Just when things seemed to be going smoothly for Nokia's new N-Gage platform, it's emerged that there's one great big flaw: if you buy a new N-Gage phone, you have to buy all your games again.
Hats off to
All About N-Gage for
discovering this. I didn't believe it at first, but it says Nokia has confirmed the fact that the games are non-transferrable, since the activation code you're sent for each game is tied to your phone's unique IMEI number.
You can delete and re-install the games as many times as you want on that handset, but if you decide to switch, say, your N81 for a swizzy new N-Gage phone in six months time... well, tough luck.
This, of course, isn't a new problem for mobile gamers. Here in the UK, when you upgrade any phone you lose all the Java games you've bought, too.
But given that N-Gage is based around creating a username and profile, it's ridiculous that games are tied to a specific handset, rather than a specific user.
Properly, embarrassingly ridiculous considering N-Gage games cost £6-8.
The problem is surely solvable, even if it initially has to be via some kind of workaround. For example, customer services issuing new activation codes if you can prove that you bought a game before for a different handset.
People are increasingly looking to upgrade their phone once a year, particularly the tech-savvy people who are buying Nokia's Nseries handsets.
Hopefully Nokia will change its policy – and soon – to ensure these customers don't have to pay for games again if they want to keep on playing them after an upgrade.
We're contacting Nokia to get their take on the issue, and will bring you further news.
Joined:
Apr 2007
Post count:
244
That would be a pain.
I WAS wondering about that, as I bought the Puzzlequest game recently for my W910i, yet I'm changing to a new phone the HTC S620 soon, so I guess I can't take it with me?
What a pain....hmmm.. That'll be the first and last time I buy a mobile phone game.
Joined:
Dec 2006
Post count:
152
Hey vaga222, yes, it's exactly the same for Java games, although some operators have talked about 'locker' type services that store details of the games/ringtones/other stuff you've bought from them, so you can get them again for free if you upgrade. There are a few companies offering the tech to do this too.
Joined:
May 2008
Post count:
58
Nokia, a huge consortium in the mobile phone industry exposed a dark secret this week that have shocked it's dedicated followers. You would have thought that they would have strategically thought this through, before developing the en-gage platform but they haven't and the other darkside of the matter which people are not mentioning, is that the n-gage games are going to be big buisness in the "black-market" because there will be more demand in obtaining it illegally. This will impact on selling prices drastically in which a consumer would rather take a chance in downloading it illegally from sites (which I'm sure will pop up sooner or later) for a cheaper price (or perhaps free!!!) than having to buy the same game again at it's full price to use on your new handset…
