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'Sega Rally' Review
by Brett

FS: WoW Burning Crusade CE - Never Opened by EdgeCrusher at 2:03am
The Phantom Comic by EdgeCrusher at 2:02am
Banjo Kazooie 3 Gameplay Video by EdgeCrusher at 2:00am
NEWS [ Yellow, Emerald, Crystal now Platinum ] by EdgeCrusher at 1:58am
PS3 or 360 by Fleeek at 1:32am
Late Podcast by Fleeek at 1:28am
Your latest purchase by Fleeek at 1:25am
NEWS [ Lucky number 5 ] by Fleeek at 1:24am
I'm so Proud by Fleeek at 1:19am
Fire Emblem by SniperXtreme at 1:19am
I hate myself. by Fleeek at 1:18am
English Literacy in Aus by Fleeek at 1:14am
PODCAST [ Yahtzee joins to talk GH4, SSBB, and out of control kids ] by Fleeek at 12:58am
Help Aussie kids learn! by Fleeek at 12:51am
Podcasts by Fleeek at 12:45am

NDS

22 May

PS3

22 May

WII

22 May

NDS

22 May

PC

22 May

PS2

23 May

X360

23 May

PS3

23 May

WII

23 May

NDS

23 May

PC

23 May

PS2

23 May

The Fridge Door - Episode 1

Fool Me Once, Shame on You. Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me.

Recently I went to Darwin. It was a ripper of a trip but both fortunately and unfortunately it was in March which is during the wet season which is, well, wet. Very wet in fact. Having tropical cyclone George just off the coast of WA pushing a boatload of precipitation our way didn’t help things either. The thing is when you’re out drinking beers and sampling Darwin’s rather enjoyable nightlife, monsoonal rain becomes a secondary worry therefore you end up completely soaked. Which adds the fun of the whole thing and because it’s Darwin, there’s no such thing as cold. Especially to a Victorian like myself. Because of this whole wet/warm/beer thing, going for a swim really isn’t much of a worry. You’re wet already, you’re not cold and the beer is telling you that the fountain out the front of the Holiday Inn is an excellent place to go all Thorpedo. It’s all rather exciting. I found it so exciting that I forgot to remove my mobile phone from my pocket prior to taking the plunge. This is apparently very bad for the wellbeing of mobile telephones.

So I’ve been in a bit of a predicament. My phone, a rather excellent Nokia 6280, is now deceased and I needed a new phone well, ASAP. Who can live without their mobile these days? I know I certainly can’t. I had the opportunity to buy a Motorola V3 reasonably cheaply but after my housemate and my colleague had not really been big fans of theirs, I shied away. So I got to thinking. What was the best value phone that had Bluetooth? eBay is a wonderful place so I started trawling through all the rubbish and dodgy deals from Hong Kong. I decided Hong Kong was a bad idea, I’ve bought phones from there before and been burned on warranty.

So now you’re starting to think “Samo’s lost his marbles. He writes for a games site and all he can write about is drinking, swimming where you shouldn’t and phones.” Rest assured dear reader, for I bring you to the bit with the games. As I scrolled through the many pages of eBay, I spotted a familiar shape from not so long ago. A phone I had deeply loved yet was persuaded to give up for a rather less satisfying unit. I saw a Nokia N-Gage. I know what you’re thinking. He’s mad. Absolutely, unequivocally, undoubtedly mad.


You see, I don’t think I am. I received my new handset today and I’m already getting back into Tony Hawk and loving it. Sure the N-Gage is flawed, I totally agree but sometimes it’s the flaws of things that make them so much more endearing. Cindy Crawford’s beauty spot is a mole but you wouldn’t kick her out of your house, would you? It has a strange design, yes sidetalkin’ is just nutty for a start but when you’re used to it you get the feel for how to hold the phone and it’s really rather comfortable. The screen is a silly shape and the games library isn’t what you’d call brimming but there is some enjoyable gaming to be had on the N-Gage. Games like Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Glimmerati that took the flaws of the platform and made them into something enjoyable or Worms World Party, which is so close to the PC version it’s not funny. In fact my housemate and I had a two player game in the kitchen last night while we were cooking dinner. Try doing that with a PC.

For me, the N-Gage is the ultimate do everything device. I don’t have to lug around a DS or a PSP in addition to my phone and while the gaming may not be up to the lofty standards of the DS, I honestly enjoy N-Gage games more than any PSP game I’ve played. It is a reasonable music player provided you have a decent sized memory card and it’s a fully featured Series 60 phone as well. In terms of software and applications, it’s the best phone I’ve ever owned. That’s why I was happy to buy one again.


The Nokia N-Gage is a quirky and flawed gaming platform. Feel free to laugh at me while I sit on the train and play Splinter Cell on my tacophone but do you know what? Laugh all you like because I’m absolutely loving it.