Develop Mobile: 35 games in the works for new N-Gage

In an afternoon session at today’s Develop Mobile Nokia’s new Martin O’Driscoll has revealed that 35 games in the works for the upcoming launch of the new N-Gage Platform – and as many companies have signed up to support the service.

This morning, Digital Chocolate confirmed that it too was making and publishing games for the platform.

O’Driscoll added that the platform will eventually roll out during Q4 this year – later than the originally suggested September timeframe, but still roughly on course.

The new N-Gage is a games delivery and online gaming platform that will run across Nokia’s current N-series phones and future handsets. O’Driscoll suggested that when the service arrives, it will already have a potential installed base of 1m handsets in the UK thanks to strong sales of the N-series like in the territory.

These new details aside, O’Driscoll’s talk was in many respects an N-Gage 101 session, reminding attendees that the new platform is designed for an age of converged devices with iTunes-style sales methods that can be run both via handsets and PCs and by Nokia or other publishers.

"Convergence should be a great opportunity for games," said O’Driscoll, saying N-Gage will help grow the audience for mobile games to consumers who are used to online social experiences already, and adding: "There is definitely an untapped opportunity in mobile for games."