nice if trial can be done without installation, especially for huge application like N-Gage games.

They're not huge apps, they're about 1 to 10 megabytes when installed. If your S60 phone can't cope with that size of file, then it's probably broken.

Seriously, I've installed every demo released so far and had no problems at all, except occasional bugs within the demos themselves. It's never caused the phone problems with operating.

I actually like the way it is, but it should be open to all S60 phones.

Well this issue comes up again and again, and I do agree there ought to be compatibility for devices like the 6120 Classic which have sold well and are technically good enough to run the games.

My understanding though is that they're going to include N-Gage on all future S60 devices announced from now on, so eventually it will be on all new S60s.

| Erm... what problems would a trial game cause that a full game wouldn't? And surely you'd want to know about such problems before you buy the game? |

1st of all, I run trial to see if I like the software or game. Then, I could move on to run the trial on the phone if I like it. If everything works fine, I would buy it.

It's the 1st stage that I hope to test outside the phone, rather than trialing every application or games on the phone and risk corrupting it.

| hey're not huge apps, they're about 1 to 10 megabytes when installed. |

For mobile software, 10MB is relatively huge.

| You can't install any game trial to a virtual machine (well, you can, but new and hardware demanding games like Crysis won't run properly). |

I have installed quite a number of games in virtual machines. I copy the content out from the virutal machines, then I run the games from the host. I have the system folders restricted to administrators, by running the games with a normal user account, I minimize the risk of overwriting/corrupting sensitive files and registry entries.

So far, only game that insisted for administrator account is NavyField when running on Vista.

1st of all, I run trial to see if I like the software or game. Then, I could move on to run the trial on the phone if I like it. If everything works fine, I would buy it.

It's the 1st stage that I hope to test outside the phone, rather than trialing every application or games on the phone and risk corrupting it.

I think you're worried about a risk that isn't there.

I've been reviewing S60 and N-Gage games for over a year now, and I've never had any of them corrupt my phone. The worst that has ever happened is the phone restarts, but there's never been any damage to other apps or data.

Game publishers do actually test games before they release them, and it's especially true on N-Gage where the games are available on a limited number of models.

These aren't beta versions of the games, the trial version is the finished version of the game but locked until you pay for it.

For mobile software, 10MB is relatively huge.

Not any more, it's only the same amount of space as four or five music tracks. Why should that cause problems on a modern S60 phone?

The latest S60 phones come with literally gigabytes of built-in storage memory, you could fit hundreds of N-Gage games onto a single phone.

I've installed much MUCH bigger games without any problems, for example Atlantis Redux and Return To Mysterious Island were about 30 megabytes.

Unregistered worried about corrupting their phone: why don't you just back up your phone's data before installing the demo? Even if the worst happened you could just restore the backup.

> I think you're worried about a risk that isn't there.

Sorry, I can't agree to that, games are programs, and all relevant programs has bugs.

> The worst that has ever happened is the phone restarts,

Restart/hang when taking a call or in the middle of a call is something very very very irritating... the experience is very different from a restart/hang on a computer...

> Game publishers do actually test games before they release them

No developer can test 100% of a relevant program. If I like only 1 out of 10 games, I can minimize the risk by a factor of 10 if I can trial the games outside the phone 😊

> The latest S60 phones come with literally gigabytes of built-in storage memory,

It's not the storage space that matter, bigger and more complex programs tend to be more prone to errors.

> Why don't you just back up your phone's data before installing the demo?

I always does that, I'm not worry about data lost or corruption at all 😃

I think I'd add something along the lines of..

Have in-game tutorials or tips to help new players out.

Clearly some games don't need this, but sometimes it would be useful to have a bit more help. FIFA has a good system for this in my opinion. So does Craetures of the Deep (e.g. guiding you to the extras such as tips and shop that aren't immediately obvious). Most of the existing games are OK on this front although Block Breaker could probably do a better job of explaining power ups. Explaining Arena functionality could be improved too (e.g. System Rush).

Sometimes in game stuff works, but a help section with power up guides or similar might be good.

I think that some of the extra around a game on the web can be important too. CotD has a good offocial sites and the developers have put up some forums too. N-Gage.com does the main service here though I suppose.

Have in-game tutorials or tips to help new players out.

True... that was one of the things that lost Creatures Of The Deep marks in the AAN review, it's a bit unclear where things like the tackle box are (you have to go to the "pause" menu, then "pocket" which is not 100% intuitive).

> Why don't you just back up your phone's data before installing the demo?

I always does that, I'm not worry about data lost or corruption at all 😃

Restart/hang when taking a call or in the middle of a call is something very very very irritating... the experience is very different from a restart/hang on a computer...

It just seems such a tiny risk, and if you do buy the full game you'd have to run it on your phone anyway.

I've been doing reviews for over a year and (as far as I know) I've never missed a call because of playing an S60 or N-Gage game.

With the demos the risk is even tinier: most of the demos only have a few minutes of gameplay at most, it's very unlikely you'd be running a demo at the exact moment a call came through, and even then the call will probably come through without a problem.

There we go again, din't I said is to minimize the amount of trialing on the phone, I WILL trial and run the games I like on the PHONE ULTIMATELY... Ok, I SHOULD just accept the TINY risk, period 😞