ESPOO, Finland – We’ve dug in deeper and we’ve been told a fix is in the works for the recent N-Gage games transfer situation. This is excellent news and although initially it looks like it may need to be serviced

Looks like some game press and blogs have picked it up today too.

1. Locking the games to a reference IMEI is not the main problem. The main problem is there’s no way to change that reference IMEI when you move to another phone. If there was such a method, it would allow legitimate users to keep their games forever, and it would also prevent piracy just like it did before. The IMEI referred to by the phone is (we assume) stored on Nokia’s servers, so any changes would be entirely under Nokia’s control, there would be no way for pirates to change the reference IMEI.

2. It would be more convenient to lock games to an account of course, with that account locked to an IMEI to satisfy the DRM requirements of publishers. When you logged in to N-Gage, the phone would check with Nokia’s servers to find out which games you’ve purchased and display them automatically, with the option of downloading them if you don’t have a copy stored locally on the phone.

3. Nokia already allows their Nokia Music and Nokia Maps content to be purchased and transferred from phone to phone, there’s no reason why they couldn’t do the same thing with N-Gage content as well.

4. Nokia is moving towards being an internet services company as well as a hardware manufacturer. They’ve spent literally billions on this so far, so they’re clearly serious. If they do want to be taken seriously as an online services company, they have to allow people to access those services across a range of devices, otherwise the point of offering online services is gone. Locking games to one device forever is not the actions of an online service.

If the games were tied to an N-Gage account as per Nokia’s original statements when N-Gage was first announced, I would be more than happy to lay down money to buy a few games, with the knowledge I could play them forever.

http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2008/05/21/hooray-for-drm-once-again-those-n-gage-games-are-all-locked-up/

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/05/22/ngage_games_die_with_your_phone.html

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/05/22/n-gage-users-n-raged-by-nokia-handset-lock-in/

My thoughts: They are not going to be a surprise, games should be tied to your username/password, not your IMEI.

I also wanted to add the link to the thread on the N-Gage.com forums:
http://forums.arena.n-gage.com/nokia/board/message?board.id=3&thread.id=46104

It’s important, IMO, that concerned parties voice their feelings in a central place, where the appropriate people can not only get an idea as to the magnitude of affected users, but also have a central place to address the mob, so to speak.

I’m very anxious to hear Nokia’s response, and have hope that this will be resolved appropriately, with a win on both sides. I know I’m anxious to purchase a few of the latest games.