Nokia has recently begun to finalize the relaunch of their NGAGE platform(those gaming phones that failed miserably a few years ago). Interestingly, the design house behind that relaunch is an old acquaintance of everyone coming from the Palm OS area…its IDEO, the designer of devices like the ever-famous Palm V.
IDEO’s web site does not contain a lot of information about their involvement in the NGAGE project - however, the following passage sounds quite interesting for me:
IDEO observed the gaming experience around the world in both direct and analogous environments. The team learned that currently, in most countries, mobile gaming is about killing time. However, it is increasingly becoming a way of forging and nurturing social connections with people near and far. Using these and other insights as a framework, Nokia and IDEO created a holistic user interface that pulled together existing Nokia offerings to enable people to seamlessly shift between gaming, socializing, and working.
By navigating through a series of menus on the Nokia Nseries smartphones, the gamer can quickly access a game portal and management system–N-Gage Arena–to try, buy, and play games. A number of features geared toward promoting a social culture of gaming were also included in the interface, such as ratings and award systems that allow gamers to track and share their scores and progress.
Nokia has shown multiplayer games a few years ago - let’s see what they have in stock . Stay tuned to TamsS60 - we will have live reports from you from the Smartphone Roadshow in London!
