Nokia's N-Gage gaming delayed again until 2008

Teams of people working overtime worldwide can't deliver for Christmas...

21 December 2007 15:21 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Only days after hyping up the fact that N81 owners would get a head start on the new software-driven N-Gage gaming platform via a "First Access" beta, the official N-Gage blog has revealed further delays.

Originally planned for November, then put back to December, it seems eager phone gamers won't get their fix now until next year. The blog states:

"We know all of you are eager to get started with N-Gage First Access, and we are just as eager to get it into your hands and start hearing your feedback. We have teams of people around the world, literally, working overtime to deliver this experience to you."

"Unfortunately, as can sometimes happen in software development, unexpected difficulties can occur. We have been doing an internal run with more than 1000 global testers this week, and during this process we uncovered an issue we feel we need to address. Overall, the games and service are working smoothly, but because of this issue, we feel we could not release N-Gage First Access before the holidays as planned."

"As we work on a solution, we will continue to polish the overall experience, ready more games for N-Gage First Access, carry on our extensive internal testing over the holidays, and prepare for the new year and the new wave of mobile play."

We will keep you updated in the new year as to when this "First Access", as well as available-to-all access, might be due.