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BAFTA video games - no more Douglas Adams, so welcome N-Gage

Whatever happened (I wondered) to the Nokia game-playing phone, the N-Gage? Had it gone the way of the Gizmondo (NOT Gizmodo!) game-playing non-phone?

Answer: it is sponsoring the BAFTA computer games awards.

The first time BAFTA acknowledged the existence of TV as an art form, it was mocked and jeered at. And when it came around to acknowledging the video game, it got another earful, but less so, because BAFTA members realised

I was actually a judge at the first BAFTA games awards. I don't flatter myself that this had anything at all to do with my pre-eminent status in the games biz. It was, quite simply, because my friend Douglas Adams recommended that they ask me - and he was a Big Name inside BAFTA.

So this year, the BAFTA Video Game Awards 2006 took place last Friday, and I wasn't even on the invite list. And were the N-Gage games amongst the award winners?

At All About Symbian the sad truth is revealed by krisse:

As well as sponsoring the overall event, N-Gage sponsored the Gameplay Award and The Gamers' Award (which was voted for by members of the public). There's a list of the winners here, and photos from the event here.

So, is this significant news for Symbian users, considering there were no Symbian games even nominated for awards this year? Maybe.

It shows that Nokia is still putting money into the N-Gage brand so they're definitely not pulling out of gaming any time soon, despite recently discontinuing of the current generation of hardware (the N-Gage and N-Gage QD) and releasing the final current gen game (Payload).

I hate "definitely" in these things. It could definitely show they aren't pulling out, but it's just as likely to show that they don't want anybody to realise that they are, and decided to go ahead to hide the truth.

"It also," concedes krisse, "indicates they might well use the N-Gage name on the next generation gaming solution they're about to launch." When? "In a few months time."

And will that be a success? It seems even krisse doubts that: "The continued use of the name would be a double-edged sword: in its favour it would allow the relatively small existing userbase of N-Gage or QD owners to see it as a clear upgrade route, but on the other it would cause tremendous difficulties getting support from the gaming and technology press."