N-Gage: My thoughts & your suggestions.

[Stingray]

After a few days of fighting Fed-Ex, my N-Gage is finally here. I'd been considering switching mobile phone services anyway (previously I was using Cricket, yes they are as bad as their reputation makes them out to be) so when I found out that you can get an N-Gage free if you sign up with T-Mobile, I was in.

 

I'd heard that the N-Gage was not a great mobile phone. I have no idea how it got that reputation. It has about a zillion more features than my cheesy Kyocera phone that I had been using. I still have no idea how to use most of the features the N-Gage has - time to RTFM. I also get great signal in places where I used to get no signal at all. Okay, I'm willing to concede that the signal improvement may have more to do with the fact that I'm on the T-Mobile network now, but considering that the N-Gage has no external antenna, it's still very impressive. In any case, as a mobile phone it's much, much better than I had been led to believe.

 

At the moment I only have two games for it. Tony Hawk Pro Skater came with it. I have no interest in that one, so I'll probably sell or trade it for something else. Tomb Raider is the other one. I'm kind of embarrased to admit that I have never played the first Tomb Raider. Ive played TR2 & TR:AoD, both of which I enjoyed. My first thought was that I just couldn't believe that I was playing Tomb Raider on my phone. My wife who has no interest in video games played it a bit and seemed geniunely amazed. As a game system, no it isn't a PSP or a DS, but as a cell phone, the games are just jaw dropping. This is hands down the coolest cell phone I've ever used.

 

After browsing online for the last few days I'm blown away by the huge amount of downloadable content that's available. I ordered a bluetooth dongle and a 512 mb MMC card for it yesterday. Hopefully by next week I'll be loading that card up with games & emulators. #1 on my list is MAME. Yes, I have a MAME cabinet, but try as I might, I can't get it to fit into my pocket. The 3D snakes game (name escapes me at the moment) is also high up there.

 

So my question for you guys who already have one, as far as the downloadable games go, what's the good stuff? What should be avoided? Best of all, what's free?

 

Any tips or suggestions anyone has regarding my new little toy are very welcome!

 

-S

Edited April 29, 2005 by Stingray

[Atarifever]

So my question for you guys who already have one, as far as the downloadable games go, what's the good stuff? What should be avoided? Best of all, what's free?

 

Any tips or suggestions anyone has regarding my new little toy are very welcome!

 

-S

846349[/snapback]

I just got an email saying my MMC finally arrived so I'll be able to answer that soon. You can apparently get a freeware version of doom for it. That'll be pretty high on my list. I'm also going to find out how to compress and watch video on it, someone here or on the N-Gage boards said they squeezed a couple of episodes of Futurama onto theirs.

[Stingray]

I saw the free Doom when I was looking at a few of the links that you posted in the other thread. I may D/L that & give it a try just because it's free. I'm not really a FPS fan.

 

I may give the video thing a go just because I can. I don't see myself ever really being in a situation where I would find that feature particularly useful. I feel the same about UMD movies on the PSP.

 

Are you planning on trying out the Emulators? I'm going to install EMAME for sure. I also want an NES emu, but don't know which one to go with. Is one better than the others? I noticed there were several.

 

Is there a way for me to copy Tomb Raider onto my MMC card (or is this subject taboo?) I'm not talking about pirating, I just don't want to cary multiple cards around, I'm afraid I'll lose the one that's not in the phone because they're so tiny.

 

-S

[Atarifever]

I saw the free Doom when I was looking at a few of the links that you posted in the other thread. I may D/L that & give it a try just because it's free. I'm not really a FPS fan.

 

I may give the video thing a go just because I can. I don't see myself ever really being in a situation where I would find that feature particularly useful. I feel the same about UMD movies on the PSP.

 

Are you planning on trying out the Emulators? I'm going to install EMAME for sure. I also want an NES emu, but don't know which one to go with. Is one better than the others? I noticed there were several.

 

Is there a way for me to copy Tomb Raider onto my MMC card (or is this subject taboo?) I'm not talking about pirating, I just don't want to cary multiple cards around, I'm afraid I'll lose the one that's not in the phone because they're so tiny.

 

-S

846417[/snapback]

I don't know anything about that stuff yet, and I am currently having trouble getting my computer to pick up the N-Gage (I finally found an area where Windows 98 is worse than XP). Any of those topics that you don't think will be taboo you could post on the N-Gage boards; You'll only get a couple replies, but they are always from the best members there. I'll try putting everything on my NGage as soon as I get the computer to pick it up.

[Stingray]

There seems to be a fairly high concentration of hostile teenagers on the N-Gage board. 80% of the replies seem to be written in some language that I can barely understand.

 

were do u ppl go 2 dl 1337 gamez?2?2?2?2?

 

N*gAGE gAMeZZ r not FreE s0 sTop aSKiNG!1!1!1!1!1! ur pIRAte!1!1!1!

 

Err?

 

-S

[Atarifever]

I hope everyone at Nokia gets plague and dies. I hope that when they die they go to Hell. I know what Hell is, let me tell you about it. It is trying to use the Nokia N-Gage to do anything but play games if you have Windows 98. I can't get my compter to recognize the Ngage so I figured I needed a driver. I went and installed the PC suite software on the disk that came with my NGage. It didn't help. I found out there was a new version of PC suite that said something about USB drivers, so I thought cool I'll get that and use it. Unfortuantely the new version won't install till the old version is uninstalled. Here's the kicker...Nokia decided the stupid PC suite didn't need an uninstall option. I tried using the add/remove program thing and it won't work. Then I just tried to delete it, but it has some kind of protection so it won't delete. Now I can't get the old version off the computer or the new version on. I am not tech aware enough to be doing this. In a minute I will try to get the computer to recognize the N-Gage by stuffing the N-Gage into the floppy drive with a hammar.

[Stingray]

WOW! I hope I have better luck with XP. Hope you get it sorted.

 

-S

[Atarifever]

I would like to take this time to apologize to all the fine people at Nokia. I do not, indeed, hope you get plague, die and go to Hell. Your Snakes game is fabulous. However, hiding the USB driver for Wondows 98 in the audio manager was a poor decision. Still, everything works wonderfully now.

Seriously, Snakes kicks ass. Also, there is a free shooter on the CD that came with the N-Gage that I am going to install right now.

[Atarifever]

I now love the NGage more than ever. I have 7 pictures. three songs and Snakes on it so far and I've only used 49MB of my 244 that the card says it has. If I can run the shooter, a couple more pictures and about 10 songs I'll be happy. The MMC card is the best NGage investment you can make. Tomorow I'l get Doom and maybe a java game.

[SteveW]

I couldn't use the CD-ROM that came with my N-Gage QD because none of the software in the suite is Mac-compatible. So I had to find some solutions out for myself. I discovered that Quicktime Pro would happily convert video into the 3GP format for viewing on the N-Gage. I had three episodes of the last season of Futurama on my hard drive, so I experimented on them to see how they'll play on my phone. I ended up having to really lower the sound quality and drop the video quality down pretty far.

 

I can't locate the folder on my hard drive right now, but somewhere on a backup CD-R, I have a bunch of little background pictures I made up for mine. I also had a bunch of little games and applications too. Since I've loaned out my N-Gage to my brother, who's pathetic phone died on him, I've lost track of all my N-Gage stuff.

 

 

If you're looking for recommendations, try Ashen. It's pretty good, but I got stuck at one section where I have to rescue the character's sister in a really short time period. I can't seem to get past that.

 

In the PDA section of electronics stores, you might find a program called Atari Retro. It's got 7 Atari 2600 games emulated for both the Palm OS, and Nokia phones. It's got Missle Command, Yar's Revenge, Adventure, Asteroids, and a few others on it. It'll cost something like $30, so maybe you can find it used someplace else. I got mine after my friend got rid of his Palm PDA stuff and got a Pocket PC (that he hated and got rid of a few months later).

 

Operation Shadow is kind of fun. It's kind of a 3rd person Commando type game. I had difficulty with the controls, though.

 

 

I really was looking forward to playing Alien Front Online. I love a good tank game every once in a while. The Dreamcast version got pretty boring in one-player mode, with the constantly repeating levels and all, so I was hoping that the N-Gage version would expand the one-player game. But apparently the game blew, and got pulled after it came out in Australia. Instead of doing some upgrading work on the game and reissuing it, they just killed it outright.

[Atarifever]

There seems to be a fairly high concentration of hostile teenagers on the N-Gage board. 80% of the replies seem to be written in some language that I can barely understand.

 

were do u ppl go 2 dl 1337 gamez?2?2?2?2?

 

N*gAGE gAMeZZ r not FreE s0 sTop aSKiNG!1!1!1!1!1! ur pIRAte!1!1!1!

 

Err?

 

-S

846481[/snapback]

Yeah, they also appear to be jerks. I asked last night how to get my computer to recognize the USB connection to the NGage. Like I said, it turned out that I needed to load up the Nokia audio manager (something I had no interest in using) in order to get the USB drivers. Never mind the fact that there could easily be an area of the CD that came with the NGage called "drivers" or somethng similar. Also, never mind the fact that that isn't written anywhere in the material that came with the NGage. Then, ignore the fact that it is written nowhere on Nokias site, so certain are they that you have Windows XP or will want to use their wonderous audio manager. In any case, once I figured this out I explained it on the Nokia boards to tell people I no longer needed help. And what are the two responses after I explain this: "Well, duh" and "Yeah, like that was hard". Yep, a real nice group of people.

[Atarifever]

Stingray, you have to do everything in your power to play Snakes. I don't think the word addicting is adaquate to describe it. It is like if Tetris and the coffee had a baby covered in crack (that describes the level of addictiveness, not the style of gameplay). If this had been a launch title (especially if it had been free on the N-Gage at purchase), I don't think people would be laughing at the N-Gage quite so hard. If Nokia folds the N-Gage line altogether (which from all reports it will not) I would expect to see this ported directly to the PSP and "Nintendo whatever" very quickly.

[shep]

If Nokia folds the N-Gage line altogether (which from all reports it will not) I would expect to see this ported directly to the PSP and "Nintendo whatever" very quickly.

847182[/snapback]

 

I really hope your kidding.

[Atarifever]

If Nokia folds the N-Gage line altogether (which from all reports it will not) I would expect to see this ported directly to the PSP and "Nintendo whatever" very quickly.

847182[/snapback]

 

I really hope your kidding.

847234[/snapback]

Did I misunderstand the meaning of the word ported? I meant there would be a version made for those systems. That is not that far of a stretch really. I mean, the NGage has some good NGage only titles that I'm sure the other handhelds would love to have. They are games already developed for online play and for the type of play you put into handhelds. They are also largely made by third parties. Pathway to Glory and Pocket Kingdoms are great examples (and I think Glimerati will be too). Just look at how many games from the Dreamcast went on to other systems after Sega folded it. Now Snakes may not, as it is a Nokia product and they will still have their Symbian phones to put it on, still, they could do that and distribute it to the other systems. Also, I hope you don't think Snakes is that little overhead game where the thing gets bigger as it eats squares. That would be Snake. Snakes has a similar idea, but is more like Tron. Here it is:

http://ngage.gamespy.com/n-gage/snakes/585....html?fromint=1

[Stingray]

Stingray, you have to do everything in your power to play Snakes.

847182[/snapback]

 

As soon as my MMC and Bluetooth dongle arrive that't the first one I plan to load. Glad to hear that it's as good as I had hoped it would be.

 

-S

[SteveW]

I hope you'll have better luck with Bluetooth transfer than I had. I could transfer stuff easy, I just couldn't get the phone to put it onto the memory card. It kept filling up the phone's built-in memory, which isn't all that much. I fooled around with all the settings, but it just wouldn't transfer onto the MMC card in the phone, just it's internal memory. So I ended up going out to the store and buying a 7-port memory card reader. I got a super cheap one ($8!), and it works like a champ.

[Stingray]

I hope I don't have that problem. I guess I'd better read the manual on the bluetooth transfer stuff.

 

Got my memory card yesterday. Still waiting for the BT adapter.

 

-S

[guitarmas]

I hope I don't have that problem. I guess I'd better read the manual on the bluetooth transfer stuff.

 

Got my memory card yesterday. Still waiting for the BT adapter.

 

-S

848430[/snapback]

 

man...just get a USB cable. Your computer will automatically detect the N-gage(with a mem card inserted) as a mass storage device. Then you will have a another Drive present when you open "My Computer". Simply Pimply.

[SteveW]

There's no USB port on the N-Gage QD. It was taken off, in favor of Bluetooth data transfer.

 

I've found it to be a lot easier to use a memory card reader.

[Stingray]

I hope I don't have that problem. I guess I'd better read the manual on the bluetooth transfer stuff.

 

Got my memory card yesterday. Still waiting for the BT adapter.

 

-S

848430[/snapback]

 

man...just get a USB cable. Your computer will automatically detect the N-gage(with a mem card inserted) as a mass storage device. Then you will have a another Drive present when you open "My Computer". Simply Pimply.

848700[/snapback]

 

 

What SteveW said. If there were a USB port I wouldn't be futzing around with bluetooth.

 

-S

[Stingray]

Man, getting that #$*%ing bluetooth connection set up the first time is a royal pain the backside. Once you get it worked out though, it's pretty nifty. Now I don't even have to take my N-Gage out of my pocket to transfer files to it.

 

The N-Gage's bad reputaion is just completely undeserved IMO. I can't believe I waited this long to get one. This has to be the coolest gadget I've ever owned.

 

-S

[Atarifever]

The N-Gage's bad reputaion is just completely undeserved IMO. I can't believe I waited this long to get one. This has to be the coolest gadget I've ever owned.

 

-S

852001[/snapback]

In my experience most people who own one would agree with you. On top of all the other cool stuff it does, I also think the games get a bad rap for no reason. I think Pandamonium, Rayman 3, Pocket Kingdoms and Snakes are all perfect portable games. I'm looking forward to Glimerati, Mile High Pinball, and One (and the still in development, not sure it'll be put out football manager). I also might upgrade to version 3 as soon as it is released after E3.

[Stingray]

I installed Snakes the other day, but I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I can't seem to pass the first level no matter what I do. The instructions aren't very clear.

 

-S

[Atarifever]

I installed Snakes the other day, but I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I can't seem to pass the first level no matter what I do. The instructions aren't very clear.

 

-S

852050[/snapback]

Took me a while too. The instructions flat out blow. For some reason the first level is the classic snakes game and all you have to do is get all the little squares. It becomes clear what to do in every level after that.

[Stingray]

I installed Snakes the other day, but I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I can't seem to pass the first level no matter what I do. The instructions aren't very clear.

 

-S

852050[/snapback]

Took me a while too. The instructions flat out blow. For some reason the first level is the classic snakes game and all you have to do is get all the little squares. It becomes clear what to do in every level after that.

852068[/snapback]

 

Well that's what I was trying to do at first, but the timer kept running out. Guess I just wasn't fast enough.

 

Check your PM by the way.

 

-S