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Portables (Games)

Something to Sidetalk About 49

Posted by Zonk from the adventures-in-poor-design dept.
nigelthezebra writes "The N-Gage is at it again, what with the news that the price is being dropped and that the redesigned handheld is going to be redesigned again. In "Something to Sidetalk About," AllRPG.com's Richard Goodness recounts his experiences with the N-Gage QD. To put a long story short, it's very obvious why the system is failing. When you can't even figure out how to turn something on, you know it's time to go back to the drawing board." From the article: "I've always been a big proponent of the axiom, when in doubt, see if Mr. Casual can do it. Games ought not to need big instruction booklets. They should be simple enough to figure out by picking up and fiddling for a moment or two. Turning a system on, that goes without saying."
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Something to Sidetalk About More

Something to Sidetalk About

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  • WTF is "softech limited"... (Score:3, Informative)

    by pudding7 ( 584715 ) on Tuesday March 22, 2005 @01:34PM (#12013386)
    ...and why are they trying to install a Free Browser Plugin when I visit that site.

    and WTF is up with Allrpg.com allowing them to do so?
  • I think that if they want a portable game machine to be successful, they need to do some thing about the button configuration on the N-Gage. Having the games' controls right in the middle of the number pad is very confusing to me. When I tried it at my cellular store, I had to keep looking at the number pad to make sure that I was hitting the right buttons.

    My solution would be to make the buttons more like that of a traditional portable system: only 4-6 buttons arranged like you could find on a regular ga

  • Now with... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dreamwalkerofyore ( 823146 ) on Tuesday March 22, 2005 @01:40PM (#12013454)
    - 16-bit graphics!
    - 15 MB storage for your favorite MP3s!
    - Stereo Sound!
    - Easy to replace (Only need to unscrew one thing) game cartrages!
    - Wireless technology allowes you to play with someone up to fifteen (15) feet away!

    BUY IT NOW!!!

  • Still no cigar (Score:3, Informative)

    by Black Pete ( 222858 ) on Tuesday March 22, 2005 @01:52PM (#12013573)
    As a game player, I actually prefer the old NGage (ya know the side-talking one) because it's bigger, and the buttons are larger and more accessible. With the QD, the phone is smaller, and the buttons are sorta mashed together, and sometimes feel uncomfortable to use. Look at the left/right selection keys.. they're slivers for crying out loud!

    When I first saw it, I already knew how to turn on the QD, but that was only because I used the old NGage and knew the approximate location of the power button, so that was the first place I looked. However, what surprised me was how hard it is to push and hold the button in to turn it on! The button is really stiff, and on top of that, it's covered by the rubber band that goes around the QD. Your finger knuckle usually turns white before the phone turns on.

    Speaking of stiff buttons, this is another reason why I prefer the old NGage (for playing games) - the bigger buttons push down quite easily, and have a nice "click" to it. The new buttons are a bit stiffer... you get used to it, but I still like the old layout better.

    Mind you, the old one still had stupid annoyances such as opening it up and popping out the battery to change games... plus the fact it can't go faster than 22fps... well... sucks.

    As a cellphone... the QD is better, and the fact it's running on the Symbian OS is sweet - tons of ready-to-download Symbian apps are out there!
    • What do you think about the screen? Is it a big problem for you that it's vertical and not horizontal like in most devices?
      • I admit that I don't have an N-gage, but I cringe every time I see that damn vertical screen. It's a very, very, very bad design choice. And it's something that would be relatively easy to fix, too. Just put a normal frickin' screen on the next N-gage, and give users the option to either center or stretch the image when playing old games!
        • Yes, I think that it's the worst mistake in it. Otherwise it would be a cool gadget. I used the original N-gage for two weeks with couple of games and if it wasn't for the bad screen, I might have bought one. I don't know, if the phone I had a bad battery or not, but it didn't seem to last too long. Do you know if the playing time has increased with the later models?

      • Re:Still no cigar (Score:3, Informative)

        by Black Pete ( 222858 )
        What do you think about the screen? Is it a big problem for you that it's vertical and not horizontal like in most devices?

        It depends. For some types of games, it's horrible, and for other types of games, it's perfect.

        If you want to play a FPS (at single-digit frame rates... heh), then the screen gets in the way. It's also bad for side-scrolling action games (Sonic the Hedgehog just isn't the same...)

        However, there are games where vertical screens are great. Pinball games. Vertical scrolling shoot-e
  • I really admire Nokia for it's persistence. Even MS would have given up at this point with the N-Gage's track record.

    But for the life of me I cannot understand why the company, wanting to enter the portable gaming device market, would have ever made this piece of trash? If you've ever held one of these things in your hands, the small screen, the bulky size, the awkward buttons, the lousy game selection...

    • you know, the main reason why the screen is that size is that it's a series60 device. it's also a reason for why it can't have been that expensive for them to develope(it's practically a 3650 with camera removed and added ram).

      from what i've seen it would have sold considerably lower if it wasn't a very cheap s60 device...

      why does s60 matter? python, c++, java... letting you port stuff like putty, emulators, web browsing, irc..

  • Nokia's problem... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by oGMo ( 379 ) on Tuesday March 22, 2005 @01:55PM (#12013617)

    Nokia's problem is that they think like a cell phone company. They're making a phone, with extended gaming features. They're not making a gaming box with cell connectivity.

    Maybe they'll eventually get it right, and even be successful. But they need to make the thing play games completely and exclusively. Give it a few (FEW) buttons and a dpad, a bigger screen, and make it simple and elegant. And get some damn games.

    That's why the PSP is looking to be such a winner. Sleek, elegant, simple. And a ton of games that are getting suprisingly good reviews (especially for launch titles!).

    • Thats exactly right. Nokia needs to design the device with gaming in mind first and the phone features second. If the thing doesn't play games very well because of poor button layout and whatnot and their aren't any games worth playing on it you will not get the gamer market that you are looking for. Lets face it the demographic for this phone is not regular cellphone users, they wouldn't waste their money on such a clunky phone. They need to make it for the gamers that also want a phone and don't care
    • That's why the PSP is looking to be such a winner. Sleek, elegant, simple..

      I agree. I have to admit though, that my first reaction when I opened the PSP box for the first time wasn't anything like "wow", but more like "what the...".

      For those of you who don't have press connections and haven't taken the plunge and imported one from overseas: the manual that comes with in the box is ridiculously huge - like the size of a phone book. Check out this picture [gamespy.com] over at Gamespy.

      But, to tell you the truth, you

    • Re:Nokia's problem... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nunchux ( 869574 )
      Yes, they think like a cell phone company... And that's WHY the N-gage isn't going away. I don't believe it was ever intended to truly compete with the Game Boy. Like a cameraphone or MP3 player, the N-gage is an attraction used to sell phones. And even if they don't break even selling them, the technology will continue to be pushed and eventually incoporated into other phones in their line.
  • I looked into getting an N-Gage 3 months ago when my old cell phone contract ran out... but a little research into available games showed that there was only a few available games, and i couldn't find prices or anywhere to buy them. As i Froogle now, there appear to be more places to buy... Maybe i'll check it out in 9 months ( when my current contract expires).
  • They did not even get the phone buttons right. On the N-Gage (as with too many current Nokia phones) they are not in a straight, right-angled 9 x 3 array. This negates any "touch typing" and forces you to look at the keys. There is no good reason for this, it is a triumph of form over function. A regular 90-degree-angle array of phone buttons would have easily fit in the space on the N-Gage. Why make it difficult to enter phone numbers???

    The power button problem is common to many other devices, including

    • The N-Gage is much like the toilet seat my parents bought from IKEA: Cheap, neat idea, but was crafted with no logic whatsoever(in the seat's case, the base was not built to stay in place-- it slid around, and made crapping uncomfortable). At least the toilet seat could be tossed out. One can only imagine if Nokia designed a light bulb... "To turn on light bulb, move to it and press it in for 7 seconds. To shut off, push light bulb in and twist counter-clockwise until light is no more(about 3 complete tur
  • When the QD came out, my store had taken 5 reserves on it, making us tied for #13 in the company (of over 2,000 stores).

    Reward? The store manager got a free QD. Ohhhh boy!
    • I'm not sure what's more impressive. That you got five orders or that twelve other stores got more. I've never even seen one in the game stores around my city. I know of one person who actually has one, and he had to order it online.

  • Pff. (Score:1, Troll)

    by Dehumanizer ( 31435 )

    I've always been a big proponent of the axiom, when in doubt, see if Mr. Casual can do it. Games ought not to need big instruction booklets. They should be simple enough to figure out by picking up and fiddling for a moment or two. Turning a system on, that goes without saying.

    Translation: "I only like simple action games."

    I like those, too. But I also like RPGs, strategy games, MMORPGs, wargames, even flight simulators. And most of those do need manuals.

    And if you can't figure out how to turn on a Q

    • "And if you can't figure out how to turn on a QD, then your VCR is probably blinking "12:00"... :) "

      Sign up today. You, too, can be a member of the "Blinking Midnight VCR Club"

  • Dick Goodness.

    Come get some baby!
    • Wait, was that supposed to cause a reaction of a "laughter" sort, possibly leading to me repeating the joke in mid-laugh and saying "Haha, that's th' greatest!"? Just wondering. I'm actually completely uncertain.

  • Can't even turn it on?? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) * on Tuesday March 22, 2005 @09:19PM (#12018502) Homepage Journal
    How do these people know how to breathe? It's a mobile phone for crying out loud, you don't want to be able to accidentally turn it off.

    I guess I might be annoyed at the severe lack of big name titles for my N-Gage if;

    • I actually liked most of the big name titles out there for other systems.
    • It wasn't the cheapest way to get a well-specced Series 60 mobile phone.
    • I hadn't bought it for the C64 and Gameboy emulators.
    Really, this N-Gage bashing is just getting embarasing. If you really didn't like it, you wouldn't bother posting all this anti-N-Gage stuff.
  • I own an N-Gage. I even like it. I feel the N-Gage has received a lot of bad, unfair, press with incorrect information setting off people to go into rage of "N-GAGE IS EVIL, MUST DIE, STUPID POS".

    The Penny Arcade a year or two back did this. Most of it's facts were incorrect, or misleading, but due to it, thousands of people online decided it was the most evil system on earth and should be abused everytime it was mentioned.

    Now I'm not going to go long into why I think the N-Gage is good and try and def
    • ...Isn't it kinda silly to have to read through a manual to learn how to properly turn something on? From a console/handheld design standpoint, the Power button should always be visible, clear, and damn easy to use. I'll be honest, I've not much experience with the QD. I rank about 3-4 hours of use on one, and it's not the most user-friendly device I've wrapped me hands arounds. But then, if we all had the same opinions and perceptions, the world would suck even more, wouldn't it? *grins*

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