Nintendo are currently investigating a commercial for Nokia's N900 smartphone, which reportedly showed the phone happily playing a bunch of retro emulated games for the NES, SNES Game Boy and Spectrum, among others. The clear insinuation being that any ROMs involved in playing these games would, in 99% of cases, be illegally downloaded.

We'd point you towards the video, but it's since been pulled.

Nintendo Investigating Possible Copyright Infringement By Nokia [Edge]
Nokia demonstrates retro emulator [Pocket Gamer]

Nokia will not publish any new games for the N-Gage platform, according to a notice published on its blog, and it will not ship any new devices with the application pre-installed. Interested potential N-Gage buyers can still buy existing device with the app, but don't expect anything shiny or new to bear the N-Gage name.

The N-Gage Arena will remain operational through 2010, but the N-Gage store will close in September of next year.

Mobile gaming evolves – Ovi Store is here [N-Gage Blog]

Its Vancouver studio was shuttered on June 30, nixing 100 or so jobs in the process. This decision seems to be part of Nokia's March announcement to cut 1,700 company wide.

This N-Gage Design Studio was responsible for a large chunk of games for the first and second gen N-Gage systems as well as mobile phone games.

Nokia closes Canadian studio [Develop]

According to a statement released by the company yesterday, the number of registered users on the new service (think Xbox Live, but for phones) has "accelerated". The reason? When the new N-Gage service was launched, it was an optional download. People didn't care.

But now, it comes bundled and pre-installed on many of the company's phones, meaning more people are willing to give it a shot. While refusing to disclose the number of actual, active users, the company did say that "almost" 1 million N-Gage accounts have been created and registered since the launch of the service.

Which will sound like complete rubbish to American readers, but remember: in many other countries (especially European ones), Nokia phones rule the mobile roost. The more handsets that come with N-Gage included, the more users Nokia will be able to attract to the service.

Nokia says gaming service take-up growing [Reuters]

Ghostwire is a 'casual collection' game that uses your phone's camera to create a kind of Augmented Reality effect. You roam around the real world and use your phone to 'see' ghosts that you can then collect in a sort of Ghostbusters-meets-Pokémon affair. Some ghosts will set riddles, others will provide clues and have elaborate back stories that must be unraveled.

Swedish developer A Different Game receives €40,000 in prize money. The runners up were Rhythm/Action game Jadestone and conspiracy ARG Eclipse.

Scary ghost game wins Nokia innovation award [The Guardian]

There are decent games out there, but there is a lot of dross - derivative, badly designed and poorly implemented.

Nokia want to change all that. They have been running the Mobile Games Innovation Challenge - a competition that asks developers to submit their most innovative game designs for - running under Symbian or Java on N-Gage or standard Nokia handsets

Being Nokia, they have a certain amount of hard cash to throw at the problem and have put up prize money worth €70,000 - that's €40,000 for the winner, €20,000 for second place and €10,000 for the third runner up.

The ten finalists up for the big money are:

* Active Tecnologia e Consultoria Ltda. (Brazil) with Cinemarena – set in a movie theatre, controlling avatars on the big screen
* CreatePlayShare (India) with Ball – play any ball game on your mobile or even create your own new game
* Different Game (Sweden) with Ghost Wire – use your mobile device to communicate with ghosts
* Eclipse Interactive (UK) with Watchers – conspiracy adventure game that uses Nokia Maps and other real world tools to find locations
* Int13 (France) with Kweekies – augmented reality virtual pet game
* Jadestone (Sweden) and C4M (France) with Melokey – a music game for mobile devices where you learn to master songs and play them against other in-game characters to win the hearts of your fans
* LemonQuest (Spain) with Wave Pirates – turn into a pirate navigating the seven seas, looking for gold and glory
* Onur Yazilim (Turkey) with Comet Hunter – a 2-D shooting game which combines the excitement of shooting with natural sound effects made by players themselves
* Simlife (China) with XDancery – a music game where players can touch the screen, draw patterns on screen, shake the device or sing into it to hit the music tempo notes
* TechnoBubble (Spain) with Fun Cam – a mixed reality game that connects your camera on your mobile device to the TV

The winners will be announced at the Nokia Games Summit in Rome on 29 October.

Who will win one of the most prestigious mobile gaming prizes of 2008? [Game Challenge via NokNok.tv]

It was a nice idea, hampered slightly by the fact that games had to be rewritten to add support for the thing. Now Nokia has decided to embrace the ZeeMote by releasing downloadable software to let the controller work with almost any S60 app or N-Gage game.

The ZeeKey app is available for free download from the Nokia website and the mobile manufacturer has promised to bundle the app with selected handsets (presumably its more entertainment focused N-Series models).

Zeekey app for Zeemote available for Nokia phones [Pocket Lint]

PocketGamer got a look at a new accelerometer-based mobile racing game from Firemint.

As you can see from the video, Real Racing runs on the iPhone — and certainly confirms our hopes for that platform's gaming prowess — but Firemint also have it up and running on a Nokia N95 (all the recent N-series phones have motion sensors built in).

Multiplayer races can take place over a wifi link, and your racing stats are automatically uploaded to the Firemint web site. Brilliantly, the game will also upload videos of your best times to YouTube and share your rankings via Facebook and OpenSocial into the bargain.

GCDC 2008: Firemint shows off awesome iPhone racing game [PocketGamer]

Our policy is that the N-Gage activation codes only work on the device where they were first activated. As with any digital media there is a potential risk of piracy and this policy is one of the ways we are dealing with piracy and ensuring our partners receive their rightful revenues from our platform.

Gamers 'angry' over new N-Gage's DRM [Develop]

Official N-Gage Site [via Gizmodo]

I'm not scared about anybody. The real question is how do they [Sony Ericsson] 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.

Get out and play - with N-Gage games in your Nokia device

Nokia reveals N-Gage games service with new publishers and game titles

London, UK - Life just got more entertaining with the new N-Gage mobile gaming service. The service allows you try all N-Gage games for free from any one of the tens of millions of compatible Nokia devices in the market. Once hooked, you can conveniently download and buy a game on your device or PC and continue the fun. You can also share the fun by connecting instantly with friends, challenging players around the world, and participating in community activities in the N-Gage Arena.

"As we expand our focus from a dedicated game phone to a gaming service, we are making getting and playing games even easier," said Jaakko Kaidesoja, head of the games business at Nokia. "The N-Gage service combined with powerful devices, world class titles and brands, and interactive social networking features, takes the mobile gaming experience beyond traditional boundaries."

The N-Gage service will be available globally in November 2007. At that time, the free N-Gage application can be downloaded from http://www.n-gage.com (PC or mobile) and installed in compatible devices. Later, the N-Gage application will be embedded in a wide range of Nokia devices, including the new Nokia N81 and Nokia N95 8GB, so consumers can play straight out of the box.

Furthermore, support for N-Gage continues to grow with EA SPORTS™ FIFA 08, The Sims™ 2 Pets, Tetris®, and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® being developed for the platform as well as new publishers Capcom and Vivendi, and its famed Crash Bandicoot®, on board. Nokia Publishing also announced new titles: Snakes Subsonic and Bounce Boing Voyage.

"With the new N-Gage experience, fans of some of our most popular franchises like FIFA or The Sims can play and stay connected with other fans. With millions of compatible Nokia devices already in the marketplace, we're very excited to help bring quality mobile gaming expriences to the fingertips of a global audience," said Barry Cottle, Senior Vice President and General Manager, EA Mobile.

The indicative pricing for N-Gage games sold through the N-Gage store will range between six and 10 euros excluding local taxes and can be bought with a credit card or charged through operator billing where available. Operator billing is supported in over 20 countries and credit card billing is available globally. Daily and weekly game licenses are also available at lower prices and all games are free to try before purchase. Moreover, whether you choose to get games over the air or over the internet, managing your games catalog is a breeze with simple store and sync to your PC.

"Vivendi Games Mobile is one of the most respected publishers in mobile gaming," said Gregg Sauter, Nokia's director of third party publishing. "Crash Bandicoot is a gaming icon as well as a global powerhouse, having sold more than 33 million units worldwide. With its fun appeal to people of all ages and incredible graphics, the Crash Bandicoot franchise is the perfect fit for N-Gage."

Nokia Announces Vivendi Games Mobile's Popular Crash Bandicoot Franchise For N-Gage

Espoo, Finland - 27 August 2007 - Nokia, the world leader in mobile communications, announced today that they are teaming up with Vivendi Games Mobile, a division of Vivendi Games, to bring the legendary Crash Bandicoot ® franchise to Nokia's new N-Gage mobile gaming platform launching this fall.

"Vivendi Games Mobile is one of the most respected publishers in mobile gaming," said Gregg Sauter, Nokia's director of third party publishing. "Crash Bandicoot is a gaming icon as well as a global powerhouse, having sold more than 33 million units worldwide. With its fun appeal to people of all ages and incredible graphics, the Crash Bandicoot franchise is the perfect fit for N-Gage."

"We are excited to offer Nokia customers the opportunity to enter the thrilling world of Crash Bandicoot and play a number of award winning titles from the popular Crash® franchise," said Paul Maglione, president of Vivendi Games Mobile. "We look forward to working with Nokia to offer entertaining, innovative mobile games that tap into the performance and innovation of the N-Gage application and Nokia's mobile devices."

Crash Bandicoot follows the original storyline where the crazy marsupial must save the world. Jam packed with action and comedy, the player must take on the role of Crash to defeat the game's villain and mad scientist, Dr. Neo Cortex. More information about the Crash franchise can be found at the official Crash Bandicoot Web site at http://www.crashbandicoot.com

"Capcom is dedicated to creating great mobile games, and believes that N-Gage will allow us to bring some of our most famous franchises to the platform. Our dedication to quality and creative thinking has seen the company produce a series of ground-breaking titles, with stunning visuals and in-depth game play, never before seen on the mobile".

Capcom to bring games to N-Gage platform in 2008

August 27, 2007 - Nokia and Capcom today revealed that Capcom will be publishing games on N-Gage, Nokia's next generation mobile gaming platform, in 2008. Capcom is the first Japanese based publisher to show their commitment to N-Gage, which makes its global debut later this year, ushering in a new era for games on mobile devices.

"With our global reach, it's important to have strong, well respected global partners", said Gregg Sauter, Director of Third Party Publishing, Nokia. "For many years, Capcom has been entertaining consumers around the world with exceptional gaming experiences. We've now reached a point with mobile technologies where companies like Capcom can deliver a whole new level of mobile entertainment. The N-Gage platform will enable this evolution with devices that deliver enhanced graphics and a development tool kit that allows for online tournaments, communities, multiplayer games and, of course, global distribution."

Speaking of the announcement, Yosuke Yoneda, Director of Capcom's European Mobile Division, said "Capcom is dedicated to creating great mobile games, and believes that N-Gage will allow us to bring some of our most famous franchises to the platform. Our dedication to quality and creative thinking has seen the company produce a series of ground-breaking titles, with stunning visuals and in-depth game play, never before seen on the mobile".

Capcom has been highly successful in the mobile market as a result of the company's commitment to innovation and faithful conversion of some of the world's greatest video game franchises. With classic titles such as Mega Man, Street Fighter and Resident Evil, and contemporary brands such as Phoenix Wright, Capcom has captured a wide audience of fans, in terms of age, gender and game playing ability.

N-Gage games are created in a native development environment, allowing developers to take advantage of Nokia devices with advanced graphics and physics capabilities which deliver extremely sharp, clear and fluid game experiences to users. The N-Gage platform provides flexible opportunities for operators and publishers alike. Games can distributed digitally over the air through operator networks or over the internet to a user's PC, which allows for larger file downloads and therefore games with enhanced audio and graphical elements.

What does shared experiences mean? Judging by the features shown and talked about during the session, N-Gage is aiming to be Xbox Live for mobile phones. An easy interface for connecting to other players, a friends list, game demos and ratings, and even eventual game achievement points were just a few of the similarities discussed.

Like Xbox Live Arcade, players will be able to download demos and then upgrade them to full versions, with certain titles having multiple price points depending on how much of the game you wanted to see, effectively turning titles into their own series of microtransactions.

So yeah, Xbox Live, and why not? It certainly isn't a bad community tool to mimic. Hell, I would just be happy being able to purchase a phone knowing what games I would be able to play on it myself. Having a universal friends list and quick n' dirty matchmaking available as well only sweetens the pot.

This marks the first time I have ever been even remotely interested in anything with the named N-Gage attached to it. Savor this moment, Nokia.

Community is key to Nokia's strategy, says Howard [GamesIndustry.biz]

You might recall that Nokia announced at this year's GDC that they were taking a third run at the mobile gaming market, this time abandoning the hardware side of things (goodbye N-Gage taco) and aiming instead to fill a very big need on the development software side of things.

In essence, Nokia wants to create a unified platform and back-end for Series 60 mobile phones that all developers can work on. Of course this is a business decision and very self-serving, but it's also a great idea and much needed.

Greg Howson over at GamesBlog said he had a chance to spend some time with it and left relatively impressed.

What I saw showed an intuitive looking interface, with easy access to your games, friends etc. As you'd expect community is vital, with the ability to create events, post reviews and generally do that web 2.0 thing.

The service hits this autumn and I'm actually holding my breath. Weird. Brian Crecente

N-Gaged [GamesBlog]

"We are reinforcing our commitment to this industry with two significant initiatives that will help the mobile games industry evolve. Our N-Gage platform will deliver a global games platform that leverages the performance of the tens of millions of S60 converged devices that we are shipping each year," said Gregg Sauter, Director of Games Publishing, Nokia. "Likewise, our support for Java development continues to evolve with more tools for developers supporting SNAP Mobile."

Sauter will be outlining the software platforms at a lunch keynote during GDC Mobile today.

The session will introduce at least six games: Asphalt 3, Street Rules, Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, Brain Challenge, Midnight Pool and EA Mobile's FIFA 2008.

It will also reveal that Glu Mobile, Indiagames and THQ have signed on to publish a number of games for the new platform.

Most interesting, though, will be a break-down of the new software development kit which will, I hope, outline why publishers would want to start working with Nokia on their new N-Gage games.

I wonder why Nokia is even using the N-Gage brand. It's not like it had any value among gamers, and it's associated more with hardware than software.

Much more details in the press release after the jump. Brian Crecente

NOKIA PRESS RELEASE Mars 5, 2007

Nokia reveals new games, publishers and tools for its mobile gaming platforms

Game Developers Conference 2007, San Francisco, CA - Nokia, the world leader in mobile communications, today announced the latest games and publishers for its new N-Gage mobile gaming platform. Updated software development tools for the N-Gage platform and a new testing program for SNAP Mobile's JavaTM platform were also introduced today at the conference. These new developments will help bring fun to play connected mobile gaming experiences to millions of Nokia mobile device owners worldwide.

"We are reinforcing our commitment to this industry with two significant initiatives that will help the mobile games industry evolve. Our N-Gage platform will deliver a global games platform that leverages the performance of the tens of millions of S60 converged devices that we are shipping each year," said Gregg Sauter, Director of Games Publishing, Nokia. "Likewise, our support for Java development continues to evolve with more tools for developers supporting SNAP Mobile."

Sauter will expand on these new developments with a speech at the GDC Mobile sponsored lunch keynote session on Monday 5th March at 1.00pm in Room 134 in the North Hall, Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. The session, titled 'The next generation of the N-Gage platform' will also be available at http://www.forum.nokia.com/gdc and http://www.forum.nokia.com/games later in the week.

New game titles and brands

Nokia introduced a range of games for the new mobile gaming platform including Gameloft's Asphalt 3, Street Rules, Brothers In Arms, Hell's Highway, Brain Challenge, Midnight Pool and EA Mobile's FIFA 2008.

New games publishers on board

Games publishers Glu Mobile, Indiagames and THQ Wireless will be publishing a selection of mobile games and content for the N-Gage games platform. The first Glu title for the platform will be World Series of Poker Texas Hold'em (WSOP), which allows players to compete at tables with up to eight mobile gamers against WSOP champions such as Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Scott Fischman.

Latest tools to develop next generation mobile content

Nokia also launched its next generation software development kit (SDK 1.0) for the new N-Gage games platform, which enables developers to focus on one code-base to create social connected games across a range of Nokia S60 3rd edition devices. The new N-Gage Zone provides all the tools, documentation, support and updates required to successfully develop games for the N-Gage games platform.

"The availability of the N-Gage SDK 1.0 today is the corner stone of Nokia's new development eco-system for developers to create connected mobile games in a familiar C++ environment," said Mark Ollila, Director of Technology & Strategy and Nokia Games Publishing, Nokia. "This single development channel impacts positively on development cycles and budgeting as well as creating new social connected gaming experiences that will lead the way to how people discover, buy and play games in the future."

For developer information, visit http://forum.nokia.com/games.

New testing program from SNAP Mobile

Nokia furthers its Java(TM) development activities by ensuring all SNAP Mobile connected games offer a consistent game-playing experience with the SNAP Mobile Compliance Testing Program, announced today. This program limits costs by combining a self-testing process with a traditional certification program. It also lowers the barrier of entry to this process and enables growth of high-quality game development by publishers and developers who have signed up for the SNAP Mobile Platform.

During GDC, SNAP Mobile and Forum Nokia will reveal the winners of the Nokia and SingTel Multiplayer Game Quest. Launched in June 2006, this multiplayer Java(TM) game development contest on the SNAP Mobile platform encouraged Forum Nokia PRO developers worldwide to develop multiplayer and cross-platform games for Java-enabled devices in one of three categories: cross-platform games, multiplayer games for males, and multiplayer games for females. Winners will receive cash awards, Nokia devices and promotion for their games from Nokia and SingTel Mobile. For more information, visit http://www.fnpro-apac.com/.

For delegates wishing to expand their knowledge in creating connected mobile games for the future, Nokia is holding four developer workshops at GDC.

- 'Developing next generation mobile content for Nokia platforms' presented by Michael Bergen, Business Development Manager, Nokia. Delegates will receive insight about the new N-Gage platform and learn how to access the various developer offerings.

5th March, 2.00 - 2.45pm, Room 120, North Hall, Moscone Convention Center

- 'Developing a connected mobile game for J2ME handsets using SNAP Mobile' presented by Matt Levy, Technical Lead & SDK Manager, Nokia. Levy will demonstrate a step-by-step walk-through on developing a connected mobile game for J2ME handsets using SNAP Mobile.

5th March, 3.00 - 3.45pm, Room 120, North Hall, Moscone Convention Center

- 'The new N-Gage SDK, development tools and platform' presented by Peter Lykke Nielsen, SDK Product Manager, Nokia. Delegates will get an in-depth look into the new N-Gage SDK, development tools and environment.

6th March, 11.45am - 12.30pm, Room 120, North Hall, Moscone Convention Center

- 'Designing next generation connected games' presented by Scott Foe, Producer, Nokia. Foe will discuss what the next generation of gaming means for Nokia and how to design mobile connected games that take advantage of the latest in technology and push the boundaries of what gaming can become.

7th March, 12.00 - 1.00pm, Room 2024, West Hall, Moscone Convention Center

For the latest N-Gage updates and to create a dialogue with N-Gage gaming enthusiasts, visit Future Watch at http://futurewatch.n-gage.com.

Technically, I guess it would be the third coming since they tried a new model after their disastrous taco-design.

Pocket Gamer is reporting that Nokia is finally getting around to their software launch of the new N-Gage platform. This time around, instead of spending money developing really, really bad hardware platforms, they're just going to stick the gaming operating system into a bunch of their phones.

We can reveal that behind the scenes, activity is ramping up, following a top-secret workshop for publishers and developers, held in Santa Monica last week.

The two-day event saw Nokia fully unveil the new platform for the first time, with a series of technical and business presentations to fill attendees in on the specifics. And check the calibre of some of the companies rumoured to have attended, according to a reliable source:

Disney, Sega Of America, Sony Online Entertainment, Universal, Square Enix, Capcom, THQ Wireless, Glu Mobile, Digital Chocolate, EA Mobile, Tecmo, Namco and Vivendi Games were reportedly all there, along with first-party developers (firms developing games to be published by Nokia) including Backbone Entertainment and Foundation9.

The event seemed to outline exactly how the platform would be developed on, rolled-out and make money. Another two day event is set for Madrid, according to Pocket Gamer.

Will it work this time. I think there's potential to provide deep gameplay on phones, just not sure if this is the way to do it. Or if it isn't already being done. Brian Crecente

EXCLUSIVE: It's all systems go for next-gen Nokia N-Gage [Pocket Gamer]

Wired News reports that researchers in New Zealand are working on turning Nokia cell phones into AR (augmented reality) controllers. In a game called AR Tennis, a piece of paper is laid on a table to provide framework for the virtual space. To serve, hit the #2 key on the phone. When the ball is in play, players swing their phones like real tennis rackets. A sound and a vibration let them know when they've hit the ball.

Okay, wait.

If you are swinging your cell phone around, how are you supposed to see the screen? I guess you could swat the controller, then look at the display, then swat again and look at the display. Sounds kinda stressful. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Wired News]