Next-Gen N-Gage Gets Cracked Open

Over the past few days rumours have been flying around the net that N-Gage 2.0 (Next-Gen N-Gage) has been cracked wide open, and these rumours turned out to be true.

Not only have a majority of games, such as Aspahlt, Snakes, Creatures Of The Deep & Brain Challenge, have been cracked - but the n-gage application has also been cracked, making the application work on other phones that arent even nokia branded.

In some ways seeing the application being used on non-n-series related phones is a good way (as they could buy games - in other words they could support the n-gage service), however they arent. The people using the cracked n-gage application are then downloading & installing illegal cracked n-gage games so they arent supporting the service.

Some pirateers might be enjoying this news (as people were moaning that the prices of the games were high as the games werent very good quality) - however in order to use these illegal games you would need to install another 3rd party application onto your phone - which would the run risk of your phone being infected from virus's and other maclicious software.

Team Arena (The N-Gage Arena Mods & admins) & Nokia are already aware of the situation and are already taking the right course of action (Congested posted this message regarding the situation on the pirated games).

Siren - PS3 Demo on Japanese PSN

Sire was originally released on the PS2, and was developered by sony's japan studio - it was kind of Sony's own attempt at a Silent Hill, crossbread with Resident Evil as your mostly alone, apart from a few other survivors, in an old japanese town and zombies (or some other form of mutated human) is trying to kill you.

Well Siren is back and this time its coming out for the PS3, and this time it will stay a PS3 Exclusive. Last week a Debut Trailer was released on the UK and USA PSN Store and it gave the game a good impression, however after sitting down and spending 30 minutes with the demo (that i downloaded from the Japanese PSN Store) i didnt seem that impressed.

On the japanese shores Siren 2, will be called "Siren: New Translation", in the USA and UK, Siren 2 will be called "Siren: Blood Curse" - they are both the same game, but different titles.

The Demo that i downloaded from the Japanese PSN Store was only 5540MB and the voicecast was in english, but all the text was in japanese - which is a rather interesting combination. The game starts off with your character (no idea what hes called) On a cliff walkway and from what i call tell his friends (or zombies) pushed him off ttop and he laneded here, so now your mission is to friend the rest of the gang.

The game is so dark its hard to tell where you need to go, but luckily you have a flash-light which you will use alot, controls are easy enough - you use analog sticks to move around, square to punch, x to run, circle to crouch, R2 for first person mode etc. the only way sixaxis is used is when you are pushed down , here you have to shake the controller violently to get back up (which in my opinion takes too long).

Maybe its because of the japanese text, or maybe its because its difficulty to see what your doing or where your going but the game didn't give me any enjoyment or "scariness" like silent hill or resident evil titles did back in their day, but for fans of siren it should be good enough, im hoping a full english demo will be released shortly that way i can see if i like it any better as not understanding japanese text boggles the mind, espically all the tutorials that popped up telling you to press a button.

Nokia Software Updater Comaptiblity With Vista

Yesterday i made a blog post stating that you needed the latest N95 Firmware (V20) to play N-Gage Games, and in order to do that you need to update it via Nokia Software Updater, however the program would not run in vista.

Well ive found a little "trick" to get the program to run and work perfectly fine windows vista.

Windows Vista comes with a "compatiblity mode", this is where if the program you want to use doesn't work in vista (in general) this mode switches it to Windows XP Service Pack 2 - where the program should run fine.

This "compatible mode" should not be used all the time as it can cause conflicts with other programs, however for a program that is not used often this mode can be useful.

Heres a step by step guide on how to get Nokia Software Updater working in Windows Vista:

1) Download And Install Nokia Software Updater (from this website).
2) The Program automically opens and should give you the error, just click OK and close the program.
3) Go To The Program (Start - All Programs - Nokia Software Updater) and right click the program and click on properties (as shown in this picture).
4) Click on the "compatiblity tab", then tick the compatiblity mode and select "Windows XP Service Pack 2" (as shown in this picture).
5) Click OK and run the program as normal.

After doing all this the program does run in Vista - it detects the phone and downloads the update - it also installs the firmware, HOWEVER - during my firmware update on my N95 the nokia detect that is used to detect the phone via USB Failed and stopped working correctly,and closed, but the program was still running and still staying my phone is being update after waiting for 10 minutes my phone switched off, i unplugged the USB cable and turned my phone on and it worked, but i was still running the old V12 Firmware. But the program was still saying it was updating the phone.

So in general, the program does run HOWEVER there is a high chance of it crashing and not updating your phone or bricking your phone and making it unusable. This is due to the program not being supported on Windows Vista Operating Systems , so its better to use this program on a standard windows xp machine or just wait until the software works with vista machines.

N-Gage On N95 Requries **Firmware** Update

Many months before N-Gage (and even before First Access) i made a post regarding whether or not you need to have the latest Nokia Firmware for your phone for the N-Gage Application and its games to be used. The Answer i got was NO, however the true answer is YES.

Before i bought an N81 8GB i got an N95 on Contract with 02 UK and as most mobile/cellular phone users know getting a phone on a branded network usually means you can not update with standard nokia firmware, you have to use the customised service providers - and they usually take a long time to update.

According To The N-Gage Website (when downloading the N-Gage Application) you need to have V20.0.015 or Higher for the N-Gage Application and its Games to work properly on the N95, this is due to the ram and on the higher firmware less ram is used than on the older one, i still managed to download an install the n-gage application, it worked fine until i started a game (in this case Mile High Pinball), which brought me an OUT OF MEMORY error, even though nothing (memory-wise) is installed on the phone.


So I Decided to update my phones firmware, my Current N95 Firmware is V12.0.013 and according to the nokia firmware checker website the latest firmware is V20.0.015 - So if i updated my phone the N-Gage Application and the games should work fine.

The Easiest way of updating a phone is by using the NOKIA SOFTWARE UPDATER, if you haven't heard of it, its a small program (well about 30mb in size) that downloads and installs the latest firmware on your phone automatically.

All you have to do is download the application, install it, then connect your phone via USB and select PC SUITE, once youve done this open up the program and select START - it will automatically detect your phones make and model and then search for any firmware updates - once found it will start to download and install it.

Its a great tool, except one problem, it does not work on Windows Vista. Nokia PC Suite, and Nokia Video Manager both work on Vista fine, yet one of the most important (and most used in my case) program does not work on Windows Vista - which is now the KEY OS (Operating System) you get when buying a new computer.

So the overall point of this? - Well i was initially going to do a comparison between an N95 and an N81 as at the moment they are the TWO key gaming N-Gage Gaming phones on the market, but since i could not play the games on my N95 i could not do the comparison, but then this leads me onto my summary.

For you (the customer) to play N-Gage games on your Branded Nokia N95 you have got to have a very lucky service provider who has given you V20 firmware or if the v20 firmware is available for download via Nokia Software market youve got to have Windows XP (or lower) to be able to install it.

Another thing to mention is that if none of these work (apart from having XP or lower) you can try "unbranding" your phone and installing the nokia firmware then "re-branding" your phone - its a long and complex process, but it does work and can be done - but its something im not going to try as it could damage your phone.

So the summary is this - if you havent got the latest firmware on your N95, you can not play the majority of N-Gage games.

N-Gage Classic Games Montage Video

This "Montage" Video is a video showing off the popular, as well as the graphically challenged mobile n-gage games, this video was made just before payload was released onto the original n-gage device and features many of the newer titles that people didn't get to see or play on.

Games included in this video are Pathway To Glory, Pathway To Glory: Ikusa Islands, Worms World Party, Payload, SSX: Out Of Bounds, WWF: Aftershock and a few other titles.

Its definately worth a watch, espically for old n-gagers to catch up on memories and new ones to see what they "could have" been playing on when they decided to get the latest phone.

The Music used in this video is taken from pathway to glory, 6 tracks from the original soundtrack was used, thrown together and edited to create this video - so it did take a fair amount of effort to make - so i hope you guys enjoy it.

Guitar Hero Rocking Onto DS June 13th!

With ROCK BAND just released onto Xbox 360 and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith heading its way to XBox 360, Wii and PS3, Activision have yet announced another Guitar Hero game, this time its heading out onto Nintendo's little DS.

Guitar Hero: On Tour was revealed last month, however a box-art image (for UK) is now available, a release date of June 13th (20 Days time) has been set and an image of what the Guitar Adaptor for the DS will look like have all splashed out onto the internet.

Also a few details about the game have been revealed aswell.

Guitar Hero: On Tour will feature over 25 Tracks, some of which are exclusive to the DS Version, but other tracks include:

*Do What You Want – OK Go

*All the Small Things – Blink-182

*Spiderwebs – No Doubt

*Are you Gonna Be My Girl – Jet

*We’re Not Gonna Take It – Twisted Sister

Gameplay features will also include Single Player and CO-OP Modes, aswell as head 2 head battles which all use local wireless play. No Online modes have been confirmed though.

The Guitar Adaptor for the DS uses the GBA Slot, and like the "Guitar Controllers" has the 5 buttons which need to be pressed when the note on screen is shown, while at the same time you use your stylus to strum the guitar on the touch screen, Seems rather complicated but it should be fun.

The only problem that im hoping will be fixed is music quality, DS games dont intend to have great music and usually sound like midi-tones, but if the game has true sound quality (so much that you can enjoy the music) it will be a good game.

Guitar Hero: On Tour has an expected release date of june 13th (in europe), an ERP (Estimated Retail Price) of £44.99 has also been given - the price is high because you get the Guitar Adaptor with it.

Haze - 1st PS3 Game In UK To Be DUAL SHOCK 3 Compatible

HAZE, one of the most anticipated PS3 Games (apart from MGS4 and GTA4) is about to arrive on the PS3 and on the back of the box it states (next to SIXAXIS MOTION SENSOR COMPATIBLE logo) that the game is DUAL SHOCK 3 Compatible.

This means that HAZE is the 1st OFFICIAL Game, in the UK, to list it on the box.

Numerous other people have also stated that Grand Theft Auto 4 and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue also both support DUAL SHOCK 3, yet they do not have it listed on the back of the box.

Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4, is also supposed to be DUAL SHOCK 3 Compatible - as Hideo Kojima once said that if DUAL SHOCK 3 Did arrive on the PS3 before MGS4 was released then he would include it.

This is alo the reason why their is a giant circle around snake in the game, as when this vibrates an enemey is getting closer,but if he did decided to include the rumble feature, the controller itself will vibrate instead of the cricle. However Hideo Kojima might still have left this in the game incase anyone without a dual shock 3 controller wants to play the game.

HAZE is released tomorrow (23rd May 2008) in Europe within an ERP of £49.99, however most stores will sell it for £39.99. A Single Player (and 4-Player Online) Demo is also available for download from the PSN.

Snakes Subsonic Slithers Onto N-Gage

Its been a long time since the original Snake game arrived on Nokia phones, the first snake game i remember playing on was on the Nokia 3310, but its been on phones before that and ever since then the game has been evolving.

When the N-Gage QD Launched "SNAKES" a full 3D Version and online leaderboards was launched, the same game was then ported onto N95,N93 and N73 with no online play, but provided great fun with 36 Levels.

Now 2 years later from when the original SNAKES was released SNAKES SUBSONIC has arrived onto the N-Gage 2.0 Platform, the game features the same "bright, puzzle styled" graphics but now introduces enimies and power ups - as well as some groovy upbeat music.

The object of the game is to get your "evolve bar" empty, and this is done by collecting Green and Blue diamonds, collecting them in combos will give you extra combo points and destroying enimies with rockets will give you even more points. The new SNAKES SUBSONIC features sharp and crisp graphics and online "score racing", basically the player that reaches the target score first WINS! - which is similar to what older users played in tournaments with the old N-Gage gamedeck.

The game is great and will definately get you hooked and its rather cheap, you can buy the full game for £6, a 7 day pass will cost £4 and a 1 day pass will cost you £1.50 - it might be a short game, but it has lots of replay value.

Snakes Subsonic is now available to download from the n-gage application or the n-gage store on the website.

Rock Band Released On Xbox 360 Friday - Downloadable Content Now Available!

After a rather long wait, Rock Band will finally be released in the UK on the Xbox 360 on Friday 23rd May (PS2 and PS3 Owners will have to wait till the end of summer) and it will come with a hefty price tag of £180 (if you want the full package).

Even though the game is not released till Friday the complete back catalogue of tracks (including ast weeks releases on the USA Servers) is now available for download on the UK Servers, So thats over 119 Tracks in addition to the 60 thats already on the disc itself.

Each individual track costs 160 Microsoft Points, Track Packs cost 440 or 660 Microsoft Points (Depending on how many tracks are in that pack) and a full album is available for 1,200 Microsoft Points. Their is a wide range of music to choose from aswell, such as bands like Fall Out Boy, Paramore, 30 Seconds To Mars, Metallica, Queens Of The Stone Age - so their really is a song for everyone in this game!

Rock Band is released this Friday (23rd May) in the UK , the game itself has an ERP of £49.99 (most stores will sell it for £39.99), The Bundle In A Box (Drum Kit, Microphone and Guitar) will cost £129.99 or you can buy the drum kit on its own for £69.99 or the guitar on its own for £59.99 - either way its going to be expensive, but alot of fun!

Konami Joins Up With N-Gage - MGS: Mobile 1st Title Announced

In A Recent Announcement by Konami & Nokia, Konami are now planning on releasing games onto the N-Gage Platform, the first title that has been confirmed is the highly sucessful "METAL GEAR SOLID Mobile". Which as far as im aware of hasn't been played on any other phone except the Special 20th Anniversary Metal Gear Solid Phone, which Hideo Kojima showed off at the anniversary event last year in japan.

No other titles have been announced however Konami do have a STRONG list of Triple A titles, such as the awesome Silent Hill series, which has already had a portable outing on the PSP with Silent Hill Origns, Not only that Konami have the rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Card games, which are ever so popular on the DS and GBA, so who knows in the future whe could be "dueling" over the N-Gage Arena - which for some users (myself included) was a great dream waiting to come true.

The official statement released by Nokia regarding Konami joining the N-Gage gaming family can be seen here.

Metal Gear Solid has always been a HUGE title, so bringing it to the N-Gage platform is a big surprise and will most likely drag alot of new users in - espically if its the original PS1 Title remixed for a portable experience, as this could prove to be better than Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops on the PSP - and probably ALOT Cheaper.

Wiiware Now Available On Wii

Wii-Ware, The new download scheme from Nintendo is now officially available on your Nintendo Wiis's. Wii-Ware is another new games-download service where you can try and buy new games released from small development teams (or even big ones) - all titles will be fresh and new (unless they are re-makes of classics).

The reason Nintendo did this was to give small gaming companies (that make low-budget titles on PS2/DS) and even smaller more new gaming companies to make games for the wii and to get well known, also it gives them a way of trying out new gaming ideas without spending big money.

I Myself can see alot of interesting titles popping up and their will definately be a game for everyone, in away i guess this Wii-Ware is a response to Microsofts XNA Project on Xbox Live.

Dragonball Z: Burst Limit Demo Now Available On USA PSN

Last Year ATARI / Bandai Namco Games annoucned that a new "NEXT-GEN" Dragonball Z Game would be coming out for the PS3 and XBOX 360 in 2008, a few months later a japanese trailer was revealed shwoing that the game will go up to the CELL GAMES SAGA with a release date of June 2008. After several months another japanese trailer was released, and a few weeks later a USA trailer was released with a USA Release date, now upon release of the demo on the USA PSN Store a UK Release date has been announced aswell.

So the demo is now available for download (478MB) from the USA PS3 Store and you are given 2 fights from the saiyan saga to choose from, which are GOKU vs Raditz and YAMCHA vs SAIBERMEN (4 of them). The Graphics Are Crisp and clear and the gameplay of the game is awesome! - even the in-fight cutscene sequences make the game more enjoyable and action packed.

The final version of DBZ:Burst Limit will feature over 32 characters and should go all the way up to the CELL GAMES SAGA, however thats all i know, as it could go up even further (as the copyright logos in the game suggest dragonball and dragonball gt), which leads me to think the game will include everything from DBZ and a few extra characters from dragonball and dragonball GT.

Either way the demo that is available on the USA PS3 Store (haven't checked the american xbox live servers - but it could also be available for download there) gies a good impression on what the final product will be like, not only that their is supposed to be online modes aswell, so its Definately a game worth buying and i can't wait for its release in june - i just hope it doesn't get delayed.

Blogging On The Move

Over the past week i have been on holiday in blackpool, in a caravan i might add, hence the reason why i havent posted anything on my blog in the past week.

This put aside i will be putting up some interesting pictures of blackpool (espically my arcade high-scores) and another n-gage video to put up on youtube.

The reason im posting now, is mainly to let people know where ive been - and that at this moment (when i first posted this message) im sat in a car, on a motorway on the M61 (Leeds) - yes i have bought a 3 Mobile Broadband adaptor.

I Bought my Pay As You Go 3 USB Mobile Broadband Adaptor from Currys for £49.99, then topped it up with 3GB Usage for £15, rather reasonable compared to what they used to be. I Get 3GB Usage allowance which lasts for 30 days from the date i activate the voucher, however if you go over you are charged for the extra usage (£1 per mb apparently).

The coverage in my local town is not that great, however while on holiday in blackpool ive had great 3G / HDSPA coverage - i could download files, chat on msn and even play Gears Of War online against other people with very little lag. Fair enough this is only one location, but according to the 3 Coverage website the mobile broadband is supposed to have some great coveration - this i can assure as ive been using the mobile broadband device on the motorway and i have not disconnected once.

so to sum up, if your always on the move - or always off on holiday (only in UK), and you want to take the internet with you, then grab one of these 3 Mobile Broadband Adaptors, as they are cheap and extremely easy to use. However if you are wanting to use these as your main internet then do not bother as it will not always work as strong as a normal internet connection.

The 3 USB Broadband Modems are currently £49.99 (on Pay As You Go) and top-ups are available from £10 (£10 = 1GB, £15 = 3GB, £25 = 7GB) - Monthly contract options are also available from 3.

Knock Off 360 Media Remote From China

Buying an item off eBay is an adventure in its own right - you search high and low for it, and when you do find it - you look for it cheaper, then once you've payed you've got to wait a few dats for it to arrive.

Well i was in need of a DVD Media Remote for my 2nd Xbox 360, as i mainly watch DVD's on it and turning the controller on is too much hassle, and being a cheap-tight-arse guy that i am i decided to look on eBay for one.

The retail price for an official Xbox 360 Media Remote is £19.99, and 3rd party remotes like swordfish or 4gamers is £14.99, however i was looking for something cheaper and under £10.

I Managed to find what i was looking for and what i got was this "knock-off" of the original Mini Xbox 360 Media Remote, these were the remotes that were bundled in with the original xbox 360 pro consoles when they were first released in the UK and USA, well now china are packaging them up, in an Xbox 360 look alike bubble pack and selling them for around £8 on ebay.

So of-course i bought one and they look identical to the official one, except they feel cheap, plastic and very light - BUT the good point is, is that it works and does its job very well, so no complaints from me, yet i do find it rather amusing that they are forging anything and everything to earn some cash - but then again dont we all.

The only bad point about these remotes from hong kong is that they do not come with any instructions what so ever, so i hadnt a clue how to attach it to my 360 so i could use it - i ended up just pressing buttons on the remote and changing the settings on 360 to ALL CHANNELS before it finally worked - nothing too serious, but rather amusing.

Mile High Pinball Is Out!

An Old N-Gage Classic has now finally been re-released onto the new N-Gage platform, like Nokia announced it came out on 5th May (USA-Time), but early mourning 6th May for most other people.

The new Mile High Pinball consists of a few updated features, as well as better online support - yes you can now face off head 2 head in pinball matches, either for the highest alltitude or for the highest score in a set amount of time, so no need to create a new ball and upload it like in the old MHP (Mile High Pinball) N-Gage Arena tournaments.

The Graphics are great, and for once itsn't a standard java game port, but a more experienced upgraded port. The game is about 14mb to download and will take about 3 minutes to download an install over WLAN, also the game only costs £8, so its one of the higher priced titles but there is ALOT of fun and replay value to be had.

The First Access Survery Activation codes are being prepaird as we speak and should be given out next monday, its not confirmed but thats what people are guessing. Head over to the N-Gage Arena or N-Gage Application your device to download and purchase the game today!

Reset Generation Pictures Released

After Last Nights annoucment of Reset Generation (formly known as Project White Rock, the new flagship title for the N-Gage Platform) a few pictures of the games characters and some in-game pictures were released, so now Redlynx and Nokia's most secret game is no longer a secret, but what do people thing of the game?

The game itself seems to be a puzzle / stratergy game - stratergy is one of Redlynx strong points, they have shown this with previous n-gage titles such as Pathway To Glory and High Seize, but a puzzle stratergy game is alot different and to be honest pritty different.


The pictures are already up around mobile gaming related websites such as All About N-Gage and Gizmondo, and even the n-gage arena forums and alot of people already have their own views about the game, and its definately a mixed bag - some users are interested, some dislike the way it looks - however what it all comes down to is the gameplay - is fun and enjoyable to play?, is it simple? and more importantly - does it have online play? - well we don't exactly know the answers but over the following months n-gagers will be following this game VERY closely.

Fore more information and even more pictures regarding Reset Generation click here , and while your at it, check out the Reset Generation Forum on the N-Gage Arena here.

N-Gage History Music Video

" In 2003 Nokia released the greatest mobile gaming device in the world, and this is its tribute." They were the words i used to start off my N-Gage History & Tribute music video, and now that N-Gage 2.0 has arrived and in full, but slow sing, its about time to show off the music video again (as i first showed it off just after payload was released).

The Music Video itself features clips, pictures, website footage and games from the original N-Gage World and is a really good look at how much has changed the website and its users have changed, if your an old n-gage user than this should bring back some memories, but if your a new user curious about how it all started then enjoy the video.

Another N-Gage user dogeymon, remixed my video a few monthers later with his own tune, you can watch his version here.

Project White Rock Becomes Reset Generation

This is the poster that has been boggling the midns of N-Gage Users and developers alike, the code name: Project White Rock, a game that is supposed to be like none other, whats it like?, whats the story? no-one knows.

But what we do know, is that the name has changed to Reset Generation, whether or not this is another code name for the upcoming game, we dont know, but its being developed by the team that brought us Pathway To Glory and High Seize (basically its the N-Gage Version of EPIC Games) as they also make the best games.

Most people are assuming its going to be some form of stratergy games, as Redlynx are best known for making THE best mobile stratergy games, but that isnt clear either.

The only things that are clear is that last night in san franciso there were annoucments, and more rumours regarding the game, but no-one is sharing any details at the minute, well not until the right moment anyway, we also know the game will involve PC Gaming, aswell as N-Gage Gaming, but this is nothing more than we already know, so yet again we are going to have to wait.

The only good thing we should know is that Ikona will update the N-Gage blog soon with updates on Reset Generation, but i hope with all this waiting and secrets, that its going to be a game that everyone will enjoy.