It seems like there's constant speculation about a PSP phone, but Sony isn't the only gaming company thought to have looked at a game/phone combo device. Nintendo apparently examined the idea of a mobile phone gaming system at one point, even to the point that Nokia developed device concept drawings for consideration by the board at Nintendo.
Pocket Gamer [thanks MCV] states that “a development source” claims an early 2000s R&D project was well under way by Nintendo and Nokia at Nintendo’s Kyoto HQ with the sole purpose of developing for the mobile phone sector.
The source states that the project eventually made its way to the Nintendo board, where the project was rejected. Nokia went on to develop the N-Gage whereas Nintendo went on to release the DS. “You have to remember Nintendo is a very conservative company,” the source stated. “It always has various R&D projects on the go, but most of them are eventually rejected. It's just how it operates.”
It's worth noting that Engadget uncovered a patent from Nintendo back in 2007 depicting the alleged phone; it depicts a system that would have allowed users to play classic games while still affording for normal cell phone activities, including allowing gamers to pause games for a phone call.
It was probably a wise move for Nintendo to avoid the phone market at the time, although we would like to eventually see the company embrace a 3G wireless service to offer a more robust digital delivery and online feature set in a handheld.
1 Comments
September 18, 2010
I say not a good idea. Phone models changes a lot with new features and power, so, if you're stuck with a Game Boy phone technology will leave you behind.