Some Nokias on track to run next-gen N-Gage right away

Nokia plans to hit the world with an N-Gage (next-generation) update in 2007. And at least one Nokia official says that the company is hammering away to make sure that you won’t necessarily have to buy a brand new phone just to access the updated platform.

Jaakko Kaidesoja, representing the Play New Experience division of Nokia, confirmed that a large handful of existing Nokia devices will be able to download and run the next gen N-Gage from the very start, including a few that are available now. We don’t know exactly which, of course, which has me a little steamed. The company has to make some money on new phones, however, so that’s to be expected.

The next generation of N-Gage is envisioned as a 3D world of individual and multiplayer games and interactivity, more tightly knit yet more widely available than ever before. If this sounds like Xbox Live, that’s because it is, basically. The key difference is that we’re talking mobile phones here, not stationary gaming devices like the original N-Gage device which failed to meet expectations.

The very idea, though, that an exciting new-tech update of a gaming platform and plug-and-play phones are just around the corner has got me excited.