Nokia Poised to Relaunch N-Gage As Device-Independent Gaming Platform

Nokia, bless your heart. We like that you make fairly stylish and sophisticated cellphones that are easy to use and have some power to them. We also like what you’re doing with Symbian, especialy S60. But, c’mon, the N-Gage? Still?

We give you credit for dumping the idea of a game-optimized device, sure. Your idea for making N-Gage a game platform that sits atop your N-series phones is a good one. That way, no matter which N-series phone you have, you can have your choice of games.

But are you going to go for high-end graphics and music? Do you think in the world of the Nintendo DS and PSP that people want more than Solitaire on their phone? Apparently so, as you’ve got plans to announce your platform at the GDC meeting in Madrid next week. That’s the word on the street, anyway. If you do, well, we’re not sure what to think. But good luck, Nokia. Your vision is grand, and we hope you can pull it off, nothing would make us prouder than seeing Tony Hawk again on our S60 phone.

N-Gage to debut at GDC – Nokia rules out optimised device [Mobile Entertainment]