Next-gen N-Gage development ramping up

According to a report at handheld and mobile games news site Pocket Gamer, Nokia recently unveiled its long-awaited next-gen N-Gage at secret briefings in Santa Monica.

Workshops at the two-day event were attended by developers such as Foundation 9 (reportedly signed for first-party games, following on from the efforts of its Backbone team for the first N-Gage) and publisher/developers Sega, Sony Online Entertainment, Square Enix, Capcom, THQ Wireless, Glu Mobile, Digital Chocolate, EA Mobile, and Namco.

Those attending have been reportedly informed how next-gen N-Gage games will be distributed and how publishers can track how their games are sold and shared. The briefings also gave the first detailed look at the N-Gage software development kit which is now rolling out to third-party content producers.

A similar event is being held in Europe next week – Nokia is expected to talk more publically about its plans for the new N-Gage platform during GDC next month.