Just a year after the debut of their first mobile gaming/phone, Nokia gears up for the release of its second mobile phone/gaming device. Some may call their first endeavor a failure. Indeed sales were slim, partly because of the high price tag. Let it be known now that the Nokia N-Gage QD will be sold at a price between one and two hundred dollars. This drop in price will definitely attract some new customers, but what about the people who already own an N-Gage? Will Nokia blow them off and focus solely on the QD?
The question may be a moot point. The fact is that people will continue to buy newer and better model cell phones, just as they continue to buy newer and better game consoles. The new N-Gage is offering, based on consumer feedback, a lot of little changes that really irked gamers the last time over. For instance, the speaker and microphone have been reoriented, eliminating ?taco talk?. The new N-Gage will also support existing titles for the old N-Gage, giving it an instant library.
The new N-Gage Arena launcher also comes preinstalled on the QD. This app allows gamers full access to the N-Gage player community. Theoretically, it should make getting onto the gaming network and finding people to play with easier.
Now for the games. As most may remember, the previous lineup of titles for the N-Gage was lackluster at best. This year?s stock is trying to raise the bar on the relatively low standard set from last year. First person shooters seem all the rage, as Ghost Recon, Call of Duty, and a new game, Pathway to Glory, are all scheduled to release sometime before the holidays.
The rest of the lineup is populated with games more suited to the handheld market, or at least the N-Gage market, than first person shooters. Titles like Tiger Woods Golf, King of Fighters, and Bomberman will dominate most of the titles for the QD.
Mobile gamers won?t have to wait long for the next generation of Nokia products. A European release is scheduled for this month (May), with an American launch soon to follow. Can the low price, added features, and beefed up games attract enough new customers? Or will the QD fall into video game history like its predecessor did? If things are anything like last year, it won?t be long before the fate of the QD is known.