Nokia Will Be Launching a New Gaming Platform Next Year

Starting from next year, you won't need to buy an N-Gage to be able to have a great mobile gaming experience. According to Nokia 's own Jaakko Kaidesoja, you might not even need to change your mobile phone, because 'the new N-Gage' will actually be a new application - much like regular Symbian S60 applications- that will allow you to play 3D games, post high-scores, write your own game reviews and more.

"We are planning to support something like 5-7 devices when we launch," said Jakko Kaidesoja "Some of them are already being sold today, in fact. So if you have one of those devices, you'll just have to go to our website, download the application to your phone. It's like any Series 60 application, and it works."

Nokia's recently-conducted survey points out that in countries like India, where gaming consoles like PS2 and especially PS3 aren't affordable, mobile phones could actually become a console substitute.
Considering the fact that mobile phones seem to have more and more features lately, and apart from enabling the user to make phone calls or text messages, can serve as an Mp3 player or a digital camera,
it doesn't seem hard to believe that a phone can be turned into a great gaming device. Kaidesoja points out that it's not really the technology used in a mobile phone that makes a great gaming device, but the design.

"First of all, it's about basic game design ergonomics," he says. "You don't want to design games with five multiple key presses and all that, so developers have to keep that in mind. But then we can work with various form factors, we can have landscape gaming with extra buttons on the phone, and we can work with accessories."

Considering that, we might in the near future get used to using mobile phones for everything, listening to music, taking pictures and even playing games, we would normally only play on a Play Station 2.