Nokia has announced that it will launch an online gaming service, N-Gage Arena, on October 7, when the N-Gage is scheduled to become available. In addition to the handheld's Bluetooth local wireless support, N-Gage Arena means players will be able to play, share, and compete with a global network of users. The services will include cheats, strategy guides, walk-throughs, and high-score rankings, plus two-player live gaming, the ability to record a game movie to share with other users, and a "shadow" feature that lets players post a character that other players can challenge.
"Mobile online elements form a key strategy in the Nokia N-Gage total games experience," said Ilkka Raiskinen, senior vice president and the chief N-Gager at Nokia Mobile Phones. "The N-Gage Arena will be the place where gamers meet and create virtual communities, share their experiences, find new challenges, and make friends with players all over the world. For the first time, a gamer sitting in a park in London can find another player and shadow race against a player in Los Angeles or even Singapore, who has posted a shadow image of his game character in the N-Gage Arena. The London gamer can in turn post a clip of the game on the site, showing his victory and simultaneously challenge the rest of the game community."
N-Gage Arena will be hosted by Nokia and made available through mobile providers. The content services will be offered free of charge during a trial period, but the service will still count toward users' data traffic, which can mean data fees depending on the mobile provider.
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