As part of promoting the recently relaunched N-Gage service, Nokia are giving away 120,000 licenses for FIFA08 between now and the end of June. You’ll need an N-Gage compatible device, and we suspect these free licenses will get snapped up pretty quickly.

Head to N-Gage for more information and to download the game.

Nokia have finally launched the new N-Gage gaming service, with support for the N95, N95 8Gb, N81, N81 8Gb, and the N82. Other phones, such as the N73 and N93i should follow at a later date.

According to Engadget, we should see a new firmware (v2.20) for the Sony PS3 before the end of the month. This will include support for the Blu-ray v2.0 spec, downloadable video content, ringtones, and interactive movie-based games. Resume Play will also be included, which means a Blu-ray disk can be restarted from where you were when it was stopped, even if the disk is removed. Also, DivX and WMV files larger than 2GB will be supported.

It appears that the price of the basic Xbox 360 is due to drop on Friday down to £159.99. The Arcade version does not have a Hard Disk, but does come with a 256MB memory card for storing saved games on (and a wireless controller). This means the Xbox will be priced directly against the Wii, and of course, means you can pick up an Xbox for half the price of a PS3, which should stir up the market a little.

Story courtesy of Tech Digest.

Over the next few weeks, selected Garmin devices will support a variety of games. These games are traditional games (Sudoku, Solitaire, Poker, etc.) and some will even be free. Right now, only the Garmin Nuvi 850, 880 and 5000 are listed as supporting the games, and Garmin have provided some of the games for free, whereas the rest will be chargeable (and bought from My GPS Games). The games will be either $5 each, or $2o buys a VIP pack encompassing all 6 chargeable games).

Nokia has announced Yamake, a new online gaming community. Yamake for N-Gage allows users to create their own games from a range of mini games by adding content, then playing and sharing them with friends and the wider Yamake community. Players can share their mobile mini games via the N-Gage Arena, the Yamake community and via multimedia message between N-Gage compatible and other S60 devices. The Yamake community connects players with one another, allowing them to download and review the mini games, as well as share ideas for content.

Zeemote have produced a little Bluetooth joystick, designed explicitly for gaming on mobile phones. With the current relaunch of N-Gage by Nokia, this device could become popular. Although it seems to need support within the game itself, we would have thought that with a little software it should be able to work with most games. The Zeemote is 95 x 35 x 20mm and weighs 47g (including batteries).

The device is not yet available for sale, but should be soon. No information about UK availability is known.

Story courtesy of IntoMobile [Via SMSTextNews]

Nokia have finally made the new N-Gage gaming platform available. Although a number of phones are compatible with N-Gage, at this stage, the software and pre-release games are supposedly only for the N81 (hacks are available to make them work with other N-Gage compatible phones). Right now, there are only 3 games (System Rush Evolution, Space Impact Kappa, and Hooked On Creatures of the Deep), and you have to download roughly 60MB of data to your PC before installing to your phone via PC Suite.

As well as the products already mentioned, Garmin have launched support for the new Geocaching.com created WhereIGo service in their Colorado range. WhereIGo is a toolset for creating and playing GPS-based adventures in the real world. Garmin have already had some GPS-based games on their GPS devices, but this is the first time they have supported a third party solution, and as it’s developed by Geocaching.com, we expect it will become popular over time. As you move around in the real world, your handheld device will allow you to experience media-rich content relating to your location. This experience could be a tour guide, an adventure game, or anything else dreamed up by authors.

As well as the new PSP firmware we’ve just mentioned, Sony have released a new firmware for the PS3 too (v2.10). This adds DivX support (following on from Microsoft releasing the same function for the Xbox 360). They’ve also added support for Blu-Ray Profile 1.1, which adds a useful Picture-in-Picture facility. Maybe best of all (for some people), they’ve enabled Remote Play of PS1 games on your PSP from your PS3, whether using the original disk, or if you have downloaded it direct from Sony onto your PS3.

If you have a Sony PSP, then you may be interested in the new Streaming Audio feature available in the latest PSP firmware, v3.80. This new feature can be used for listening to Internet Radio on your device. Also of interest, an update to the RSS reader means it can now display images too. The video player has also been updated with a video scene search feature.

It’s not clear if this firmware is released for UK PSPs yet, but if not, it won’t be long before it is.

If you’ve got an Xbox 360, then you may be interested to know that the Xbox 360 Fall 2007 Dashboard Update has now been released by Microsoft, and includes the rumoured DivX playback. Other new features are the ability to view your Friend’s Friends List, Family Timers let you specify how many hours per day / week the Xbox can be used, and a few other new features.

More details available here.

Also, Microsoft have confirmed that the Video on Demand service will soon be available in the UK.  For 250 points (around £2), or 380 (£3.20) for an HD version, you will be able to download a rental movie onto the Xbox and watch it.