When you're the biggest name in your particular market, you can go off and talk smack to just about anyone about whatever you feel like. Nokia is most definitely the market-leader in the mobile phone industry, and they've got the, ahem, hardware (and software now) to back it up. With Nokia's renewed push into the mobile gaming space, they've gotten a bit sure of themselves. And with good reason, the Finns in
sunny Espoo have been working for years to perfect their mobile gaming platform, N-Gage, and are now ready to rock the mobile world with an onslaught of mobile games.
So, what does Nokia think about competitors to their N-Gage platform - by which we are mainly talking about Sony Ericsson and their oft-rumored PSP-branded mobile phone? Jaakko Kaidesoja, head of games at Nokia, was caught taunting N-Gage rivals at a recent press event, saying, "I'm not scared about anybody. The real question is how do they do it? Can they create a link between the PSP games and a phone? Can they do the multiplayer and online stuff? We've been doing this for two years and it hasn't been easy."
Unfortunately, Nokia N73 owners will have to wait on getting N-Gage on their handset. "We promised the N73 earlier, but we found some memory issues, as it has a lower memory spec than other devices," says Kaidesoja. "That gives some headaches, but we'll deal with that, and will release for the device during the second quarter."
As Nokia gets set to broaden N-Gage into a platform, rather than brand it to a single handset, we'll see the Nokia N82 and N95 get the N-Gage treatment soon enough - joining the N-Gage N81 among Nokia's stable of gaming handsets. And, Kaidesoja mentioned that as S60 Touch gets to become a reality, Nokia is working to bring touchscreen functionality to the N-Gage platform.
Them's fighting words, Sony Ericsson. Nokia wants to throw down, you should give them a piece. And, maybe send one of them PSP Phones our way?
