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April 14 2004 Helsinki, Finland - Today Nokia announced the N-Gage QD Game Deck, an evolution over the original N-Gage Deck. The QD Deck is a sleeker looking, smaller, more gaming oriented unit than the original N-Gage was, and addresses almost every single issue that we had with the first N-Gage!

One of our (and everyone elses) biggest gripes with the original N-Gage was the wasy that you swapped games: you had to turn the unit off, remove the back, remove the battery, remove the game, switch the game, replace the battery, replace the back, turn it back on. A large task compared to Gameboy, the competitor. The QD solves this issue through and external MMC card slot that allows you to switch games externally, WITHOUT turning the system off and going through all the fuss of the current model. Games will also be accessable now through a physical shortcut button on the face of the model, something the original was lacking.

Another improvement is the N-Gage Arena launcher: a software application preinstalled on the QD that allows gamers full access to the N-Gage Arena community directly from their game deck. Existing users will be able to download the launcher in May from www.ngage.com .

The QD also supports advanced smartphone features such as personal information management, XHTML browser, email and the possibility to download and install additional Series 60 applications.

The way phone calls is made is also now improved. Instead of the 'side-talking' / taco against face issue that we faced with the original, the QD's speaker and microphone are now repositioned to make talking on the N-Gage a much more favorable experience.

“After six months on the market with the N-Gage platform, we wanted to expand our device portfolio based on the feedback we’ve received,” said Nokia’s Senior Vice President of Games, Ilkka Raiskinen. “With improved gaming ergonomics, gamers can now start to play games at the push of a button and enjoy the increased responsiveness of the game keys. We also added support for hot-swap MMC and extended the battery life. For phone calls, we reoriented the speaker and microphone to support ‘classic talking’.”

The QD model will be compatible with all old N-Gage games, as well as all future N-Gage games, just as the older model will be.

Ranging in price from €99/$99 with a contract to €199/$199 as an unsubsidized retail price, the N-Gage QD game deck is expected to be available in May 2004 for Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific and in June 2004 for the Americas.

Nokia promises that the QD Deck will make an appearance at E3 this May.

From what we know, this is the N-Gage everyone has been waiting for from the start, and it just may be the kick in the ass Nokia needed to get the N-Gage population up and running at full speed.

You can bet that Gamers Wanted will be keeping a close eye on this new developement and we'll bring you more as it becomes available.