Nokia ditches N73 from N-Gage line-up

Nokia has confirmed to Reuters that it won't be making N-Gage available for N73 handsets after all, despite it being originally mooted as a launch phone for the second-generation gaming platform.

Although the company has sold around 20 million N73's, it always struggled to get N-Gage working reliably on the phone, as N-Gage boss Jaakko Kaidesoja told Pocket Gamer last February.

“We promised the N73 earlier, but we found some memory issues, as it has a lower memory spec than other devices," said Kaidesoja at the time.

"That gives some headaches, but we'll deal with that, and will release for the device during the second quarter."

Well, that didn't happen, and while the news is slightly embarrassing for Nokia now, in truth canning the N73 is a logical and overdue move.

Far better to spend its time rolling N-Gage out for newer handsets - and while there are plenty of N73 owners out there, those who've been waiting for N-Gage would be advised to upgrade to a newer handset anyway.

In separate news, Nokia has announced the latest weekly sales chart for N-Gage, which sees Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition hang onto top spot, followed by Tetris and World Series of Poker Pro Challenge.

Good news for EA Mobile, which has the top two titles, although its Need For Speed Undercover game only made it to fourth spot in its debut week.