Roy Miniel is a video gamer. He knows his way around a joystick and is on a first-name basis with Lara. Lara Croft, that is, professional tomb raider. Indeed, it’s Miniel’s job to know such things-he runs a Denver-area video game store called U Play.
And Miniel is just the kind of customer Nokia Corp. is looking for.
On Tuesday, Nokia will release the industry’s first mobile-phone/video-game device, the N-Gage. The company is planning a massive advertising campaign around the device, including print ads, TV commercials and even spots in local movie cinemas. Get ready to N-Gage, Nokia warns.
Roy Miniel is doing just that. He said he plans to dump his current phone and buy an N-Gage. He is even thinking about selling the device in his store, right alongside the massively popular Nintendo Game Boy.
The N-Gage “will probably give Nintendo a run for its money,” Miniel said.
At Nokia, that’s exactly the game plan. Nintendo has sold more than 140 million Game Boys to date, a significant number for any consumer electronics device. Nokia is hoping to capitalize on at least some of that opportunity-but the company’s path is by no means certain.
Others have run up against Nintendo on the portable games front and failed, including video game heavyweights Atari and Sega. And others are planning to enter the market for portable video games in the coming months, including startup Tapwave and PlayStation maker Sony Corp. Sales of advanced wireless devices are increasing, but the market for a mobile-phone/video-game device is unclear at best. Even the savvy Ms. Croft would have a hard time reckoning the situation.
The N-Gage has plenty of tricks up its sleeve, but also some significant drawbacks. The taco-sized device features GPRS Internet access, multimedia messaging, an FM radio, Java, Bluetooth and an MP3 player. The device also features an MMC slot for thumbnail-sized video game cartridges. A game staring Lara Croft will be available Tuesday, along with about a dozen other titles. Nokia promises more are in the works. The MMC games will sell separately for between $30 and $40.
N-Gagers like Roy Miniel will be able to play games in competition with other nearby users through Bluetooth. Even more noteworthy, gamers will be able to compete against N-Gagers from across the world using Nokia’s N-Gage Arena Internet site. N-Gagers will be able to log on to the site using their devices and can download game performances from other players. Dubbed “shadowing,” the service will essentially superimpose one player’s game over another’s, allowing gamers to compete against each other even though they aren’t playing the game at the same time.
Further, Nokia is expanding its distribution strategy by offering the device in several video game haunts, including Game Stop and Electronics Boutique. Such sales are possible thanks to T-Mobile USA Inc.’s offering of $50 of prepaid service for the first 30 days of use, thus dropping the need for an in-store service plan.
Although the platform features several innovative and powerful services, gamers and industry observers have also pointed out several major concerns with the device. The first, of course, is price. The N-Gage will sell for $300, putting it out of reach of many younger users. Those looking for a video-game platform will likely be more willing to shell out $100 for a Game Boy. Also, gamers have complained of the device’s small screen as well as its MMC slot, which is hidden behind the battery and requires users to take off the back cover to swap out game cartridges.
Mike Gombos cited just such issues in his decision not to purchase the N-Gage. Gombos runs Game Force, another Denver-area video game store.
“I don’t think it’ll do that well,” Gombos said of the N-Gage. “It’s a cool concept. But the reviews (in video game magazines) weren’t that good.”
Gombos said the combination of a mobile phone and a video-game device is interesting, but not one that he thinks will catch fire.
“I’m just not that interested in it,” he said.
