N-Gage reborn?

Earlier this evening we got a special preview about the future of Nokia’s gaming platform. Nokia is canning the release of specific N-Gage cell phones, instead they are adding N-Gage support for all future Nokia cell phones. To coincide with the re-launch of the N-Gage brand they have a couple of new games coming out for the next set of Nokia handsets. First off is “Creatures of the Deep” it’s a handheld fishing game aimed at capturing the causal gaming audience. The game has a simple one button control scheme where you launch your lure and reel in a fish at the same time. While this demo was interesting Creatures of the Deep has something else planned. The developers plan to utilize camera phone technology for casting off and reeling fish in. Nokia in rather enthusiastic about this title. We also spent quite a bit of time playing Habbo Islands. This game vaguely reminded us of Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. Unlike other cell phone games, Habbo Islands require players to spend a fair amount of time with it. It takes two minutes to build one part of a fence and walking is painfully slow. However, Habbo Islands looks pretty good compared to the other cell phone games on the market. We were also treated to a tech demo of Nokia’s Tekken-esque fighting game One. On the new handsets One holds its own graphically with the PSP. They are releasing a new version of One when the N-Gage platform and maybe this time around One will get a little more attention. Check below the jump for photos of the party and the Los Angeles skyline.