Michael T Hudson

http://money.cnn.com/2003/08/20/tech...ga_nokia.reut/

Decker

I guess I'm still a little fuzzy on this. What exactly did they purchase?

He Who Lurks No More

It seems that they bought Sega's online gaming network for multiplayer gaming on the N-Gage. Is this the server that was used for the Dreamcast?

Deftones

That is how I interpret the article as well.

sniper308

Nokia buys Sega games unit

Mobile phone maker enters the video gaming industry by purchasing online gaming business.
August 20, 2003: 8:03 AM EDT



AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) - Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, made an aggressive push into video gaming, by agreeing to acquire Japanese game maker Sega's multiplayer online games business.

The Finnish firm said late Tuesday the deal includes assets of Sega.com Inc., including Sega's Network Application Package, or SNAP, a computer server technology designed to form the core of networked game play.

The value of the deal was not disclosed, but a Nokia spokesman said the purchase price was "immaterial to Nokia." Nokia has some 10 billion ($11.11 billion) of cash and cash equivalents in the bank.

An industry source told Reuters the purchase amounted to less than ¥1 billion ($8.44 million).

"This transaction will give Nokia full end-to-end capabilities -- the device, the games and the back-end technology to support multiplayer gaming," said Ilkka Raiskinen, senior vice president of Nokia's entertainment and media business unit, on a conference call.

Nokia will use SNAP for connecting and keeping scores for multiple gamers on its N-Gage phone/game deck combo device, set to be released worldwide Oct. 7. It will take on Nintendo's Gameboy, which currently dominates the market for mobile gaming.

The N-Gage will let users compete wirelessly both over GSM cell phone networks and via short-range Bluetooth networking.

"The key strength of N-Gage is the possibility to have multiplayer games. It is completely different from current mobile games devices," a Nokia spokesman in Finland said.

Nokia is a serious gamer
Nokia will use SNAP in its first multiplayer N-Gage game "Pathway to Glory," and like Sega, will continue to license it to rival gaming companies. SNAP also is used in Sony's PlayStation 2.

Nokia's American depositary receipts (ADRs) finished 82 cents higher at $15.72 Tuesday.

Shares of Sega closed 2.3 percent lower at ¥1,104 in Tokyo.


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tanman

Let the bashing commence.

So basically Nokia threw 8million into the toilet. At least it went to SEGA.

I preface this question by saying I have no knowledge of servers. Aren't the servers from the Dreamcast old?

Cyberock

Have you seen the games on the n-gage? They look like old technology next to the GBA and I'm sure they'll look really old next to a PSP. Why not buy old server technology then to go with their crapy looking games.

GatorDeb

[rimshot]So that's how they got Sonic on the NGage [/rimshot]

Gizmo

What's even worse, is that IGN will be having a N-Gage section of there website. Crash and Burn.

The Franchise

Actually they bought their entire online gaming section which includes some proprietary technology (like SNAP) that is leveraged to other companies for royalties. Sony uses SNAP technology in some of it's online games. So Nokia will be getting that bling-bling now instead of Sega.

SmackDaddy

Actually, If you check out the website and take a look at their Pandemonium, Tony Hawk and Tomb Raider(all fully 3-d not pseudo GBA 3-d) movies, it has graphical capabilities on par with a PS1. And that, I would say is a bit more advanced than the GBA.

So, although I don't think it has a chance for any real success, it's definately not a slounch in the graphical capabilities.