Nokia’s announced it will be working on making N-gage game licenses transferable. Previously, users would have to repurchase a game if they switched to a new phone.

The IDG carried the news of Nokia’s attempt to appease enraged N-Gage gamers. At a recent briefing of a collective of Malaysian bloggers, the question was brought up – ‘What if you had, say 10 or so titles on your phone? Could you carry them over if you switched to a new one?”

The APAC reps said it was only possible to transfer licenses if the device failed – a note would then be issued to restore games lost to device fault. But it’s a severe disservice to N-Gage gamers who decide they want to game on another phone. For instance, when the new N-series models come out, some would want to upgrade. Dissuading people from buying new phones isn’t a smart move, Nokia.

Of course, N-gage players weren’t happy and kicked up a mighty fuss on forums. The platform itself is coming up under scrutiny after the legendary dud of the first N-Gage devices.

As Nokia attempts to push N-Gage as a software, not hardware platform, it’s discovering the challenge in building and keeping a player-base. Which is probably why it’s managed to rope in an impressive array of third-party game developers. Konami recently announced Metal Gear Solid Mobile for the N-Gage platform with news of more titles to follow.

Also coming to the N-Gage platform are familiar titles like the Worms franchise, Crash Bandicoot and the Nokia parody/throwback game Reset Generation.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, May 25th, 2008 at 12:56 pm under Cell phones.

Read more entries by Erna Mahyuni.
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