Nokia's next generation mobile games development platform was unveiled for the first time to sixteen of Nokia's first party games developers, during the inaugral next generation mobile gaming workshops in Helsinki, on the 1st - 2nd December, 2005 and Vancouver, on the 7th - 8th December, 2005.

Nokia's first-party games development studios were given an exclusive opportunity to learn and experience the development environment of the next generation games platform where rich and immersive N-Gage quality games can be played on a variety of Nokia smartphones.  During the two-day Workshop, the developers learned about fundamental functionalities for the new mobile games platform and got the opportunity to interact with Nokia to share their thoughts and consult on game design, middleware, tools, certification, software developer support, hardware and how to bring a connected gaming experience to the global community via the N-Gage Arena.  

Kevin McIntosh, Producer, Torus Games commented, "We like the way the workshop allowed us to share ideas and interact with the first party community.  We feel that Nokia is committed and professional about the next generation games platform and we feel confident about its launch to market."

Martijn Reuvers, Two Tribes B.V. Business Development said, "By organizing this workshop, Nokia went through great lengths to actually listen to game developers. By doing so, I'm confident Nokia is taking to right step towards bringing the next generation initiative to gamers."  

Nokia announced the expansion of N-Gage quality gaming onto the range of Nokia smartphones at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The Nokia strategy is to expand the N-Gage platform's rich connected multiplayer experience across a wide range of Nokia multimedia devices.  This next generation mobile gaming platform includes enhanced 3D game graphics capability and offers user-friendly search, purchase and installation of high-quality rich games as well as connected gaming with instant access to a global mobile gaming community.  The solution will work with a number of new Nokia smartphones, giving consumers the freedom to choose a multimedia device that best suits their individual needs. 

The next developer workshop will be held at the Games Development Conference in San Jose, California - March 20 - 21, 2006.