What could the N-gage have done to succeed in the market?

[Atari Pogostick]

The N-Gage sold 3 million units, while that's not too shabby, it was not enough to succeed in the portable market and Nokia lost a ton of money on the project for both variations of the device.

 

 

The N-Gage was vastly more powerful than the Gameboy, actually had western developers on it, and doubled as a phone with multi-media features including mp3 listening which was hot at the time. $299 was a great price for what you were getting.

 

I know that there was the whole taco thing, and the fact it was $200 more than the GBA, but given the price of multi-media hardware at the time, that $299 was a steal to get an MP3 player, video, internet, and games on a phone. You'd think it would have sold more. The QD model fixed a lot of the firsts problems as well.

 

What do you think went wrong? Even if it couldn't beat the GBA I'd have expected maybe several more million sold. It was either a Razr V3 or a N-Gage, not a hard decision, or at least ti seems like it's not a hard decision. On some carriers you only payed $99 (or free) with contract as well.

 

One consolation is that it did get 2nd place, that's something, I guess.

Edited September 9, 2018 by Atari Pogostick

[derFunkenstein]

They couldn't have possibly marketed it any better. https://imgur.com/a/IsO8F

[godslabrat]

The N-Gage was a mistake we'd all like to forget. It's like that godawful haircut you got freshman year of college. The less said, the better.

[Atari Pogostick]

The N-Gage was a mistake we'd all like to forget. It's like that godawful haircut you got freshman year of college. The less said, the better.

But what was so bad about it to make you say this though? I had one and the only issues I could think of was the taco and the way you inserted games. The games played well, at least the ones I had.

[godslabrat]

But what was so bad about it to make you say this though? I had one and the only issues I could think of was the taco and the way you inserted games. The games played well, at least the ones I had.

Man, you must have used a LOT of mousse that year.

[+atari2600land]

The N-Gage didn't have very many games. Perhaps more games and more developers would have helped. I love my N-Gage and have a nearly complete collection.

[CatPix]

For me , the N-gage came at least 2 years too early. Ironically, it was retired the year it could have been released and get some success.

I don't remember really well, but phones from teenagers and young adults here became common around 2007. Before that date, GSM suscriptions were mostly targeted toward professionnals, with expensive monghtly fee and even more expensive data costs.

So teenagers wouldn't get the N-gage because parents were worried about the potential massive phone bill.

 

Teenagers would prefer the PSP anyway.

 

Young adults would get a phone from their work so wouldn't use the N-gage as a personal phone, as it's a generation that grew without it so they didn't jumped all on it right on.

Of course it's really just my opinion, but for me, the N-gage is one of those concept that was awesome, but came at the wrong time, and when the time came, it was perceived as old and outdted.

Edited September 9, 2018 by CatPix

[Atari Pogostick]

For me , the N-gage came at least 2 years too early. Ironically, it was retired the year it could have been released and get some success.

I don't remember really well, but phones from teenagers and young adults here became common around 2007. Before that date, GSM suscriptions were mostly targeted toward professionnals, with expensive monghtly fee and even more expensive data costs.

So teenagers wouldn't get the N-gage because parents were worried about the potential massive phone bill.

 

Teenagers would prefer the PSP anyway.

 

Young adults would get a phone from their work so wouldn't use the N-gage as a personal phone, as it's a generation that grew without it so they didn't jumped all on it right on.

Of course it's really just my opinion, but for me, the N-gage is one of those concept that was awesome, but came at the wrong time, and when the time came, it was perceived as old and outdted.

Psp was late 2004.

 

I get your other points but data plans were not packaged back then so all the parents would have to do is not buy a data package. This would prevent the bill, and razrs had subs so I'm sure if Nokia got more carriers selling it for $99, or free with contract it may have done a bit better. Maybe.

[Atari Pogostick]

The N-Gage didn't have very many games. Perhaps more games and more developers would have helped. I love my N-Gage and have a nearly complete collection.

It had a decent amount earlier but they dropped the bar hard in the later half of it's run I agree.

 

They had good packaging to, all the GBA game boxes were cheap cardboard. Yuck.

[Flojomojo]

Too soon, too ugly, too limited. Too few games and the few it had were too expensive. It's not hard to understand why it flopped, or why mobile games generally cost $0.

 

You really should start a counterfactual blog. What if the Playstation used square discs? What if the Saturn were sold in gas stations? Why didn't the Nintendo 64 play Atari cartridges? Would the Xbox have sold better if it came in Gamecube Purple? Why isn't the Leapster recognized as the greatest game platform ever? Would the Neo-Geo Pocket Color have sold 10x as many if the joystick were quieter? Should GameBoy Advance had a light in the first edition but at 5x the price?

[Flojomojo]

Psp was late 2004.

 

I get your other points but data plans were not packaged back then so all the parents would have to do is not buy a data package. This would prevent the bill, and razrs had subs so I'm sure if Nokia got more carriers selling it for $99, or free with contract it may have done a bit better. Maybe.

PSP was March 2005, $250. I remember because I was there on the first day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable

 

No one likes selling phones without a service plan, that's the definition of losing money.

[Atari Pogostick]

PSP was March 2005, $250. I remember because I was there on the first day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable

 

No one likes selling phones without a service plan, that's the definition of losing money.

Service plan and data plan are not the same thing. Most parents were not buying their kids data plans back then, it was usually for themself.

[Jess Ragan]

Too soon, too ugly, too limited. Too few games and the few it had were too expensive. It's not hard to understand why it flopped, or why mobile games generally cost $0.

 

You really should start a counterfactual blog. What if the Playstation used square discs? What if the Saturn were sold in gas stations? Why didn't the Nintendo 64 play Atari cartridges? Would the Xbox have sold better if it came in Gamecube Purple? Why isn't the Leapster recognized as the greatest game platform ever? Would the Neo-Geo Pocket Color have sold 10x as many if the joystick were quieter? Should GameBoy Advance had a light in the first edition but at 5x the price?

 

Man, Coleco Hula Hoops is going to feel THAT in the morning!

[Video]

Ngage was a monument to "do all devices" before that became a thing. It does a bit of everything, and none of it well. Console wise, it's equal or better than game boy advance (some games were far better, while it choked for mystery reasons on others)

 

The form factor simply sucked. I know I always harp on controller as opposed to touch screens, but there's a little "it needs to be good" in there too, and it's buttons sucked. Vertical format screen is unfriendly to most game types.sucked

 

It's a cellphone, which sounds good, now. Back then though, cellphones were a lot less friendly. If you wanted a game, you likely got the cheaper gba, or even psp was released in 05, and did a good music and video player too. Just minus the have to have a plan cellphone service.

 

As to saving it? Release it as a standalone good form factor handheld. Either alone, or side by side with the cellphone variant. Until psp came out, it was a capable device, but the cell was an insurmountable saddle bag that simply killed it as a games device. And the games machine held it back as a cellphone due to price of added hw and funky form factor.

[Atari Pogostick]

Ngage was a monument to "do all devices" before that became a thing. It does a bit of everything, and none of it well. Console wise, it's equal or better than game boy advance (some games were far better, while it choked for mystery reasons on others)

 

The form factor simply sucked. I know I always harp on controller as opposed to touch screens, but there's a little "it needs to be good" in there too, and it's buttons sucked. Vertical format screen is unfriendly to most game types.sucked

 

It's a cellphone, which sounds good, now. Back then though, cellphones were a lot less friendly. If you wanted a game, you likely got the cheaper gba, or even psp was released in 05, and did a good music and video player too. Just minus the have to have a plan cellphone service.

 

As to saving it? Release it as a standalone good form factor handheld. Either alone, or side by side with the cellphone variant. Until psp came out, it was a capable device, but the cell was an insurmountable saddle bag that simply killed it as a games device. And the games machine held it back as a cellphone due to price of added hw and funky form factor.

What did you think of the QD model? You think if it launched with that one it may have made a difference?

[Video]

Never messed with the newer one. It sold pretty well as is considering being sold only in a few obscure locations. Apple gets a lot of credit for selling well, but that didn't really happen till it became non exclusive, then it took off.

 

As a standalone it could have been sold in Wal-Mart's and such. Imagine what it could have done it those of us wanted one could just go to a store to get one as opposed to the ebay route (which is what I did)

[Andromeda Stardust]

Ngage was a monument to "do all devices" before that became a thing. It does a bit of everything, and none of it well. Console wise, it's equal or better than game boy advance (some games were far better, while it choked for mystery reasons on others)

The form factor simply sucked. I know I always harp on controller as opposed to touch screens, but there's a little "it needs to be good" in there too, and it's buttons sucked. Vertical format screen is unfriendly to most game types.sucked

It's a cellphone, which sounds good, now. Back then though, cellphones were a lot less friendly. If you wanted a game, you likely got the cheaper gba, or even psp was released in 05, and did a good music and video player too. Just minus the have to have a plan cellphone service.

As to saving it? Release it as a standalone good form factor handheld. Either alone, or side by side with the cellphone variant. Until psp came out, it was a capable device, but the cell was an insurmountable saddle bag that simply killed it as a games device. And the games machine held it back as a cellphone due to price of added hw and funky form factor.

I saw an N-Gage out in public once, some woman was gaming on it before the movie started, and it looked retarded. My friend and I laughed even.

 

Even keypad screens are terrible compared to tactile gamepads, and that Dpad looks horribe without even feeling it. I don't disagree that vertical screens are a poor form factor for modern genres like sidescrolling and 3d platformers, however they were great for classic arcade titles and vertical shmups.

 

Cellphones did not yet have download stores capable of anything more than cheaply programmed java games, so the physical retail model made sense at the time. However, it was a poorly designed phone and a poorly designed gaming device.

 

I could actually see Nintendo entering the smartphone market, with it's own app store and low profile buttons on the side (think slimmer/smaller profile Switch tablet with integrated and permanently built in joycon, and 3ds style sliders in leui of thumbsticks). It could have a physical Switch card slot and optional wireless plan, with cheaper models being wifi only. I would buy one, along with the other two dozen or so die hard Nintendo manboys out there wanting a Switchphone.

[Austin]

Tough topic to talk about as not a lot of people have had real, genuine experience with the platform and its library.

 

From my perspective, Nokia had a great idea, but the execution was quite poor and they ended up shooting themselves in the foot with the original model. Having to hold it sideways while talking into it made it one of the largest targets of memes at the time, and having to remove the battery to change games was highly illogical as well. It also didn't help that the marketing wasn't great, it wasn't always clear what was required to use it ("Does it have to have cell service? Can it only be used as a games machine?"), the price was high (assuming you didn't need a cell phone) and its initial launch lineup was pretty lackluster despite having some great licenses (games like Virtua Tennis, Puzzle Bobble, and Moto GP running at a handful of frames a second; Releases like Pandemonium and Tomb Raider missing music and FMV).

 

Nokia fixed most of the problems with the release of the second model (the QD) in 2004. The screen was slightly larger and brighter, you didn't have to rotate it on its side to listen to phone calls, an external cart slot was added, and the price was more competitive. The unit also felt solid and it even reviewed well with critics, whereas the original model did not. It was pretty much too late by this point though, the damage was done and sales never really picked up. I am of the mindset that had they started with this model, things would have turned out much differently.

 

As far as games are concerned, the N-Gage has a decent library. I wouldn't call it top-tier, but it's a lot better than most people give it credit for. Some of my personal favorites are Sonic N, Super Monkey Ball, Ashen, Colin McRae 2004, Mile High Pinball, Snakes, Asphalt: Urban GT, Requiem of Hell, among a bunch of others.

 

One of the other neat things about it is it was the first handheld I had where I could add my own software downloaded from the internet, including emulators. Game Boy compatibility was solid enough and so that was a nice bonus to have. You could also download Java games and apps, most of which weren't very good, but it was something else (a nice bonus if you had a QD, as they stripped the built-in MP3 player software on that model, but you could get around it by downloading a MP3 player app).

 

I'm a little wary of that supposed "3 Million sold" stat. I was working at Electronic's Boutique when the system launched up through the couple years after and I probably could have counted the amount of units we sold on one hand (and two of those were me). At one of the neighboring stores I shopped at when not on the job, I was the only one to actually pre-order new releases. That's only anecdotal experience no doubt, but I think it's worth something. If it did indeed sell that many, North America wasn't likely a huge part of that and I think you would see a lot more available on the secondhand market.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Austin

[Jess Ragan]

Hey, I played the N-Gage. I owned it, even. It wasn't great but it really was the best gaming you were going to get out of a cell phone before the rise of the smartphone. I also had a Kyocera Slider Sonic around that time, and the games on that were utterly dismal... it had a port of Mega Man 2 that was so clunky and unresponsive it prompted me to hurl my phone across the room in an impotent rage.

 

The N-Gage was closer to a legitimate game device than its contemporaries. It could handle polygons better than the Game Boy Advance and its 2D was respectable... I recall a couple of Atari collections that seemed like they were using emulation, and felt like the actual arcade games.

 

Having said that, I have some big beefs with the device. The screen is vertically oriented and painfully small. There were two N-Gage ports of GBA games (King of Fighters 2 and Sonic Advance) that didn't hold up on the system due to the awkward aspect ratio. The button layout was, uh, less than optimal, although the numeric keys were useful for Worms World Party. Although technically impressive, the Playstation ports felt much too cramped. Games that were allegedly "killer apps" didn't excite me much, like Mile High Pinball.

 

I'd say the N-Gage holds even with the Gizmondo. The hardware isn't as good but the software was better. Neither had a chance of finding an audience, though. Why bother when the GBA was less expensive and the soon to arrive PSP offered a far better experience without the hassle of a phone contract?

[high voltage]

Like Austin said, the N-Gage has a great library of games, I mean Sega, EA, Activision, Capcom, Atari plus many others did quality games for that little beauty.

And I liked the 'taco' image the N-Gage had, when people make fun out of something, for me, it is unique.

Edited September 10, 2018 by high voltage

[derFunkenstein]

Never messed with the newer one. It sold pretty well as is considering being sold only in a few obscure locations. Apple gets a lot of credit for selling well, but that didn't really happen till it became non exclusive, then it took off.

 

As a standalone it could have been sold in Wal-Mart's and such. Imagine what it could have done it those of us wanted one could just go to a store to get one as opposed to the ebay route (which is what I did)

Apple has the iPod touch, which early on was a HUGE part of the ecosystem. It outsold the iPhone early on because, like you said, the iPhone was a carrier exclusive. . And to ride your logical coattails, an "iPod touch" style N-Gage might have helped.

[Tanooki]

Games weren't the problem. Nokia was the problem along with time of release entirely.

 

Had they not had to juggle around to get to the game in the thing, that would have helped. Had the device come out a couple years later and used a more common core to run games (like Android) that was easily adopted with room to grow that would have been huge too. A very solid marketplace like googleplay/apple store would have been massive as well. You basically had this expensive clumsy rubiks cube mess of a phone you had to remove the battery from to pop in SD like cards to play games of varying quality. The screen was ok but nothing awesome about it and the odd size/resolution were probably an issue for some too. When you had to compare this to a slim folded up GBA Sp original, and shortly after into the DS and PSP realm, the thing was just screwed entirely. It was just out there from within later 2003 into some point of 2005, the far better executed and equally crappily marketed Neo Geo Pocket Color lasted more than twice as long and did far better just before it came about. The device by design, timing, and garbage execution was dead on arrival except to technophiles hoping to jump onto the next big thing, and once it imploded about a year into it, rats dove off that ship fast.

[Atari Pogostick]

Tough topic to talk about as not a lot of people have had real, genuine experience with the platform and its library.

 

From my perspective, Nokia had a great idea, but the execution was quite poor and they ended up shooting themselves in the foot with the original model. Having to hold it sideways while talking into it made it one of the largest targets of memes at the time, and having to remove the battery to change games was highly illogical as well. It also didn't help that the marketing wasn't great, it wasn't always clear what was required to use it ("Does it have to have cell service? Can it only be used as a games machine?"), the price was high (assuming you didn't need a cell phone) and its initial launch lineup was pretty lackluster despite having some great licenses (games like Virtua Tennis, Puzzle Bobble, and Moto GP running at a handful of frames a second; Releases like Pandemonium and Tomb Raider missing music and FMV).

 

Nokia fixed most of the problems with the release of the second model (the QD) in 2004. The screen was slightly larger and brighter, you didn't have to rotate it on its side to listen to phone calls, an external cart slot was added, and the price was more competitive. The unit also felt solid and it even reviewed well with critics, whereas the original model did not. It was pretty much too late by this point though, the damage was done and sales never really picked up. I am of the mindset that had they started with this model, things would have turned out much differently.

 

As far as games are concerned, the N-Gage has a decent library. I wouldn't call it top-tier, but it's a lot better than most people give it credit for. Some of my personal favorites are Sonic N, Super Monkey Ball, Ashen, Colin McRae 2004, Mile High Pinball, Snakes, Asphalt: Urban GT, Requiem of Hell, among a bunch of others.

 

One of the other neat things about it is it was the first handheld I had where I could add my own software downloaded from the internet, including emulators. Game Boy compatibility was solid enough and so that was a nice bonus to have. You could also download Java games and apps, most of which weren't very good, but it was something else (a nice bonus if you had a QD, as they stripped the built-in MP3 player software on that model, but you could get around it by downloading a MP3 player app).

 

I'm a little wary of that supposed "3 Million sold" stat. I was working at Electronic's Boutique when the system launched up through the couple years after and I probably could have counted the amount of units we sold on one hand (and two of those were me). At one of the neighboring stores I shopped at when not on the job, I was the only one to actually pre-order new releases. That's only anecdotal experience no doubt, but I think it's worth something. If it did indeed sell that many, North America wasn't likely a huge part of that and I think you would see a lot more available on the secondhand market.

 

There seems to be a decent amount on Ebay, but you have to look for it across two different categories as some N-gages are sold as phones instead of video games.

 

I do believe the 3 million is likely world wide.

 

 

Games weren't the problem. Nokia was the problem along with time of release entirely.

 

Had they not had to juggle around to get to the game in the thing, that would have helped. Had the device come out a couple years later and used a more common core to run games (like Android) that was easily adopted with room to grow that would have been huge too. A very solid marketplace like googleplay/apple store would have been massive as well. You basically had this expensive clumsy rubiks cube mess of a phone you had to remove the battery from to pop in SD like cards to play games of varying quality. The screen was ok but nothing awesome about it and the odd size/resolution were probably an issue for some too. When you had to compare this to a slim folded up GBA Sp original, and shortly after into the DS and PSP realm, the thing was just screwed entirely. It was just out there from within later 2003 into some point of 2005, the far better executed and equally crappily marketed Neo Geo Pocket Color lasted more than twice as long and did far better just before it came about. The device by design, timing, and garbage execution was dead on arrival except to technophiles hoping to jump onto the next big thing, and once it imploded about a year into it, rats dove off that ship fast.

 

Don't think the NGP sold 3 million units.

 

As for your other points, I can see where your coming from. I do have to disagree on common core though, the Nokia N-gage ran Symbian and a lt of phones were using Symbian at the time, in fact, Symbian was the biggest OStat the time the N-gage came out. I don't think Nokia could have done anything better than that in 2003.

 

 

Hey, I played the N-Gage. I owned it, even. It wasn't great but it really was the best gaming you were going to get out of a cell phone before the rise of the smartphone. I also had a Kyocera Slider Sonic around that time, and the games on that were utterly dismal... it had a port of Mega Man 2 that was so clunky and unresponsive it prompted me to hurl my phone across the room in an impotent rage.

 

The N-Gage was closer to a legitimate game device than its contemporaries. It could handle polygons better than the Game Boy Advance and its 2D was respectable... I recall a couple of Atari collections that seemed like they were using emulation, and felt like the actual arcade games.

 

Having said that, I have some big beefs with the device. The screen is vertically oriented and painfully small. There were two N-Gage ports of GBA games (King of Fighters 2 and Sonic Advance) that didn't hold up on the system due to the awkward aspect ratio. The button layout was, uh, less than optimal, although the numeric keys were useful for Worms World Party. Although technically impressive, the Playstation ports felt much too cramped. Games that were allegedly "killer apps" didn't excite me much, like Mile High Pinball.

 

I'd say the N-Gage holds even with the Gizmondo. The hardware isn't as good but the software was better. Neither had a chance of finding an audience, though. Why bother when the GBA was less expensive and the soon to arrive PSP offered a far better experience without the hassle of a phone contract?

So before anything else, please keep in mind that Smartphones existed at this time. Primarily led by Blackberry followed by Windows and palm pda clones, however you are correct in that the N-gage was not considered a smartphone at the time.. for some reason.

 

With that said, you are right, looking at the Specs of the N-gage as well as other portable multi-media devices, the N-gage was likely the best you were going to get when it came out in terms of portable gaming. Yeah I think the QD model should have released first and the original N-gage had some issues, but if you were an ethusiast that was your only option unfortunately.

 

Now as for the Gizmondo, i wouldn't really compare the two as the N-gage actually sold to people, had features people used everyday (Mp3 etc.) and had software. I'd say the Nuon maybe.

[derFunkenstein]

You can't play those kinds of equivalence games. There's a huge difference in what constitutes a smartphone today and the way you're using the term. Today we'd call the Blackberry Bold a "feature phone".

[John Stamos Mullet]

But what was so bad about it to make you say this though? I had one and the only issues I could think of was the taco and the way you inserted games. The games played well, at least the ones I had.

Cellphone companies trying to get into the gaming market.

 

Like buying a toaster to dry your laundry.