Nokia has announced the initial gaming lineup for their recently opened N-Gage service for mobile phones. Aside from that, the company's also listed some of the other titles they'll be releasing at a later time. More details on this are in the full article.

Soccer fans, be confused no more: Konami decided to unify the Winning Eleven series under a single, consistent name - at least in the Western front. The company has confirmed that the title for Winning Eleven Soccer for US fans will now stay similar to the European version, Pro Evolution Soccer. If Konami were to keep the name for one more year, it's latest title would have been Winning Eleven Soccer 11. More at the full story.

 

Electronic Arts officially announced earlier today that the cover of FIFA Soccer 08 is to feature teen soccer star Jozy Altidore of the New York Red Bulls (Major League Soccer), one of only five teen athletes to grace the covers of an EA-branded game. Altidore is also the second youngest in that shortlist at 17 years old, topped by Freddy Adu who was the cover athlete for FIFA Soccer 06 when he was 16 years old.

Also joining the cover athlete lineup will be 22 year old Guillermo Ochoa of the Mexican Primera Division, who will feature side-by-side with FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho for the North American versions of FIFA Soccer 08 (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PSP, DS, mobiles).

Expect to see these athletes in the covers of their respective versions by October 2007, when the EA SPORTS soccer title developed by EA Canada will be launching on multiple game platforms. The game has yet to be rated by the ESRB as of press time.

In line with their campaign to promote N-Gage as the ultimate mobile gaming device, Nokia just announced the list of new mobile games that'll be made available on the handheld system.

We already told you that Glu Mobile will be jumping on the N-Gage bandwagon, and now news have reached our ears that major mobile game publishers, THQ Wireless and Gameloft, will also be joining in on the fun as they bring loads of games to Nokia's device.

Here's a partial list of the new games you can look forward to seeing on the N-Gage:

• Asphalt 3 - Gameloft
• Street Rules - Gameloft
• Brothers in Arms - Gameloft
• Hell's Highway - Gameloft
• Brain Challenge - Gameloft
• Midnight Pool - Gameloft
• FIFA 2008 - EA
  

In addition to all this, Nokia also announced at the GDC the software development tools to be used for the system as well as SNAP Mobile's JavaTM testing program. Gregg Sauter, Director of Games Publishing for Nokia, says,

We are reinforcing our commitment to this industry with two significant initiatives that will help the mobile games industry evolve. Our N-Gage platform will deliver a global games platform that leverages the performance of the tens of millions of S60 converged devices that we are shipping each year. Likewise, our support for Java development continues to evolve with more tools for developers supporting SNAP Mobile.

The first game to be released for the N-Gage by Glu will be World Series of Poker Texas Hold'Em, with more to follow in the months to come. No word yet on when the mentioned games will be released so stay tuned for more updates.

Nokia has announced a deal with entertainment industry giant EA to bring an assortment of popular EA and EA Sports video game brands to next-generation Nokia devices. Through the Nokia Content Discoverer, an easy software delivery system for phone owners, both companies plan to deliver high-quality mobile games to millions of Nokia customers.

The first wave of games under this deal is scheduled for a launch at the end of the year, and will bring users titles like Tetris, Tetris Mania, The Sims 2, Doom, FIFA 06, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06 and FIFA Street 2. In the first half of 2007, the mobile gaming offensive is then expected to continue, with more franchises seeing their conversion to a mobile title.

About the deal, Jaakko Kaidesoja, director of the Games & Multimedia departments at Nokia commented: “Nokia and EA have a common vision regarding the opportunities in mobile games and how to turn them into a reality. When you combine Nokia’s leadership in hardware, usability and software platforms with EA’s brands and quality thresholds, the results will speak for themselves.”

By bringing in a major console publisher, Nokia hopes to raise the quality bar for mobile games even further, making their devices more attractive as entertainment platforms.

Put yourself under the football limelight with Electronic Arts' Big FIFA Street 2. It may not be the World Cup, but this cellular game will still test your flair for football...street football, that is.

Available for download to European mobile phone customers by the end of July, Big FIFA Street 2 lets you take your football kicking, passing, sprinting, flipping, and spinning skills onto the streets on a four-on-four gameplay action. Big FIFA Street 2 has an intuitive control system that lets you experience instant action via the Quick Play mode or thrilling challenges through 'Rule the Street' mode.

To let you decide whether this game's worth a space on your mobile phone's memory, here are screens to help you out.