Nokia is done with N-Gage too, again.

Posted by BA on Dec 4, 2009 in Uncategorized | 7 comments

Nokia has announced that 2010 will be the last year their N-Gage gaming platform and N-Gage arena will be operational. This is because of two things. Firstly, I’m very doubtful that Nokia achieved their targets from the N-Gage brand. Secondly, Nokia is really seriously pushing their service brand OVI. So any gaming related to Nokia will now be called OVI-Games.

Nokia has played the N-Gage card twice. Initially they launched Nokia N-Gage devices that looked like a small gaming console and were amazing for playing games. The devices were named Nokia n-gage and Nokia n-gage-QD respectively. On the in-side, they were simple Symbian S60 smartphones with symbian or J2ME games to play on.

Second time they used N-Gage brand was with their latest line of N-Series phones that could install an application named N-Gage. You could download, install and games right from the N-Gage app itself. No doubt N-Gage games have been great but I think its about time Nokia moves on. Second attempt to use N-Gage brand doesn’t work out again in my opinion.

Dance-Fabulous – N-Gage + Music (store)

Posted by BA on Jun 11, 2009 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Nokia has launched “Dance Fabulous”, a new-game on their N-Gage gaming platform. The game uses both N-Gage and Nokia Music Store’s services to make it happen. This is a very interesting combination. It will not only interest game enthusiasts but music and dance lovers as well and its a great idea to boost sales on both N-Gage and Nokia music stores.

The game allows you to control a character on the dance floor and with your key-press combinations, you make the dancer make the moves. This is a really cool, fun application. The great part is, that you are dancing to the rhythm of the songs that you have in your own music library. Initially I thought its a crazy game, but later I found out that its simply packed with fun.

The game is available both in the available games section within N-Gage application and the game website. But when I tried to download it, it forced me to upgrade my N-Gage software from 1.00 to 1.20. N-Gage upgrade was around 11MB of a download.

After the upgrade, I downloaded the trial game and the download was smooth as usual. The game launches and following are a few screenshots from the trial version

As I said, game is really addicting and even in demo-mode its fun big-time. See a few dance moves below

As you can see in above screen shots, the game encourages you if you are going in a rhythm and awards you with the stars and it also criticizes you if you are going wrong somewhere.

The came costs $3.99 to purchase and once you have the paid version, you have a bundle of options available as listed in the screen shots below.

When I visited the game’s website I was happy to see a free 30-day pass but the game I downloaded from there appeared to be a demo as well. Moreover, the SMS sent to my number never reached

If the free pass works for somebody, please do post your comment here.

Mobile Payments made simple – Nokia and Etisalat team-up to make it happen in Middle East!

Posted by BA on Apr 27, 2009 in Uncategorized | 4 comments

Nokia and Etisalat have announced a collaboration that will allow Nokia to provide advance Internet services to Nokia users in the region. Etisalat will provide a convenient means of payment to Nokia users willing to subscribe to paid Nokia services. As a first step, Nokia users will be able to purchase games on Nokia’s N-Gage platform and pay for Ovi-Maps services. The purchases will be made over the air and Etisalat will charge the amount to the customer’s bill. This is a very convenient and safe option as opposed to the use of Credit cards and other similar payment options. UAE will be the first country from the region to offer this service in Q2 2009.

This is very interesting to mention here that if you can use this service to pay for mobile applications, games and services, you can use it for other payments as well. For example, you can use the same mechanism for sending gifts to friends, you can use it for buying items at grocery stores or paying other utility bills, and everything is eventually charged to your monthly Etisalat bill.

In Pakistan, Etisalat is holding shares in PTCL and a similar payment model has been in place in the country for payments of PTCL DSL service and IP TV subscription. Those who subscribe to DSL or IP TV, the subscriptions are billed to the customers in their monthly phone bill. I would love to make other payments in the same way if it adds the luxury of convenience to the payment process.