Today (March 30, 2011) I received what may be the final N-Gage-related email ever sent by Nokia.

In the email, Nokia reminds us that its N-Gage Store has been shut down since January 1, 2011, and that March 31, 2011, will be the last day you can activate your games through the store.

It seems like Nokia has finally gotten around to admitting announcing that its mobile phone-handheld gaming platform and service, N-Gage, is dead. Nokia is consolidating all future mobile apps into the Ovi store.

Nokia is essentially forgetting about the N-Gage name, allowing the site, games and N-Gage application to operate on the hardware that will currently run it but not supporting it on any new devices or developing any more games for it. Instead, the company is putting its focus into the Ovi Store and trying to compete with Apple’s App Store. Along those lines, Nokia announced that 200,000 people are signing up for Ovi each day (for 140 million worldwide users) and 2.3 million Ovi apps are being downloaded each day.

Title: Star Wars: The force Unleashed MobilePrice: $13.49 (N-gage pricing: 1 Day for $2.99, 7 Days for $6.99, Full Version for $13.49)System(s): Mobile (includes *N-Gage, iPhone, iPod Touch)Release Date: September 16, 2008Publisher (Developer): THQ Wireless (Universomo)ESRB Rating: Not RatedPros: Really nice graphics, classic Star Wars sound effects and innovative CellWeaver control scheme.Cons: Physical design of device’s buttons truly effects the enjoyment and playability. Unskipable cutscenes, Midi soundtrack is instead of MP3. No lightsaber slashing action. Very short.Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb down; 78/100; C+; * * 1/2 out of five.

For the Mobile version of this much-publicized Star Wars game, the developers took a cue from the DS release and created a unique control scheme based on the physical nature of the system. All the smartphone incarnations of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Mobile rely on the phone’s number pad to tap out patterns to activate various Force powers. On the iPhone and iPod Touch, you use the touchscreen to draw similar patterns.

It’s innovative and sometimes fun but not quite the action-filled, lightsaber slashing game you’d expect from the Star Wars franchise.

Click through for the full review…

Title: Mile High PinballPrice: $9.49 ($2.99 for 1 day, $6.99 for 7 days)System(s): N-GageRelease Date: May 5, 2008Publisher (Developer): Nokia (Ideaworks3D)ESRB Rating: “Everyone”Pros: Nearly endless pinball action. Great sound effects and pretty decent bumper action. Good pinball-on-the-go game.Cons: Some boards feel too congested while others have too few but annoying features. Ranked game only as good as your wireless connection.Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 84/100; B; * * * out of five.

Developed by Ideaworks3D, Mile High Pinball takes that idea to a new extreme offering a tall stack of boards for wannabe wizards to conquer with their thumbs and often, but not always, overcoming the obstacles of a cell phone screen.

Click through for the full review…

It seems like a videogame system just hasn’t made it, until it receives its first pet simulation. The latest incarnation of the N-gage has just received its first pet sim, Dogz, thanks to Gameloft. The game is rated for ages 3+ (like a kid would own an N-gage), is a small 1MB download and even has a free trial option. It’s only available in the UK though, and is available for £1.50 for one day, £4 for a week and £6 for unlimited use.

Dogz, like Nintendogs from Nintendo and Petz: Dogz from Ubisoft, lets you raise virtual puppies. There are three different breeds of dogs to pick from, and based on screenshots the breeds appear to be a lab, jack russel and shiba inu. There are also nine different places to explore with your dog and eight mini-games to play. You can also see how your dog ranks compared to other dogs online…

The Escapist has announced that it will be holding the 2008 GamerLympics this August. There will be over 20 events taking place over a two week period from August 8-22, 2008. Some of the highlights include Kongregate.com Game matchups taking place each day of the competition, contests, and a “King of the Hill” Reset Generation Nokia N-Gage event.

The first 2008 GamerLympic events begin on August 8, 2008, with a photo contest, a gamer trivia game and Kongregate Game 1. Events will then resume on August 11 and run until the 15, with more Kongregate Games, movie trivia, a haiku contest, a comic contest and voting on the photo contest entries. The last stretch starts August 18 and ends on the 22nd, with comic contest voting, haiku contest voting, Kongregate Games, Reset Gen event and TV trivia all taking place the final week.

While the ill-fated N-Gage phone/handheld gaming device quietly disappeared into the night, Nokia has brought back the name as a mobile gaming service. While gamers have every right to be skeptical, it looks as though the service will have at least one big name title behind it.

N-Gage will be home to Japanese publisher Konami’s mobile titles including the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Mobile. The game takes place between the first two Metal Gear Solid titles, and features some surprisingly good 3D visuals and what look like classic…

Nokia has rolled out the final version of the N-Gage service available on the N-Gage website. It can be downloaded using a PC or straight onto a compatible Nokia cellphone.

The handsets that are currently compatible with the N-Gage application include Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8GB, Nokia N82, Nokia N95, and Nokia N95 8GB. Nokia will continue to add more handsets to the list.

The N-Gage interface is…

Nokia’s new N-Gage service has been marred by several delays and, in December 2007, the company formally pushed the launch of the service to the first half of 2008. Now with a pre-launch version, N-Gage First Access, being made available to N81 users through the official N-Gage website, the full version can’t be far off. And just before the launch of the service, the ongoing Game Developers Conference proved to be a great platform for the cellphone maker to shed more light on N-Gage’s new avatar as a standard gaming service for Nokia cellphone which will allow users to download and…

The Nokia N-Gage, the dedicated gaming mobile phone, is lost to history and most see it as a failed wedding of a phone and a gaming device. Meanwhile, Nokia has moved on and is set to launch a new mobile gaming platform with the same name, N-Gage. Before this came about, there were rumors of more »