Nokia says 50 N-Gage titles on the way

Building on the recent release of its new N-Gage QD device, Nokia demonstrated content from a range of upcoming N-Gage titles and announced two major developer partnerships at its pre-E3 press conference held Tuesday night.

Nokia brought an all-star cast to its soundstage on the top floor of LA’s Cooper Building to greet the press, including Senior Vice President for Games Ilkka Raiskinen and Games Publishing Director Pasi Polonen. Raiskinen provided a brief overview of the N-Gage’s past, quickly glossing over the platform’s past troubles to arrive at the present QD device. “We wanted to make the device more gaming-friendly--and show our partners that we were willing to learn,” Raiskinen told the audience from the central speaker platform, while omnidirectional video monitors ran through a montage that included gameplay footage of near-future releases Ashen, EA Sports Tiger Woods Golf 2004, and Crash Nitro Kart.

According to Raiskinen, Nokia is aiming for a portfolio of 50-plus announced N-Gage titles by the end of 2004. Part of the difference will be made up by new development partners Atari and Capcom, who were revealed during the first portion of the evening. Atari has further agreed to bring landmark franchises, like Civilization and Driver, to the N-Gage, although no content from either of these titles was available for media perusal.

Raiskinen then introduced Nancy Smith, executive vice president of North American publishing for Electronic Arts, to speak on EA’s new N-Gage projects. EA has committed to porting FIFA 2005 and SSX to the N-Gage by the end of this year.

After the EA announcement, Polonen presided over a video rundown of future N-Gage titles. First up was Pocket Kingdom, a massively multiplayer RPG that is currently scheduled for an October release. Nokia displayed a short collection of game footage, which demonstrated the game’s 2D fighting, overhead map, and online multiplayer tournament segments. Next came a full-motion video short for Rifts, which is still in the very early stages of production and is targeted for release in Q1 of 2005. Rifts is being developed by Backbone Studios in close consultation with the original role-playing game’s creator and founder of Palladium Games, Kevin Siembieda. The N-Gage title will be the first-ever video game implementation of the Rifts universe, and it will support Bluetooth multiplayer and some N-Gage Arena functionality.

Pathway to Glory, Nokia’s in-house WWII RTS title, received a lengthy presentation that recounted the game’s high level of historical detail and turn-based combat system. Pathway to Glory will allow for pass-and-play multiplayer, as well as live Bluetooth and GPRS matches over Arena.

The last three presentations--King of Fighters, Xanadu Next, and Glimmerati--were much more cursory. King of Fighters appeared to be a straight port of the arcade classic, with two-player Bluetooth and high score uploads enabled on Arena. It will be the first fighting game available for the N-Gage, and it's aimed at a holiday release. Very few details were available for Xanadu Next, other than the fact that it will be an action RPG that will support four-player Bluetooth multiplayer. Finally, Glimmerati’s quizzical FMV sequence appeared to hint at an M-rated racing game. Polonen confirmed that it has been in development since late 2003 and will be released in Q4 2004.

During a brief question session after the game introductions, Raiskinen also corroborated the existence of opportunities for owners of the original N-Gage to upgrade to the QD “in some markets.” He further mentioned Nokia’s plans to release additional N-Gage devices in the future, telling the audience that “[Nokia is] committed to the N-Gage platform, so all new devices we make will be totally compatible on both a forwards and backwards basis.”