Nokia launches N-Gage First Access for N81 owners, social networking included

It took quite a bit of time to install N-Gage on the N81 8GB (I did it using my MacBook Pro) hard drive (something like 10 minutes with a very slow progress bar), but it seems to run quickly. You create an account and a player name on the device. It looks similar to Xbox Live with a gamer tag/player name (mine is palmsolo), N-Gage points, reputation stars, and friend functionality. Currently, you can chat with friends through the N-Gage software and in the future you should be able to play against them right on your phone.

It looks like there are currently only four games available in the catalog (System Rush Evolution, Space Impact Kappa Base, Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep, and Block Breaker Deluxe). You can try them for free or make a purchase. Pricing looks to be about 7 Euros for each game. If you purchase games during this limited trial/beta period then you need to make sure you use a valid email address so you can apply those purchases when the full version is released. You will also lose your gamer tag and any points you accumulate during this First Access release so be prepared to start over there as well.