Nokia's initial N-Gage release wasn't exactly fantastic. Mediocre versions of Tomb Raider, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Sonic the Hedgehog failed to set the world afire, and it turned out the N-Gage wasn't much of a MP3 player, PDA, or cell phone, besides not having any decent games. The launch was so disasterous that almost everyone had counted Nokia out as yet another company that could compete with Nintendo's Game Boy.

It turns out that Nokia has deeper pockets than expected. Nokia has a new iteration of the N-Gage hardware, slimmer and smaller and more useful, new interface software, a new schtick to sell the system, and, most importantly of all, original games.

To start things off, the N-Gage QD is slimmer and brighter, looking more like the Game Boy Advance than a cell phone. It fits into the hands or pocket nicely, and feels oddly weighty. The buttons are more comfortable, and can actually be used without looking, unlike the original N-Gage. The phone itself is now held with the face against the side of the head, so it looks like a phone instead of looking just plain weird.

Nokia has realized that nobody wanted an N-Gage as a PDA or MP3 player, so the former is scaled back and the latter is gone entirely. Games are pushed to the fore, as the MMC slot for game cards is on the bottom of the unit instead of inside the battery area, and games automatically load when inserted. The MP3 player is gone entirely, although the N-Gage will still support third-party Symbion OS MP3 players.

Along with this saner layout is saner software. Games and phone functions are pushed to the fore, rather than being buried under other, less-used functions. The best part of this interface overhaul is the autolauncher for games; when a game card is inserted into the MMC slot, the game will automatically launch, removing the need to search through menus for the "Play game" option.

The new hardware brings the N-Gage out of the Purgatory of godawful basic design, but games are still the only thing that can make a platform. Luckily, Nokia seems to have realized this, as well. While Pathway to Glory, Pocket Kingdom, and Ashen were the big three titles coming out with the QD's release, Nokia has quite a few notable titles coming to the N-Gage in 2004 and 2005, ranging from N-Gage versions of Driver 3, the next SSX, and King of Fighters to unusual properties like Rifts (based on the infamous pen-and-paper RPG) and an original Elder Scrolls sequel titled Shadowkey.

Pictured from left to right are Pathway to Glory, Pocket Kingdom, and Ashen..

Nokia is heavily promoting their N-Gage Arena service, allowing for online gameplay over GPRS (the data cell network, as opposed to the voice network), as well as impromptu multiplayer over Bluetooth. One of the flagship games for Arena online play is Pathway to Glory, a turn-based strategy game set during in the western European theatre of World War II. The concept would be tired on the PC, but Nokia is publishing it to the N-Gage, and offering a bit of a spin on the formula.

Instead of using the usual I-go-then-you-go formula, combat is built around action points. Action points can be expended for normal moves during one's own turn, but they can also be used to interrupt an opponent's turn. Normally, a turn-based strategy game means lots of waiting for the opponent to finish, but hopefully this will lead to a faster-paced style of combat.

More interesting than the changes to the strategy formula is the multiplayer that Nokia is adding to Pathway. Games can be played using Bluetooth, allowing for impromptu multiplayer (assuming the N-Gage and Pathway both get popular, which isn't a sure thing by any means), but can also be played online on Arena, Nokia's equivalent to Xbox Live. Nokia isn't just talking about overall scores for Axis and Allies, but also persistent battlefields. Damaged buildings, destroyed vehicles, and dead bodies will stay on battlefields from battle to battle. Persistent worlds aren't new, but they are fairly new to strategy games, and certainly new to portable or cell phone games.

Pocket Kingdom: Own The World was one of Sega's announcements at the show, but it's certainly a feather in Nokia's cap. Pocket Kingdom relies entirely upon the N-Gage Arena service, as it is a massively-multiplayer card strategy/RPG. Pocket Kingdom is built around collecting stuff, be it weapons, minions, or castle upgrades. Players use all of these miscellaneous resources to win battles, in order to conquer territory. Conquering territory raises a player's ranking, which unlocks new battlefields and equipment. As with most RPGs, it was hard to get a real feel for Pocket Kingdom on the show floor, but hopefully Gamenikki will have more impressions before its release this fall.

Ashen was Nokia's other big game being published in-house, and it looks to have a lot of potential. Being developed by Torus Games (the developers of Doom for the Game Boy Advance), Ashen aims to be a bit moodier and more suspenseful than the competition. The level on display was a subway terminal and street, all in dark brick and heavy architecture. All of the enemies were vague shadows, but in a good, scary way, instead of a "Wow-that's-a-boring-monster-design" way. Hopefully, Ashen will live up to this potential, as the E3 version wasn't quite the final, and seemed to be fairly limited.

It remains to be seen if the new hardware and new software will get gamers to take the N-Gage seriously after the disasterous launch, but it's clear that Nokia has learned from their earlier mistakes. Hopefully, the N-Gage will benefit from this hard-won experience, now and in the future.