N-Gage games to equal PC games

Nokia eyes cross-platform titles

Posted in Mobile, 2nd July 2007 15:13 GMT

Free whitepaper – Managing operating systems and applications with the new Dell Management Console

Nokia has started development on at least one cross-platform game, codenamed "Project White Rock", which will offer an identical experience on PCs and N-Gage mobile phones, Pocket Gamer reports.

RedLynx is, apparently, developing the title, which will run at the same resolution on both devices, and features over 1,000 lines of recorded dialog. Whether PC gamers will be forbidden from using a mouse, or more than a dozen keys, isn't recorded.

The most popular mobile phone games often ape their desktop cousins - sharing branding and parts of the gameplay, though few developers would claim the mobile experience is as good as that possible with a decent screen, speakers, and controller.

Making the game identical on both platforms would seem akin to madness, but having seen Qualcomm demonstrate a phone connected to a dance mat, and state its intention to create phones to complete with the Playstation 3, we're reluctant to state there's anything a mobile phone can't do.

Project White Rock might demonstrate just what the N-Gage platform is capable of, but a PC version is going to have a hard time competing against other titles which aren't hamstrung by trying to maintain a mobile-phone experience. ®

Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer: 30-day free trial.