Nokia N-Gage

Nog even een heel groot nadeel: Mijn accuutje is na een halve dag al leeg. En wat heb ik ermee gedaan: Zeven minuten gebeld, twee SMSjes verstuurd, eentje ontvangen en een half uur gegamed. En hij is al vanaf 13 uur leeg, en dat terwijl mijn zus op knappen staat, want mijn neefjes/nichtje wil eruit...

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N-Gage Undercover

Sneaking around the Los Angeles area in search of truth, justice, and information about the N-Gage.

Like a true GameSpy, I had a plan. Since Nokia was being quite reserved about how its all-in-one portable was performing at retail, avoiding the release of any sales numbers -- or any "real" information, for that matter -- I started to gather my covert ops gear. Armed with a mini Sony digital camera and dressed in civilian clothing, I set out to visit three local, Los Angeles stores that carry the N-Gage to see exactly how the sales persons would react if I was inquisitive about the N-Gage. The results may shock you.

EB Games
Burbank, CA

My first target for sneaky stuff.

I started my journey in the heart of Burbank, a quaint little city that's located in what locals call The Valley (it's very hot up there). The particular EB Games that I chose to visit had just opened its doors a few months ago and has received a flood of customers ever since. The Burbank Mall lacked any sort of videogame depot; now it was finally there.

So after browsing the store for a few minutes like any normal human being would do -- grabbing stuff, pretending to look at it, and then putting it back in the wrong position on the shelf as if I couldn't remember where I original snagged it from -- I approached the front counter. There were two people in front of me trading in old Dreamcast games for a newer, next-gen system, so I politely waited. And when my turn came, I simply said, "Can you tell me about this N-Gage thing? What is it?"

The salesperson didn't hesitate, blurting out immediately that it's a "miraculous new handheld device." It's really "kick-ass," he continued to say, explaining all of its different functions. "Game machine, MP3 player, internet browser, radio, personal organizer, and a phone all in one cool, little handheld," he said excitedly. Then another customer came up, and he kindly answered their question before coming out onto the sales floor to tell me more about the N-Gage.

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"Are the games any good," I asked, because after playing all of the launch titles, I certainly wasn't blown away. He responded, again without hesitating, "Yeah, they're awesome!" Tomb Raider was obviously his favorite title -- or the only title he was familiar with -- as he rolled on by saying that holding an N-Gage was like having a PSOne in the palm of your hand. "The graphics are stunning," he said a few times, showing me the back of several game boxes on display in the store. And after discussing the loading issues, like taking the battery out to insert a game, he said that didn't bother him one bit. "You get used to it really fast," he claimed.

But I wasn't convinced. He seemed all too excited about Nokia's handheld. And I do mean, really enthusiastic! So to throw him off, I retorted, "I recently saw the sales data from the U.K. on the internet. Apparently, the N-Gage sold less than 500 units in the whole country. Is it selling better here?" Of course, he has an answer: "Oh yes, we sold out of our first two shipments." To explain Britain's distaste for the N-Gage, though, he simply says, "The English don't play games. It's not a game-playing country in general. Besides, Vodaphone owns the handheld market over there. No one wants to buy a new cell phone either because that company dominates the market." Odd, because didn't the English purchase 50,000 PlayStation 2s in the same week that only 500 N-Gages sold? I didn't bother saying this out loud, as I didn't want to get in an argument, but those are the hard facts. Brits play games.

I couldn't help but think Mr. EB was covering something up, and this GameSpy was determined to find out what.

GameStop
Van Euys, CA

My second infiltration point.

Heading into the GameStop about 10 miles west of the Burbank-based EB, I noticed something immediately different. The store had a much more casual atmosphere; it seemed calmer. Maybe it was the fact that the sales floor was three times larger, I'm not really sure. But I felt like this was a place where I would get an honest opinion.

So I headed over to both of the employees, each of which was organizing the action figure racks, and asked, "What's the deal with this N-Gage?" "What's the deal?" one responded. "It's $300 for a game system, that's the deal." While they told me that their first shipment had sold out, they followed that by saying, "...but it was only two N-Gages." I have a feeling the EB Games only received a few as well, because after my visit there, sales stats from the U.S. showed that only 5,000 N-Gages had been sold during the first week of release. Selling any more than a few units would set that number off balance. (I wonder if Mr. EB would say Americans don't play games either.)

Already, things were heating up. I continue my query, asking about the games. "The graphics are kinda good, like on Tomb Raider, because it's the old PSOne game. But that doesn't mean much." Wow, those guys were being incredibly truthful; they didn't like the N-Gage, and they weren't attempting to sell me one. "Is it really worth the it?" I asked, and both of them responded, almost in unison, "No!"

I ended up staying to chat with the employees a bit more about the N-Gage, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, why SSX 3 rocks so hard, and debated whether or not Mr. EB was going to get a huge commission if he had actually convinced me to purchase an N-Gage.

Target
Studio City, CA

My last, shortest point of attack.

Since Target recently jumped on board the N-Gage boat, I wanted to see what a mainstream store would say if I came in flustered about what exactly the N-Gage was. So I headed to the game section, prepared with the same script as my first two visits. There was only one employee running the game area, so I approached him and asked, "What is this N-Gage you guys are selling?" His response: "I don't know anything about that thing. We haven't sold any." Oh well.

For the rest of my Target visit, me and a friend combed the clearance racks for deals. Target may not have a clue what the N-Gage is, but they sure know how to please the pocket change weary customer. Four big, movie theater-sized boxes of Goobers for $1.38! Now that's a damn good deal.

Gamespy

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Leuk artikel.

Iets zegt mij dat de aandelen Nokia niet meer flink omhoog gaan de eerste tijd

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Op dinsdag 21 oktober 2003 15:43 schreef dazzle123 het volgende:

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De GBA verkoopt ook en daar wil ik ook niet dood mee gevonden worden. De GBA is ook voor kinderen. Alles wat nintendo maakt is voor kinderen en toch verkoopt het.

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De GBA is al meer dan 3 jaar op de markt, vergeet dat nou eens niet...

Toen de GBA uit kwam was het ding superdeluxe vet en snel. Inmiddels is het dus 3 jaar later. 3 jaar later kom je niet uit met een handheld console die een kleiner schermpje heeft... Alleen daarom al.

Daarbij is de GBA altijd goedkoop geweest. Je betaalt 300 euro voor een N-Gage, 135 euro voor een GBA SP. In feite betaal je bij de N-Gage dus 165 euro voor het telefoon en het MP3 speler gedeelte.

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En een aantal dingen, Nokia is niet slechts populair bij de jeugd. Nokia heeft als enige fabrikant van mobiele telefoons begrepen dat je een groot assortiment moet hebben en dat image en design heel belangrijk zijn.

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Samsung anyone? Mooi foontjes hoor... Mooier dan Nokia.

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Dat zijn de pluspunten van nokia telefoons. Dat staat dus haaks op wat jij beweert over dat Nokia alleen maar goed scoort bij mensen met weinig geld.

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Nokia heeft alleen maar veel geld verdient met de 3210/3310 serie. De rest is echt niet beter verkocht dan de telefoons van andere maatschappijen.

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En ten tweede, de prijs van de N-Gage is misschien tov de GBA hoog maar daar staat tegenover dat het voor een telefoontje helemaal niet duur is.

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Ik heb net een paar weken terug een Samsung C100 telefoon met een GBA SP voor 0 euro aangeschaft. Met een Telfort 100 abonnement voor 2 jaar a 15 euro per maand. Dat was echt wel goedkoper dan die N-Gage. Die gaat samen met een Telfort 200 abonnement voor 2 jaar a 22 euro per maand.

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Je krijgt ook nog korting als je een abo neemt. Dus de kans is aanwezig dat je hem op den duur zelfs gratis krijgt.

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Ik denk dat hij wel heel snel in prijs gaat zakken ja. Maar niet omdat hij zo populair is en een prijsverlaging er af kan.

Maar goed, waar het op neer komt is dat de GBA in feite een generatie ouder is dan de N-Gage. Nou, ik zie niet echt een generatiekloof hoor, eerder een generatiescheurtje. Tussen de GBA en de Tapwave Zodiac ligt WEL een flinke generatiekloof.

De feiten liggen er. Misschien dat Nokia net break-even gaat draaien, maar dan hebben ze geen geld om te investeren in een opvolger. Het is een leuk ding hoor, maar alleen het formaat van dat schermpje is al te ziek voor woorden. Daar kun je tegenwoordig toch niet meer mee aankomen? Ik ken geen enkele gameconsole met zo'n klein schermpje, zelfs de originele ZW/W GB had al een groter schermpje.

[Dit bericht is gewijzigd door RetepV op 22-10-2003 10:52]

Ik heb vandaag ff Tony Hauwk's Pro Skater gespeeld op de N-Gage. Graphics zijn wel goed, scherm valt ook aan te wennen en de besturing is ook best wel goed. Dit kan denk ik wel scoren.

En nu is hij dicht, ik open ff een vervolgtopic.