How to play online via the N-Gage Arena

With the N-Gage Arena, you can play games against competitors from every corner of the earth, wherever you are. All you need is a mobile phone signal, a multiplayer game, and our How To guide.

To get started, you need to create an N-Gage Arena account. You can do this via your N-Gage handset but it's far easier to do it online, so visit the N-Gage arena and sign up. You'll need to create a unique username and a password. (Make a note of these – you'll need them later on). Then, on your N-Gage handset, insert and start up the game you'd like to play online. At the start menu there will be an option to play a multiplayer or Arena game; select it.
Your N-Gage will connect to your mobile phone network's GPRS connection, so wait for a couple of seconds while it sorts itself out. When it does, it'll log into the N-Gage Arena. You'll be asked for the username and password you created in step 1, so type them in, making sure to get any upper- or lower-case letters correct. When you've entered those details, click on the button in the lower left of the screen to log-in. Accept the user agreements that appear on screen in the same way.
You'll now find yourself in Arena Central, where you can start a game, browse any records associated with the game you're playing or even, in some cases, download extra content for the game or unlock it by playing online. If you're anything like us, you'll want to get stuck right in, so click on Play. Depending upon the game you're playing, you might be asked to select a player or career to use online, such as we see here, in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004.
You'll be able to join a game or set one up yourself. This is done via the N-Gage Arena Lobbies, where online players gather, chat and set up games. You can set up a new Game Room or join an existing one; from a Game Room you can create your own multiplayer game or join one that someone else has set up. Here you can specify what level, map or, in this case, what holes you'll all play. If you set up a new room, wait for other players to enter before starting; if you're joining someone else's room, they'll launch the game.
After loading for a few seconds, you'll be taken to the starting point of the game. If you're playing simultaneously (i.e. you're all playing at the same time), you can get stuck right in. If you're playing a game that you take in turns, the player whose turn it is will have their name displayed at the top of the screen. That player will have their turn – taking their shot in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 in our example – and then it'll be the next player's turn and so on.
You can exit the game at any time by pressing the button that brings up the in-game menu (this is different for each game, so check the game's manual if you're not sure) and leaving. If you joined someone else's room, you can choose to join another game or exit the N-Gage Arena completely – the game you left carries on without you. If you set up the game and then leave, exiting the N-Gage Arena, the game will end also, forcing all the other players to exit.