When Nokia first announced their plans to merge hand-held gaming with a mobile phone many rushed to write them off. Nokia however, have worked hard at securing the most important part of any entertainment system, content. The initial N-Gage announcement by Nokia stated that Sega were definitely on board, recent information suggests that two other major publishers have also agreed to provide content for the fledgling hybrid.
Capcom and Taito have already agreed to provide content for the Finns while there is a strong possibility that Namco will also join the project. Securing these big names in the console field suggests that, upon launch, N-Gage will already have a strong backbone of titles in order to entice gamers to its product.
So expect Sonic the Hedgehog and similar titles surfacing fairly soon. Even with these big names on their side, Nokia are not expected to pose any significant threat to Nintendo's GBA but if the product does survive its first year it will definitely begin gnawing at GBA's market share. There is also the question of whether the Finns will convince Nintendo owners that they should also purchase the N-Gage device. After all a decent mobile phone by a world leader in such devices is not a bad offering on its own, why say no if it also offers gaming?
Nokia's N-Ggage was first announced in November and is expected to be released in February, 2003. Games for the device will be available on memory cards.
