Nokia downplays its competition

GBA News | Nokia have dismissed the GBA as a mere toy as its N-Gage comes closer to launch date.

Nokia Corporation is aiming its N-Gage, a hand-held game console/mobile phone hybrid, at a greater market than Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance.

''Game Boy is for 10-year-olds. If you're 20 or 25 years old, it's probably not a good idea to draw a Game Boy out of your pocket on a Friday night in a public space,'' said Ilkka Raiskinen, head of the Espoo-based company's entertainment and media branch.

The N-Gage goes on sale worldwide on Oct. 7th, with a retail price of $299 US.

Nokia did not seem keen on commenting on the GBA SP model which is specifically targeted at older gamers.

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10 Comments

Cerebral

8 years ago

Well, they seem mighty up themselves. We'll see how the 20 and 25 year olds react...

giant_frying_pan

8 years ago

What strikes me as ironic is the fact that teens and kids are the ones who go for new models of phone before anyone else!!!

giant_frying_pan

mrcivic

8 years ago

So now Nokia is telling me what I can and can't play in public?

Being in the demogarphic that they'll be targeting, I can tell you that this thing is going to a big flop. I'm not saying that because I've got an SP, but because quite frankly it's one ugly phone! Nokia is pushing the device as a games console, and that's fine, but most people who want the latest phones will not pick up an N-Gage - specially when you consider that it has no camera.(the hip thing to have on your phone)
So who's going to pay US$300 for a cheap GBA imitation?

James

8 years ago

Remember when Nokia tried to make the 5510 "cool".

...Good luck with the N-Gage guys

-zem

Brendan

8 years ago

Quote

If you're 20 or 25 years old, it's probably not a good idea to draw a Game Boy out of your pocket on a Friday night in a public space

And it's a good idea to whip out your phone to play Snake?

UltraGekko

8 years ago

Gabe over at Penny Arcade has some interesting things to say about Nokia...

Anonymous

8 years ago

Worst. Comment. Evar.

And Note Bien: $299 US dollars... that's $600 for us Down Under... which I highly doubt ANYONE would pay when they can get a AGB SP for a third of that price with many more and better games...

mrcivic

8 years ago

UltraGekko wrote

Gabe over at Penny Arcade has some interesting things to say about Nokia...