Launch
After numerous delays and many vague release dates, the N-Gage platform was finally (and also quite suddenly) released to the public on 3 April 2008 through the N-Gage official website, though only five phone models are compatible to begin with. This probably has to do with the older models being less powerful as was pointed out in an interview earlier the same year whereas an N-Gage representative mentioned some memory issues with the N73. The launch titles also changed from six to only five: Asphalt 3: Street Rules, Brain Challenge, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep System Rush: Evolution, and World Series of Poker: Pro Challenge. The first two weren't even on the original list but Block Breaker Deluxe and Tetris instead. The sixth game that was postponed was Space Impact Kappa Base. Some hours after the launch, Ikona (the man behind the official N-Gage blog) had this to say about the delay:
"We are currently ensuring Block Breaker Deluxe, Space Impact Kappa Base, and Tetris are running smoothly with our new application. These should be available in the showroom next week or two."
Four days later, on 7 April - Nokia posted their official press release commenting on the release of their new mobile service, and at which point FIFA 08 also became available for purchase.
With this release, the website also saw a small change in appearance with price tags added to all games available for download, an event calendar, a tab for support on both the application itself and N-Gage compatible devices and much more. Players logged onto the website could now also see their Reputation level, N-Gage level, and gathered N-Gage points.
There was also a release party held at the N-Gage chat room shortly after the release, with several members from the N-Gage team attending to answer any questions asked. A few t-shirts were randomly handed out during the three hour long event and everyone was also promised a few N-Gage points for coming to the "party".
As expected, the launch was not problem-free but numerous people reported having trouble downloading, purchasing and activating games, installing the application and logging on to the N-Gage Arena.
Read more about this topic: N-Gage (service)
Famous quotes containing the word launch:
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in the fragile ship of courage, the ark of faith
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—D.H. (David Herbert)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)