Layman Take on Nokia N8 – Part 5 – The New Gaming console

Hi All, so the journey with Layman take on Nokia N8 reached to its fifth part today. Thanks for all the support, you have shown till now. This is what that keeps me going. You can check back again, if you might have missed any of the four parts of the loooong review.

1. Layman take on Nokia N8 – Part 1 – The detailed unboxing
2. Layman take on Nokia N8 – Part 2 – First look over exteriors
3. Layman take on Nokia N8 – Part 3 – Symbian Walkthrough – 1
4. Layman take on Nokia N8 – Part 4 – Symbian Walkthrough – 2

All of the above are pretty detailed in nature, so sure have some snacks and time, once you wish to read them. May be I have left some of the things here and there, but I tried to cover some of the points that might have missed from eyes of other bloggers. This is a layman take as you know it.

Playing engaging big games on mobiles might be yours choice or not, but no one could claim that they haven’t enjoyed the legendary Snake games, which was there on all Old Nokia. Later on some other games also started popping over Nokia and though people started enjoying them too, but J2ME based games were never a big fun, specially without those funky 3D graphics and hardware accelerations, which we were used to live with on our PCs now.

It was the flood of iPhone and iPod touch, which really changed the face of gaming. When Steve says that the world was changed, then the touch experience was first and gaming experience was making a big second to that. We seen Nokia N95 etc, Nokia tried to partner with N-Gaze etc, but touch screen gamming been a slippery side for Nokia till now.

Now, Symbian^3 has started with really big promises on gaming. With handsets like Nokia N8 and Nokia C7  on very reasonable prices, Symbian^3 seems to adding a new dimension to Nokia with excellent gaming potential and market growth, once people started to realize it.

Why one will buy an iPod touch in 16-18k, when you are getting world’s best signals and best navigation experience on just few thousands higher price? And yes .. that would be a phone rather than just a toy at home, so bound to be with you all the time.

Probably, all talking is useless, unless, I show you some real things. Its sad that people buying Nokia N8, will not find any games pre-installed on it and when they will go through Ovi Store, then will think twice before buying any game in price, due to experiences from older Nokia’s. Someone really need to convince them hard that it worth buying, as Nokia users are not used to purchasing apps like Apple ones.

Let me try… I am writing this specially for some of my readers who complained me about unavailability of games on Nokia N8. Yes! its not shipped with game, but there are many out there like you never might have seen yet.

Angry bird on Nokia N8

When you talk about gaming on Nokia N8 and Apple then Angry Bird comes to be a big name. While the price for the full game is around 2.99 Euro or around 180 Rs., you can get hold of lite version with a few levels from Ovi Store to just take the taste.

Butter smooth performance, almost instant startup and multi-touch pinch and zoom, if they would have make use of accelerometer as well, then Angry Bird was trying all the juice of hardware.

Probably what make a game addictive is its being so simple to play with and yet so hard to achieve the tasks which might seems so simple. Not sure about the replay value of the same, but when there are around 105 levels in the paid version and 45 more is coming soon, then sure it’s a fun of weeks. (I have completed only 21 till now).

Warning: This game is highly addictive and lite version may lead you to buying the full one very soon.

Nokia N8 download link from Ovi Store
Download Size: 6.71 mb
Price: 3 Euro

Asphalt 5 on Nokia N8

You should pardon me as I was my camera man myself, so was playing the game by one hand and was shooting with other, so couldn’t played well, but I hope the video is enough to show the potential. You will find it reasonable fast to load and then so smooth to play with. One fact which you will realize while watching the video that even the mono speakers of Nokia N8 are too loud and yet crisp clear.

There are games like NFS, Rally Master, GT Racing etc, but what I liked about Asphalt is, its being played by finger and touch only rather than accelerometer, obviously others will find that part more awesome, specially if you might have got some gaming wheels like Siraj @LoveMyNokia got. Its totally your choice, which kind of racing cars you prefer.

Nokia N8 download link from Ovi Store
Download Size: 144.45 mb
Price: 3 Euro

War Chess on Nokia N8

Remember those early study days, when we were used to enjoy ChessMaster Pro on our computers… war chess is here to bring similar experience for you with cool 3D animations. Don’t go by my missed touches on the screen as I was handling the camera by one hand, the game is butter smooth and so entertaining for the mind.

Nokia N8 download link from Ovi Store
Download Size: 17.2 mb
Price: 1 Euro 

Galaxy On Fire

Its one of the free games on Nokia N8 that make full use of accelerometer and so I was again finding myself little uncomfortable, but that’s a mind blowing experience for sure.

Nokia N8 download link from Ovi Store
Download Size: 16.15 mb
Price: Free

SIMS 3 on Nokia N8

When SIMS arrived to mobile platform then it was the big news of town and why not.. it was one of biggest name in 3D gaming. It’s still and addiction and another life for many. Deploying 3D animations and still keeping everything going so smooth needs a capable hardware and Nokia just did the same.

Nokia N8 download link from Ovi Store
Download Size: 47.89 mb
Price: 3 Euro

Micro Maze on Nokia N8

The game might be new and might not be that big name yet, but it really rocks. Use of accelerometer and rules of physics are so flawless that you really miss the fact that you are having a mobile in your hands. Though with free version there are only 10 levels, but sure you will wish for more. Though 5 Euro price for full 80 levels might seems on a little higher side as of now comparing prices of Angry Bird or Avtaar like games, but its sure a piece of art. Hope soon we will see some reasonable prices on it. Till then you could enjoy the free lite version.

Nokia N8 download link from Ovi Store
Download Size: 1.16 mb
Price: 5 Euro

Real Soccer on Nokia N8

Playing football, while your friend might be driving the car in the side, technology really has changed the way, people might have thought of their mobile few years back. I am yet a nob about the game, but details, graphics and smoothness are sure sure admirable. One must give it a try for sure.

Nokia N8 download link from Ovi Store
Download Size: 47.46 mb
Price: 3 Euro

Hero of Sparta on Nokia N8

Having an ancient battle in your pocket, oh… don’t race up your dirty mind, I am talking about Hero of Sparta here. Swords, magic and a price fighting its way out in kingdom, sounds interesting… watch it.. its even more.

Nokia N8 download link from Ovi Store
Download Size: 39.66 mb
Price: 3 Euro

Cricket T20 Fever on Nokia N8

It was that I loved most in my Nokia N82, Nokia E72 or Nokia E52. It was kind of default to me installing Gravity, Google Maps and T20 fever on each new mobile I get. I liked the non-touch version more, when I tried its lite version on Nokia 5800. But with Nokia N8, the story was entirely different. The graphics were too amazing and the experience was so so real. Suggestions that you missed the ball.. checking if a ball was really a no ball etc and of course the noise of viewers. Perfect.

Nokia N8 download link from Ovi Store
Download size: 22.62 mb
Price: 1 Euro

When it comes to gaming on Symbian^3, then its a win for all the side.

1. Consumers They are getting full value of money as they are carrying only one device for all, which can do the best as phone as camera and even gaming. They are so occupied with it all the time and saving money on each of the genre. The same phone has value for each member of your family and with its robust build, you wont mind giving it in hands of your kids.
2. Symbian They are showing Symbian’s potential via these games that what can you do with your coding skills. Attracting more and more developers is probably the first and most important thing that Nokia and Symbian foundation might be looking for.
3. Game developers The biggest question for Symbian been that why should a developers spend his hours with C++ to design a game on Symbian when he has to fiddle with more than half a dozen OS platforms of different capabilities. S60 itself had many variant and all running on different capability hardware. With arrival of Qt, Symbian^3 and almost equal base hardware, Nokia seems to hit the nail finally, which Apple was enjoying till now.

For the developers writing games for Apple, a challenge was to reach masses, which they were able to do with iPod touch only as iPhone was sure out of reach for many (talking about Asia). iPod was still a thing of home as no one wishes to carry two devices with him. Symbian^3 and homogeneous hardware platform is like Nokia moving a step towards them and so are they coming back with so many amazing games.

What I love more about Nokia N8 gaming is the fact of having convenience of USB on the GO feature. It’s so easy for one to use their DSL connections to download these hundreds of MB for games and then easily transfer into their Nokia N8.

If you were thinking that Gaming is for only those rich lad.. then your Nokia is back again. This time it is Nokia: Connecting People to Gaming

Nitish Kumar