If you decide to become the proud owner of a Nokia N900, you will quickly be aware of a couple of things. The first is that the N900 is not really designed for being held in any other way than landscape. This is made particularly clear because the Nokia logo is mounted about the screen when it is held in its natural widescreen orientation. The second is that the N900 is not aimed at the mainstream. Aside from its price, it has in the Maemo 5 operating system one of the most powerful, customisable pieces of mobile software on the planet. This means that as you sleep a veritable army of dedicated enthusiasts will be working behind the scenes to create software, hacks and ports for the N900. You will need a bit of skill and a willingness to experiment yourself if you want to get the most out of the N900, but the rewards for taking the plunge can be significant.

It is the Nokia N900 gaming capabilities that are likely to make it appealing to an audience beyond those looking for productivity apps and enterprise functionality. Until now the iPhone has been championed as the king of mobile gaming and whilst this is true if you consider the sheer volume of games that have been released, the N900 has it licked in terms of hardware. If you are looking for an experience that is similar to that offered by Apple then the N900 can be used in conjunction with the Ovi Store, which is Nokia’s equivalent of the App Store. This is filled with an ever-increasing library of software and games and you can get titles for free as well as for a small fee. This is certainly a useful function, but it does not cover all of the Nokia N900 gaming potential. For that, we need to go to the boundaries of legality.

When Nokia first began showcasing the N900, it created a video to outline the kind of emulation that was possible using the Maemo 5 platform. In that video, an emulation programme was shown running classic Nintendo titles from yesteryear. Nintendo got a little upset as it looked like Nokia was encouraging people to download pirate ROMs, but in actual fact the intention was to show off the kind of cross-platform capabilities which the N900 offered thanks to its powerful hardware and flexible Maemo platform. The emulation community is still considered to be verging on the illegitimate, but there are plenty of legal ways to enjoy the Nokia N900 gaming capabilities.

The most recent Nokia N900 gaming hack that has come to public attention involves a PlayStation 3 controller. Using the Bluetooth connectivity offered by the N900 and the Bluetooth signal that is given out by the wireless PS3 control pad, an inventive hacker has been able to use the two in unison and control N900 games using the full size pad. This is useful for several reasons and significantly bolsters the Nokia N900 gaming credentials. Using the N900’s TV output, you could hook up the phone to your television at home and then sit on your sofa using a wireless controller to play games on the big screen. For the time being this is not something that too many people will attempt, because the process of installing the necessary hack is a little daunting for even experienced mobile modifiers. However, it does prove once more just how flexible the Maemo software is and it could be something that third party accessory developers could pick up on. If a firm was to produce a wireless Bluetooth controller for the N900, there is a high chance that it would become a hit and if official software support was provided via the Ovi Store, then the N900 would cement its position as the premiere mobile gaming platform of the modern era.

Tags: gaming, nokia, nokia n900

This entry was posted

on Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 at 4:28 pm and is filed under Mobile Phones.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.