obstacles can kill

Cellular geeks beware! That N-Gage game purchase may end up resulting in frustration when you move on to your next toy. As reported by All About N-Gage and re-broadcasted by the Symbian Guru himself, looks like your N-Gage purchases are limited to the handset that they are purchased on. Yeah, I wish I was kidding. Could this be the first in a series of mistakes destined to bring the platform to the same demise as it’s hardware predecessor? Nokia, please hear our cries and make some modifications to this ridiculous policy. There are plenty of solutions that could satisfy the end users and still protect Nokia’s property. Click on for more…

Let me give you a scenario. Let’s just say that you are currently using a Nokia N81 and are addicted to your N-Gage game play. However, that N96 has been drawing you in closer and closer as it’s release draws near. Release day comes, you have been camping outside the Nokia flagship store for three days living off of Ramen Noodles and Kool-Aid “To-Go” packets, and you finally have your new precious in your hands. You take it home, drool over it’s magnificent glory, fire up that N-Gage client, and input your gamer ID. Suddenly, you are struck with disappointment when you realize that to continue your adventures in System Rush, you either need to re-purchase the game or shelve the N96 and fire back up the N81 temporarily. This doesn’t make any sense to me. Nokia clearly knows that many of their customers “upgrade” their devices when new ones are released. I, for one, plan on picking up an N78 at some point (and an N96 when/if an American 3G variant is released) and now that this little “policy” has been discovered, I am becoming reluctant to actually purchasing any N-Gage games on my current N95.

This could be resolved very simply in multiple ways. Here are a few:

1. Take a lesson from other software developers: Set up a “transfer license” client on your website. For example, I have a license for IM+ by Shape Services and can easily go to their website whenever I’d like and enter my registration code in order to reset it and allow me to re-register it on a new device. I have done this multiple times with 100% success. A system like this will prevent people from attempting to share their registration code because they will know that once someone else uses theirs, their access will be cut off. Considering that just about every N-Gage game has online multiplayer functionality, the network connection will allow for the code validation. Doing this will allow the end user to have the freedom to play their game on any N-Gage compatible device that they own and/or are going to own.
2. As also suggested by Symbian Guru, tie the game licenses to your N-Gage Gamer ID. This way when we purchase a new device, we can log-in, update our library, and POOF… our games are back. And by restricting log-in to just one handset, players won’t be tempted to try and share their username/password because if someone else tries to log-in, it will fail. This kind of goes back to idea #1. Nokia should have an area on the N-Gage site where we can update our IMEI to match our currently used handset.
3. PC Suite Transfer. Incorporate a client into Nokia PC Suite (or just add it to the device switch area) that will transfer your games for you. Encryption can be used during the process so that the files can not be sent to other computers. Since both handsets will need to be physically connected to the computer to perform the transfer one after the other, the risk of fraud would be a minimum.
4. Even though I wouldn’t be happy with this method, Nokia could possibly allow the purchase of “transfer credits” or at least offer two licensing methods at time of purchase (one for single handset and one that is transferable). This would be seen as a greedy and unfair method but at least it would give SOME options to transfer your games.

Please Nokia, please make a change in this policy. With the N-Gage platform finally making a glorious comeback, none of us want to see it meet it’s demise due to such restrictions. If users can’t transfer their licenses, some may be hesitant to invest in a game that they will not be able to take with them as long as they want. Also, the risk of game piracy and cracking will be very high due to user frustration. I don’t condone pirating of games but those who take part in such acts may feel justified in their actions. I don’t know what Nokia’s reason is for this whole policy but it sure won’t increase their revenue from N-Gage. If anything, it will decrease it.

Nokia, are you listening?

Eric :: May.22.2008 :: Mobile Devices, N-Gage, Nokia, Software, Symbian s60 :: 2 Comments »

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