Old Games: N-Gage X-Stream

The best part of the Elder Scrolls game was the Morrowind music.

Seems weird that N-Gage was able to get so many publishers on board.

The different colour n-gage looked exactly like the Australian version I had. It's probably the same as the European version too. Nothing special other than being a different colour by default to the US one.

@ripelivejam: They're using a non-illuminated desk last time I checked. Plus the camera is positioned higher in a way you don't see it as much. Also that's something they've made tradition, not a sharp change after a decade+ of couch format.

Is it just me or is Ben handling some of this stuff pretty rough?

As Jeff tells us, aren't many of these games unwrapped, prototype, out-of-print etc?

Working at a Gamestop during the launch, Nokia sent us $500 in gift cheques for pre-selling the most units in our area. I think we pre-sold four.

I had an ngage. And whats more another kid in my school had one too, so we actually played bluetooth multiplayer during breaks sometimes. It was kinda cool.

I remember having fun with Tony Hawk and the Asphalt racing game, soccer was ok. Pathway to glory was a game I genuinely loved, such a great turn based tactics game.

Also the ability to view photos and (shity .3gp, but still) videos and listen to music and play 3d games all on one machine was kind of magical to me back then.

I didn't hate the ngage.

There was a hot minute a long time ago where I thought about getting an N-Gage QD. I think most of it was due to hoping that they would clearance out the system and library, but I don't think they ever did so in my area. I seem to remember being particularly interested in Snakes (a free download and considered to be N-Gage's best game due to being a pretty robust 3D remake of Snake) and Sega's Pocket Kingdom: Own the World.

Can we have a Game.com stream next?

That is a lot of games, but it's not that odd, when you think how about how much of a bigger/more popular brand Nokia used to be then. Can't have been that hard to get people making games for it, thinking that it'll take off.

I still have this shirt I refuse to wear in public because terrible marketing slogan:

@bezerker285: Wow. That's bad! Unless the N-Gage division of Nokia is a porn production division... wow.

I fully expect Kotaku to have at least one article talking about the NGAGE now...they always seem to follow behind GB when doing their "random" articles.

Time to wrestling: 35:30

Awww yeah, Finland's Finest!

I played alot of Tony Hawk on my N-Gage.

Set is looking better but they still look SO far away. That CNET set that Bakalar was on recently looks pretty damn snazzy though.

#engagemorengage

I love the N-Gage. Best phone I ever had. Installed a Game Boy Color emulator on that thing. Opened a whole new world to me.

Also my first touch to the internet was through WAP based messaging boards.

But can it play Doom?

Here's to 15 years of sidetalkin'!

Now I just want them to cover some Tiger Electronics games for more handheld brilliance.

The animations in that wrestling game, holy shit lmao

I remember this thing being a punchline when it FIRST came out. And even as I kid (oh, GOD, I was 17 when it came out...), I could see RIGHT through the BS. It's always been a console that made me laugh, so I am STOKED about this.

@csl316: Oh...oh God, I had SO many of those. I played...SO many of them...you've brought back some very vivid audio memories for me.

I actually owned the purely mobile model that came out about a year or so before the N-Gage that looks just like an N-Gage - the Nokia 3300. I got it because it was being advertised alongside a British band named "A" (who inspired my username - you may remember their songs 'Nothing' and 'Starbucks' if you were listening to heavy rock in the early 2000s) and I needed a new phone.

I only ever saw one other model outside of that promotional stuff - it was in the surprisingly-not-so-bad teen horror movie Cry_Wolf, starring Jon Bon Jovi, which featured it in a product placement-esque way some two years after the model came out. I found that rather bizarre - especially since I believe it gets destroyed in the movie.

I owned and used it up until about 2010 - which is around about when the buttons started stripping away and falling off. When people saw me use it in public, a surprisingly higher-than-you'd-think number would ask me if it was some sort of new 'Game Boy Mobile', a DS or were just impressed (both positively and negatively) by the sheer weight/brick/weapon-like quality of the thing. Very few actually referenced the N-Gage. I believe it might have actually been bigger than the N-Gage too.

Honestly, I kept it for so long because it was such a good conversation starter. It's still lying around somewhere and was still in working condition but, sadly, the buttons are totally fucked and I think even the whole keypad rubber topping just fell off and disappeared one day. Shame, as I've seen them go for nearly £200/$270 on eBay in good condition!

That's the end of my toast to the N-Gage's long forgotten, less famous, mis-understood older sibling.

I feel like half of these games seem like the developers were caught off guard when the NGage ran at roughly 1/3 the speed they expected.

That NGage version of THPS was better than the N64 version. It had full songs and everything.

Video games in name only.

I love these guys but Ben and Jason continue to have nothing to add. They are more of a distraction than anything else. I truly mean no disrespect, and can't believe I'm even bringing this up, but I can't hold it back anymore. Both the guys are great human beings and a net positive to the human race, but they are just not what I'm looking for as far as entertainment goes.

I’m always a fan of these weird failed console streams. The N-Gage seems bad and ill-advised on a fundamental level, but it’s kinda fascinating how much 3rd party support they managed to get during the system’s brief lifetime.

Ah yes, the N-Gage. In a way, it was massively ahead of its time. In other ways, it felt immediately hugely dated. The original was designed by lunatics because you had to remove the cover and the battery compartment to be able to put a game in it. And then the games maybe reached double-digit framerates occasionally.

Jeff has toe thumbs

The taco and the gameswitching are the only two things I remembered from what coverage about this thing I was exposed to.

Seems it was abad of its time. Something like The Elder Scrolls on a phone in 2004 is kind of amazing, but also terrible.

@bezerker285 said:

I still have this shirt I refuse to wear in public because terrible marketing slogan:

Wow.

Speaking of Edge and pantspooping.
#InYourEndoNintendo #N-GageIsWhatGBAin't

@insidergamer: man when he handed him the prototype n-gage and he just started twirling it between his fingers I started stressing out.

I would like to see this segment again. Also, why not call it The N-Sane Gage Posse?

Don't call Norm.

Do NOT call Derwood's Mom's.

But by all means, call Gav.Nuts.

It's crazy to think that the N Gage came out just about a year before the DS and PSP. It just seems like such a bizarre otherworldly device. It also brings back the question of what if Sony had made a PSP phone in 2005?

i remember thinking that this would be a terrible device, but then being surprised at the longevity of the marketing pages in my local game magazine. Felt like it actually managed to sell, although i never saw one in the wild.

n-gage - gizmo combo video

Dammit Jan, I wanted to see that business card.

Jeff even said he was covering up the contact info before he put it on camera!

I will consume this content!

All jokes aside this system was impressive with what it could do for its time, though it did everything poorly and also having possible connections with the mob didn't help as well. The history of how terrible this company crashed is honestly more interesting then the games or phone itself.

Wow I didn't realise the N-Gage had so many games.

I remember it coming out over here (UK) but I don't remember anyone owning one, or even the game shops stocking them?

Anyone know the Super Monkey Ball math videos Ben was talking about? I would love to check them out.

5

@djhworld: They definitely stocked the games for a limited time, but I recall seeing the actual N-Gages for sale in non-traditional gaming shops like Carphone Warehouse and HMV - neither of which really understood the gaming market. I'm pretty sure it was a flop from the off.

My memories of seeing N-Gage games was predominantly in the pre-owned sections of Game and Gamestation. Weirdly, I have a memory of seeing a copy of one of the Asphalt games just sitting in a local Blockbusters, circa. 2006, for less than a pound.

Huh. I guess nostalgia isn't always a good feeling. Looking at this is kinda depressing. I remember a friend bought one, on some kinda sale, back in the day. I forgot how horrible this was.

I have a sealed copy of Super Monkey Ball for N-gage but no N-gage. I bought it after the system failed and they practically gave the games away.