Nokia's N-Gage is on the roll

Nokia has rolled-out N-Gage, its gaming service, (though initially available as FIRST ACCESS for Nokia N81 owners) as it expand into mobile Internet services. With its launch delayed twice last year, N-Gage currently limits its use to those with N81 multimedia phones to get feedback before making it available to a wider audience.

When I updated the firmware of my N95, the N-Gage icon has been included with two demo games (my kids would play) easily draining the battery. I used to have the N-Gage QD Game Deck (gaming phone) which is more a smart phone than game console sans camera--it was a highly entertaining experience/relationship. I've 'outgrown' it though, as I needed a phone that doesn't look like Nintendo's Gameboy, but is multimedia-capable (such as my N95 now).

Will N-Gage stir the mobile gaming space? We'll see when it's on every Nokia phone menu, and gaming is but a click away.