Products & Services

N-Gage pushes social interplay innovation

By Mike on 06 August 2008

INTERNATIONAL – We don’t often dip our toe in the N-Gage gaming pond here on Conversations, but a new game has lured us into the deep end. It’s called Reset Generation, and it’s shifting the boundaries of conventional multiplayer gaming. See, this is a new breed of game that enables players to go head-to-head online via their Nokia handset against challengers playing on a PC. Read on…

In another interesting twist the PC version of the game is free to download to your laptop or desktop as a widget, encouraging this innovative cross-platform interplay. So it also addresses the challenge of mobile multiplayer gaming, where often there mightn’t be as many people available to play on the move – so with a network of players on PC the incentive and opportunity for social gaming is undoubtedly increased.

Speaking about the relevance of Reset Generation in relation to the broader mobile gaming picture Dr Mark Ollila, Head of Games Publishing at Nokia said:

“Reset Generation is a groundbreaking new game for the N-Gage platform. This title showcases the commitment that Nokia has to publishing innovative games and we are proud to be pioneering new original content for consumers.”

As for the game itself, Scott Foe, the game’s producers at Nokia explained:

“A homage to all things fun in video games, the highly anticipated Reset Generation is unlike anything seen before. No pixel was left behind and no sound was spared. If you grew up playing video games, you will be especially fond of this title.”

It’s encouraging to see the teams associated with N-Gage breaking the mould, as we’d hoped for when we spoke to Will Shen, Head of Production in North America, when Nokia’s mobile gaming platform was still in gestation.

Another interesting little fact about the game, which was developed in Finland by an outfit called RedLynx, is that the soundtrack for the game was creatively cooked up by a band in Los Angeles that used old videogame machines as instruments.

Anyway, Reset Generation is definitely worth a look (my thumbs are now a little blistered researching this story – someone had to). If you’re interested, visit the N-Gage games showroom or for the PC version visit the Reset Generation site – it’s full of loads of interesting extras such as concept art and the music.

We’ll be following up, speaking to some of the key people involved in N-Gage to get more of a flavour of the thinking and vision for innovating the mobile gaming landscape. So if you have any thoughts, questions or threads you’d like us to pursue, jot them down in the comments section below.

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