More Than Just N-Gage

So N-Gage has launched, many are still left out of the fun, and some are having all sorts of issues with the platform and games throwing errors like a pro baseball pitcher in his prime. Some gamers will give up on N-Gage right off the bat, some will just wait it out until it's all fixed. Then there are the hardcore gamers like myself constantly in search for something fun to do on the go. Of course it would be quite selfish of me not to share my findings that may or may not add a bit of entertainment to your S60 phone.

Let's start with where these gems can be found. I use MOSH on my N95 all the time to find new and interesting content. It's also a great way to store files quickly to free up space when you run out of room on the memory card. Anyway, there are a ton of games to download on MOSH, and that's just one resource. Games like S-Tris 2 (a Tetris clone), Alpha Wing 2, Frozen Bubble, Block Breaker Deluxe, and Mystery Mansion Pinball are just some of the cool games that bring the arcade to wherever you want to go.

Two of my favorite things about the N95 is the built-in accelerometer and the TV-out feature. Adding gaming as a third ingredient to the mix makes for some serious fun. There has been recent development around the accelerometer lately that goes beyond just using it for user interface purposes. rotateMe and Nokmote make way for demos such as MosKillTo, where you aim and shoot pesky mosquitoes in a virtual room and Mirage Money where you can fly through a virtual or camera-based environment to collect coinage for points. Of course you could mix some games like FreeFlight with Nokmote which is cool in and of itself, but hook it all up to a nice TV and you have something very cool to show off to friends and family.

I have no doubt that we will see a lot more fun ideas spring up around the potential of phones like the N95 and it's accelerometer and TV-out features. I also hope N-Gage will eventually mature into the mobile gaming platform that many have waited for a long time. I'm always looking for more interesting games and applications that push these technologies to the limits, so if you stumble upon anything neat or are a developer that needs a guinea pig to test out their latest creation, I'm always up for something new. Well, back to pinball on the TV for now...