Doom developer ‘confirms’ N-Gage 2

Nokia is working on a follow-up to the N-Gage that will address all of the key failings of the original phone-cum-console hardware.

So says none other than shoot-'em-up pioneer John Romero. Having co-coded Doom and Quake for Id Software and wasted Eidos' money at Ion Storm, Romero now writes mobile games for his own company, Monkeystone Games.

So it's no surprise that he might have a nose around the N-Gage as a possible platform to support. And it would be equally unsurprising if Nokia would want to tempt one of the world's most famous games developers to work with their console, possibly by providing a sneak peak at the next-generation machine.

Well, he certainly claims to have seen one, at least that's what he told Russian games site Compulenta during an interview at the Moscow Games Developers Conference on 21 February.

It's smaller and thinner than its predecessor, and the game cartridge slot is just under the back cover - and not the battery too. The design of the case more easily allows users to hold the console up to their ear to make phone calls.

Now, Romero's no stranger to tall tales - long-time Reg readers and games fans will no doubt recall his increasingly ebullient pronouncements during his stint at Ion Storm, not to mention his attempt to fake his own death.

However, we doubt the N-Gage 2 tale is such a fabrication, largely because he's giving nothing away. Nokia was always going to have to address the N-Gage's phone usage and cartridge insertion unfriendliness in a future version of the console. Nokia has already said it will offer new versions of the console at some future date. ®

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