The N-Gage is back. Again. Four years ago, Nokia did the unexpected and launched a dedicated gaming handset called the N-Gage. Unfortunately for Nokia, the N-Gage wasn't exactly what the punters wanted, especially with the likes of the Nintendo DS about and then later on, the Sony PSP.
In fact, two years after the N-Gage bobbed its ugly head Nokia reshuffled its plans and ported the N-Gage's gaming platform on to Series 60 handsets, such as the Nokia N70. But something was still missing.
Which is why Nokia is bringing back N-Gage, but this time around as an upgraded platform, offering a combination of better graphics, better gameplay and better games. The idea being that high-quality games will be available on standard N-Series handsets.
Up until now there's been little news on when this new and improved platform is going to launch and what games are coming out. But because there's no such thing as a secret on the Internet, we've come across what looks like a leaked official Nokia video on YouTube, which displays some new N-Gage games.
This fast-paced video includes fighting, football, racing and even fishing games, among others, with a mixture of exclusive content and ported console titles such as EA's FIFA 07. The graphics look great, not only relative to other mobile phones, but even to other portable consoles. Of course, a promotional video should be viewed with a pinch of salt, but we're impressed -- although including a fishing game might hint at a fairly shallow barrel of games at the moment.
We'll update you as soon as we have more info about the new and improved N-Gage platform but in the meantime, check out the video to see what games you might be playing on your smart phone very soon. -Andrew Lim