Nokia To Step Up Cellphone Game Quality

Irving, Texas — Nokia has vowed to turn cellphones into mobile game consoles with the graphics quality of the latest generation of dedicated mobile gaming devices.

The company plans a preinstalled and PC-downloadable application for its N series of smartphones and other smartphones based on the Symbian Series 60 smartphone OS to “allow consumers to easily find, buy and play rich and immersive games,” a spokeswoman said. The application will be available as a free software download in the first half of 2007 to current N series owners.

The next generation of games available for the platform will be available via select retailers, downloads to the PC and over-the-air downloads, the spokeswoman said.

Nokia is also developing additional handsets with powerful graphics chips and controls optimized for gaming. “In the short term, the graphics capabilities will be on N-Gage level and above, but the 3D hardware acceleration in some devices will offer a greater performance in the near future,” she noted.

In a taste of what's to come, Nokia launched its own Web site to sell downloadable N-Gage games for use on the company's hybrid N-Gage phone/game machine. N-Gage owners can trial, purchase and download such N-Gage games as Pathway to Glory and Mile High Pinball.

To access N-Gage content, consumers owners browse the online catalogs to see what is available and then download their choices to a PC. With a compatible memory-card reader and memory card, game files can then be transferred to the N-Gage game deck.