N-Gage services shutting down in late 2010

Nokia’s N-Gage services will soon go the way of the dodo. According to a report on VG247, pointing to an Oct. 30 post from the N-Gage Blog, the community services and ability to purchase games for the ill-conceived mobile gaming device from Nokia will no longer exist. In other words, Nokia is trying to move on and focus on a new store for mobile games and applications related to its other mobile phone devices. I’d like to say the N-Gage had a good run, but I’d be lying.

So now the focus will be on the Ovi Store, which Nokia says supports 100 of its mobile devices right now and offers a variety of games like Sky Force Reload, EA SPORTS FIFA 10, Pac-Man, The Sims 3 and Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile.. Nokia wants the new store to be a “one-stop shop for all your mobile content” - unless you own an N-Gage; the Ovi Store is available in more than 180 countries. And remember, content is for everyone so start downloading today.

While this is bad news for N-Gage users, Nokia will support the device until Sept. 2010. Users who can’t let go of their ill-planned purchase of the device will be able to purchase games until that time, but no new games will be published on the platform.

“..the N-Gage.com site together with the N-Gage Arena and other community features will remain in operation throughout 2010,” said a note on the blog, explaining just what will happen in 2010.

Nokia also noted that the N-Gage Arena will remain operational throughout 2010 so that players can continue to keep posting their high scores until then. The company also wants to assure N-Gage users that their game purchases are safe: all N-Gage games will continue to work on your N-Gage compatible mobile device but community features won’t work after 2010. N-Gage.com will close in Sept. 2010 as well.

Finally, here’s the answer to the toughest question of all to answer: “Why doesn’t Nokia keep N-Gage as a separate gaming platform?”

As mobile gaming evolves and begins to encompass social gaming, we want to offer one store front with an even broader portfolio of games – games for everyone. It’s much more convenient to have one place to get all your mobile games, and this it what Ovi Store provides. Mobile gaming is one of the most popular activities in the Ovi Store, with games being the #2 most downloaded category for premium content. And besides having all mobile games in one place, people can access other services like Mail, Maps, Music and many more via www.ovi.com.

While we can certainly understand why Nokia might be excited about this new store, it should probably be a little more stark and honest in its answer as to why it is really shutting N-Gage down in the last part of 2010: the game system was, by most accounts, a failure for the company.

EA Mobile inks distribution deal with Namco Bandai Networks Europe

EA Mobile and Namco Bandai Networks Europe have inked a distribution agreement granting EA’s mobile division the rights to publish existing and upcoming Namco Bandai titles across Europe, Russia, India, Latin America, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. The deal will not impact Namco Bandai’s North American distribution or its iPhone activities, both of which will continue to be handled by Namco Networks America.

The agreement starts on November 1st when Namco Bandai’s mobile content becomes available to consumers through EA Mobile’s mobile distribution channels. Management of Namco Bandai’s content in existing channels will also switch to EA Mobile. Namco Bandai will continue to own distribution in direct channels such as smartphone application stores and through its own direct online store. The agreement will see new games, including Ridge Racer Drift and Time Crisis Elite as well as existing titles becoming available to a much wider base of consumers, says EA.

Playfish expands in San Francisco

Social gaming company Playfish has opened a new game development studio in San Francisco. The studio, which complements Playfish’s acclaimed development studios in London, Beijing and Norway, will target the Bay Area’s talent resources to create original social games for friends to play together on platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, iPhone and Android.

Playfish’s latest studio joins the company’s existing business development focused office in San Francisco, which was established in 2008. Further details and information about available positions in San Francisco and other Playfish offices can be found at www.playfish.com.

Rock Band, Verizon style

EA Mobile, Harmonix and MTV Games, and Verizon Wireless are serving up Rock Band on Verizon’s wireless phones. This is the first time the music game is available on mobile platforms (not counting the PSP game). Verizon Wireless customers can rock out to 25 songs from great artists including Smashing Pumpkins, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 30 Seconds To Mars, Blink-182, Foo Fighters, and the Beastie Boys with MP3-quality sound. No sleep ’til Brooklyn!

In Rock Band for mobile phones, Verizon Wireless customers can master all four ways to play, including lead Guitar, Bass, Drums and Vocals. Rock Band also lets players hit the road solo or form a band and play with friends. They can select Quick Play Mode and Tour Mode, both of which are pretty self-explanatory.

Customers can get Rock Band mobile by texting ROCK to 4-2-6-3 (Game) from their Verizon Wireless phones or find it in the Get It Now/Media Center under Games>Get New Applications. The game is available for $3.99 monthly subscription or $9.99 one-time use on more than 30 handsets including the just-launched Samsung Rogue and the LG enV TOUCH and LG enV 3.

Howdy Texas says Primus Productions

Primus Productions, a new publisher of applications for all things mobile, officially launched today in Dallas, Texas. Primus will be debuting its first three titles for the iPhone and other mobile platforms within the next few weeks. These titles will include a hotel reservation application powered by the travel industry’s biggest names, a mobile golf tee-time reservation application powered by a pioneer in the business of golf distribution and reservations technology, and a political satire game based on current politics and policies.

The first of Primus’ applications will be available next month through the iTunes AppStore.

Bumper Stars: Facebook phenom becomes mobile app

PressOK Entertainment and Large Animal Games announce the release of Bumper Stars Mobile. Bumper Stars Mobile uses Facebook Connect to intertwine mobile and social networking capabilities, giving iPhone and iPod touch users the ability to play the popular Facebook game solo or against their friends.

Already available on Facebook, Bumper Stars is a mixture of pinball, pool and shuffleboard. Players propel, bounce and bump characters off customizable bumpers to earn points. By logging in to their existing Facebook account, players can invite and challenge their friends playing either on their mobile device or on Facebook.

Bumper Stars Mobile works on any iPhone or iPod touch and is available now on the iTunes App Store for $2.99. To access the game, visit http://itunes.com/app/BumperStars. Bumper Stars Mobile will also be available on Blackberry, Android, J2ME and BREW platforms at the end of Q3.

ZENONIA for iPhone released

GAMEVIL USA’s action role-playing game ZENONIA for iPhone and iPod touch is available on the Apple App Store. ZENONIA features anime style characters and graphics, numerous quests to follow, an interesting story line, different skill classes, hundreds of items and weapons to acquire.

ZENONIA is now available for $5.99 from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore. More details about this game can be found at www.gamevil.com.