wraggster
January 20th, 2005, 09:49
Nokia has denied online reports that the mobile phone giant is about to can its N-Gage handheld console.[br][br]According to a company spokesman cited by Computer and Video Games.com, Nokia remains "completely committed" to the platform.[br][br]"Nokia has no intention of shutting down the N-Gage," he said. "We are completely committed to the platform. It's not going anywhere."[br][br]Ah, isn't that the truth.[br][br]The handheld console was recently dropped from the UK software chart produced by market watcher Chart-Track on behalf of the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA). The decision was made, it's said, because of low sales and less interest in the data.[br][br]And when Nokia last week announced a plan to cut back on R&D costs, the axe fell most sharply on the company's multimedia division, which is responsible for the N-Gage.[br][br]Nokia is said to have given N-Gage 18 months to prove itself a viable platform. Launched in October 2003, N-Gage didn't rack up 1m shipments until September 2004, though Nokia had previously said it expected to ship rather more than that in the device's first year.[br][br]The launch, last May, of the N-Gage QD, which fixed many of the design limitations of the original console, certainly gave the platform a boost, but it's unclear whether it will have given it enough of a lift to justify the money Nokia has spent developing and promoting the console.[br][br]Indeed, said the spokesman: "There's been so much money and effort poured into the system we're not going to pull out now."[br][br]In October 2003, the N-Gage had few rivals. Now it's up against smaller players like Tapwave and Gizmondo, and, more importantly, the big boys, Nintendo and Sony, with the DS and PSP.[br]