With the launch of Nokia's new hybrid cellphone/handheld videogame device upon us as of October 7th, we thought it would be a good time to take a look back at the N-Gage's big coming-out party. Was the problematic E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) press event a bad omen for the N-Gage's future?

For many journalists who were in attendence on May 13th, 2003, the N-Gage Press Conference came as a bit of an afterthought. It was last out of all the pre-show press conferences, once the big three from Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo had already been held, and at the end of a long day of racing around town to each one. But in a lot of ways, Nokia's affair proved to be the most memorable--for all the wrong reasons.

Nokia arranged for attendees to shuttled to the press conference in chartered double-decker buses.

It's not as if Nokia didn't do many things right that day. As newcomers to the videogame industry, the company went the extra mile to win over the gaming press. They provided free transportation in the form of trendy double-decker buses to and from L.A.'s Park Plaza Hotel, so that journalists could easily make the journey from E3 headquarters at the L.A. Convention Center. Attendees were treated to advance hands-on play with the N-Gage en route and also later on in the lobby of the hotel, and there were plenty of demo units to go around.

Guests file into the ornate lobby of the Park Plaza
Hotel on their way to the conference auditorium upstairs.

Nokia made arrangements for generous media hospitality areas at the Plaza too. There were dozens of PC's with internet access for journalists, much appreciated by those desperate to do onsite up-to-the-minute uploads. Nokia staff even handed out free refreshments and a parting gift: a nice high-quality N-Gage logo messenger bag. If only the press conference itself hadn't been such a spectacular disaster, their good will efforts probably would have paid off to a greater extent.

Though a lot of media were in attendence for Nokia's event, the crowd was still much smaller
than those at Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo's conferences.

But once the lights went down in the auditorium, things began to unravel. Who could forget the uncomfortable feeling as Nokia's breakdancers stormed the house to kick off the presentation, furiously busting moves--while playing their N-Gages at the same time? Frequent, awkward repetition of the would-be catchphrase, "Multiplayer, Online, Mobile!" Cue after cue being fumbled by the speakers on onstage... John Romero looking mighty uncomfortable as a guest speaker... The video of Tony Hawk Pro Skater for N-Gage that was introduced but never shown, leaving presenters floundering for a segue... The hordes of attendees who left prematurely after hearing the N-Gage's price (displayed in notorious fashion by the "$299 Girl") Withering questions afterwards from the press corps... Nokia's Senior VP losing his cool as things unraveled and angrily demanding his next slide ("Can I have the next slide now... PLEASE!?!") during yet another blown cue?

The N-Gage could be coming to a dance floor near you.

Unfortunately, these logistical problems tended to overshadow the positive aspects of the N-Gage that Nokia was trying to get across. The lackluster lineup of featured software (with nary a killer app in sight) didn't help matters either. Below, other TNL editors who were in attendence share candid reflections on the conference and their opinions of the N-Gage's prospects in general.

· · · Teddman

I just saw the most embarrassing thing ever, Nokia's N-Gage Press Conference.

The conference got off to a weird start, with a bunch of hip-hop dancers gyrating spastically while playing N-Gages.

Nokia's very tall Director of N-Gage, Nada Usina, addresses the
crowd after the frenetic breakdancing intro.

A smartly-dressed PR girl (Nada Usina) got up on the stage and introduced one of Nokia's execs (Executive VP of Nokia, Anssi Vanjoki) to talk about the N-Gage. The thing about Nokia is, it's a Finnish company and all its execs spoke in odd accents, so they already had a strike against them in earning the confidence of the people in the crowd.

Nokia Executive VP Anssi Vanjoki tried his best to convince the audience of the N-Gage's potential.

Well, the guy gets up there and awkwardly tries to sell the N-Gage to this highly skeptical crowd, offering nothing but vague promises ("Nokia is a leader in communication, so we will multiplayer communication work!") and sad-looking video footage of games that were new 6 years ago. When a crowd has just come back from hearing about the new Playstation Portable and all the new things Nintendo was doing on the GBA, do you think they're really going to be blown away by a shoddy-looking Tomb Raider port?

John Romero's announcement of Red Faction for the N-Gage drew a subdued response.

And then John Romero gets up onstage. His company, Monkeystone, did a port of Red Faction for the N-Gage (which looks like crap). At the end of his half-heartedly enthusiastic presentation he pauses, waiting for applause -- for about five seconds. Total silence. The PR girl ended up getting onto the stage and saving his ass.

Once Nokia announced the N-Gage's high price, many seemed to lose interest
in the remaining half of the presentation.

And then the moment of truth came up -- the price announcement. This announcement was supposed to mirror the climactic Sony press conference in which they announced the PSone was going to retail for $299 (which at the time was $100 less than the Sega Saturn). This chick runs out onto the floor and dances around and then pulls her top off, with the price painted on her stomach:

$299.

No applause.

To make matters worse, the conference was full of audio and video miscues and awkward silences. It's almost as though by the end of the presentation, the Nokia guys knew they were going to take a bath on this one.

At least I got a nice backpack out of the deal.

· · · sleeveboy

Sleeveboy pretty much nailed it. Embarassing. Although Bahn, Reno, myself and I think Teddman and I got to sit behind the two hot chicks from G4TV.COM during the conference.

My backpack has gotten more usage than every N-Gage put together will. They should just release the backpack. They could have John Romero run onto the stage with "$29" painted on his belly. I'd cheer for that.

Applause and cheering from the audience was in short supply.

· · · AFX

After Sony announced the PSP at their conference, and seeing Nintendo offer up what it had with the GBA, I was interested in just how Nokia was going to stack up with their N-Gage. For a big time company, Nokia isn't exactly known for its prowess in the games industry, but then again... neither was Sony when they first entered.

N-Gage games announced included ports of Sonic, Tomb Raider, Virtua Tennis,
Red Faction, Pandemonium, and others.

What really bugged me about Nokia's conference wasn't the numerous mistakes in their presentation and the lack of reaction from the crowd. When I think about it, only Microsoft's conference went off without a real snag. I even remember Iwata at Nintendo's conference waiting for his slide to appear during his speech. Nay, what disappointed me most about Nokia's conference was the seemingly lack of research they did for their product. The very first question that was asked of them was whether or not the N-Gage would be $299 with activation fee or without it. To me, that was a good question and something that should've been answered without difficulty.

After the presentation ended, attendees got another chance
to play N-Gage demo units in the lobby outside.

The Nokia executives couldn't answer it. It was after that incident that I decided that this platform really had no chance at competing with Nintendo or Sony. If these guys couldn't answer a simple question like that, there was no way they would be able to gain any kind of foothold in this industry.

Now that I look back on the conference, I think it pretty much spelled out the N-Gage's future in this industry. Unless there was a complete 180 pulled here (getting rid of the front office people, going back to the drawing board... which there wasn't), the N-Gage to me is nothing more than roadkill served up to Nintendo and Sony by the wonderful people at Nokia.

But hey, it was nice knowing you guys, and thanks for the backpack!

Reno, Bahn, and Almaci left the conference stoked about the N-Gage... backpacks.

· · · Reno

OK, the press conference was a disaster, the machine was generally perceived as crap, and some editors made silly mistakes (I read on IGN that Sonic seemed like a mix of Sonic Advance 1 and 2, while it's just GBA Sonic Advance 1 running in emulation. Yes, the NGage is that powerful).

The thing is, this is a cellphone that has Bluetooth and runs Symbian OS60 (maybe 70 by now), look at other cellphones who do that... You have the Sony/Ericson P800, which costs $799, you have several other Nokia phones that do it--and those run around $500. I think it's wrong of Nokia to market this as a games console that happens to be a cellphone as well.

Will the public choose the pricier N-Gage over the popular GameBoy Advance SP?

Market it like the Danger Hiptop and you can attract a whole world of cool. This thing IS a PDA on par with newer PalmOS devices, you can surf the internet with it or preferably use it as a modem through Bluetooth for a PDA or laptop. The machine has a lot of potential as one of the first true convergence devices; sadly the opportunity to release it as such seems to be missed since Nokia decided it's a games console.