N-Gage set for low-profile launch this month

For a while now, we've been expecting Nokia's new N-Gage platform to come roaring out of the blocks at launch. Six to eight handsets, a stack of great-looking and playable games, and enough launch oomph to dispel the carping of cynics who remember the N-Gage first time round.

However, it seems that won't be the case. We're not saying Nokia is getting cold feet about its new mobile gaming platform, but, well, the launch plans seem to get more and more low-profile with every week that passes.

Here's what we know: N-Gage will be officially launched next week at an event in Lapland, according to N-Gage boss Jaakko Kaidesoja. Nokia will be revealing full details of the Day One launch handsets and games, as well as its plans for the following months. It seems likely that N-Gage will actually go live that week or the week after.

The N81 seems certain to be the first handset to get full N-Gage games this month, and it seems the N73 won't be far behind, judging by its prominence on the N-Gage stand at the Nokia World show (be warned, N73 users, you'll probably need a firmware upgrade first). More handsets may have to wait until the New Year.

"We're going to have an easier roll-out with a more managed environment," says Kaidesoja. "We are not going to do all the tricks and treats that we have said on Day One. It's a complex service with all the billing and communities and other features, so we need to roll it out gradually."

It's not going to be a big bang console-style launch, in other words. Nokia's softly-softly approach is presumably part of the reason the N-Gage launch was delayed from November until this month, although further comments from Kaidesoja cast doubt on just how realistic that original deadline ever was.

"We've had the testing environment live for a month or so, and we're getting feedback, finding there's a glitch to fix over here, another glitch to fix over there," he says. "We're gradually starting to get to an environment where we feel comfortable, so now it's time to open the doors and start rolling it out."

So you can't share firm details of launch titles and handsets yet?

"We'll have the exact details next week, when we'll have run all the tests and made all the decisions," he says. "I would be happy to share it now if we were 100 per cent confident what was the exact line-up, but we need to wait for some more information, confirm a couple of things, and then we'll be able to give the full roll-out plan."

From the outside, it seems a bit last-minute to be still finalising the launch line-up and fixing glitches, but N-Gage is a pretty complex platform. With plenty of people watching for any signs of weakness in N-Gage Mk II, it's probably sensible to be ironing out every bug possible.

Some other stuff: N-Gage may be ripe for more music games, thanks to Nokia's activities elsewhere with its Nokia Music Store and new Comes With Games subscription service. People who own high-end N-Gage handsets may well be using them to listen to music too, so there could be a link.

"Music is an obvious one with things like Guitar Hero, although it won't necessarily work on mobile, so you have to think about the concept," he says. "We're working on this sort of thing though, for example on how you call on your handset's music player from within the game, which is something we'll need to build into our SDK."

Kaidesoja also confirms that the mysterious Project White Rock cross-platform game will be coming out in the second quarter of next year, and says Nokia is enthusiastic about the potential of GPS and/or touchscreens for N-Gage gaming in the future.

But coming back to that delayed launch, was the reason really caution over potential or actual technical gremlins? "You don't have enough time to mature this to the end of the final bug," he says. "The minute you turn it on, you'll fine new ones, so you need to have an easy ramp-up and roll-out or you're doomed to fail."

The N-Gage application is working well as far as we can tell, though. During our interview, Kaidesoja downloaded Snakes Subsonic to his handset, with the 2MB file taking a minute or so to download. But as we've explained before, Nokia will be selling N-Gage games through a range of different methods, including some where it doesn't have to do the selling.

"The file distribution is separate from the file acquisition," he says, meaning that while you download an N-Gage game in full and can then play the trial, if you want it, you have to pay to unlock the rest. But basically, you can get the file from anywhere, whether Nokia or other sources.

"Gameloft or EA Mobile can start their own retailing activities through their own websites or other channels," says Kaidesoja. "Operators can do that too, so Vodafone could have their own N-Gage store as part of Vodafone Live, or… well, Vodafone Live is what they will be using. But we haven't agreed that, and there haven't been any announcements. But I'm saying its technically possible."

So, N-Gage section on Voda Live it is then, surely. Maybe it'll be announced next week.

We don't mean to sound downbeat about the N-Gage launch. A soft roll-out is certainly preferable to gallons of hype – something that quickly palled first time round, when Nokia's initial bullishness about the N-Gage started to be the butt of jokes once it became clear that the device wasn't going to take on DS and PSP after all.

Still, we do hope that Nokia still makes a bit of a splash with new N-Gage this month, when it launches. Some of its games are well worth banging drums about, after all. Assuming those remaining glitches are fixed, new N-Gage has the potential to become a serious games platform. Isn't that worth shouting about?