Nokia set to roll out new N-Gage boules-based adventure game?

The N-Gage might not have gained the same level of attention or sales as the iPhone in recent months, but it's fair to say that the platform is now well and truly picking up the pace, with N-Gage enabled phones flooding the market in their millions and promotional campaigns ratcheting up.

The one area that's never been in question, and in which it has a potential advantage over Apple and Google's Android platform, is the presence of very strong first party games.

Whilst third party publishers get to grips with how to treat the new format, Nokia has shown the way with cracking titles like Reset Generation, Creatures of the Deep, Dirk Dagger and the Fallen Idol and One. The production-line shows no sign of slowing either, with the likes of Dance Fabulous, Yamake and Mega Monsters line up this year and several others still under wraps.

One title we haven't seen as yet, but we've heard intriguing rumours about, is the follow up from the team behind Creatures of the Deep led by Mike Smith.

To date all those involved (together with all Nokia's other developers, managers and marketing chiefs) have been tight-lipped when questioned about the new project. However, Pocket Gamer has managed to piece together some information to exclusively reveal exclusive details about the new game.

Whilst playing a demo of the excellent looking Mega Monsters, we were shown a cool feature that allows you to place photos upon billboards in-game. Without the photo in place, however, these bill-boards are filled with game promos for other N-Gage titles like Space Impact: Kappa Base and Bounce Boing Voyage.

One such game name was not familiar to us - The Big Roll. Judging by the speed with which this was glossed over and the wry smile of Mr Smith (and other Nokia reps) when questioned afterwards, we were pretty confident that this was indeed the title of his next project. A quick search of domain registration didn't harm our suspicions either.

A little further digging revealed some info on the nature of the title with an anonymous Nokia representative confirming not only that The Big Roll was indeed the new title but also that the gameplay would be in line with the exploration and adventure of Creatures of the Deep.

So what could the game be about? A reference to hi-roller gambling? Could it be some sort of skating sim? Maybe a continuation on the Bounce Boing Voyage theme?

Well, the final piece of the puzzle dropped into place when looking through some old videos on the Creatures of the Deep site. The developer video there provides an interesting intro into how the original title came together, but right before the end Mike Smith and Brandon Crick provide us the non-too subtle clue, discussing their follow up ideas ... whilst playing boules.

So there you have it. The Big Roll, a boules/bowling game with an adventure/exploration theme that's coming to an N-Gage near you.

Whilst we don't have dates as yet, by speculating upon the basic facts we'd hope for a whole host of international bowling-based games to be explored (e.g. expect to see 10-pin bowling from the USA, crown green bowls or skittles in England, Petanque in France and maybe even variations such as the Finnish wood-hurling game Mölkky).

We'd also be prepared to bet our vastly reduced-price houses on some motion-based controlling antics. Most crucially, though, based upon the quality and success of Creatures of the Deep, we'd be amazed if it's not bloody good fun.

Suffice to say we'll toss you more information as and when we get our hands on it.