Feature: GDC: Nokia on 'The Next Generation of Mobile Gaming'

Nokia's keynote address at GDC Mobile 2006, given by Gregg Sauter, Nokia's Director of Games Publishing, was largely about where Nokia is today, moreso than where they're going in the future. Still, they made some significant announcements in terms of developer relations and multiplayer accessibility. In addition, Sauter offered some cautionary words about designing for handsets: “'The mobile games industry isn't about dumping console games onto handsets,' Sauter explained, adding that some of the most successful developers are using the unique properties of phones to create experiences that are impossible anywhere else. But on top of new gameplay, the entire platform needs to evolve. We need ease of searching, access, purchase, playability/value, sharing (multiplayer), and managing content, according to Nokia, and they hope to be the ones to achieve this. Their plan is to beef up their N-Gage arena content to work with Smartphones, very much mimicking the Xbox Live Arcade experience. You can have a gamer profile and avatar (or take your own picture with your cameraphone), and win N-Gage points (NGPs). Though he mentioned nothing of this during the keynote, many have guessed that Nokia plans to make N-Gage content downloadable to Smartphones in the relatively near future." You can now read the full feature on the subject (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).