It’s a good thing for Nokia that my new N79 arrived yesterday, because I was all set to write a damning report of the complete and utter disaster that is N-Gage on the flagship N97.
Despite not being able to get N-Gage screen grabs I would have still persevered and shown you firsthand how the touchscreen and physical D-Pad are used for input arbitrarily and actually work against you when you’re trying to play a game, or navigating through a game menu for that matter! Furthermore, I would have told you that it’s not even worth enduring this because (1) the games don’t even play full-screen (?!), and (2) every single game I tried looked like crap.
I would have summed up by letting you know that the N97 is absolutely not a gaming machine, and that you’d be much better off with an iPhone or iPod touch if that’s all you’re after.
But like I said, I got a new toy yesterday and was busy setting it up. Oh, and unlike the N97, it runs the tent pole N-Gage property Reset Generation, which I’ve been waiting to try for over a year now…
Andrew Currie 
So glad you picked up an N79 – hands-down my favorite Nseries device currently available. It’s just plain fantastic.
Thanks Ricky, the fact that you think so highly of it did indeed influence my decision a little bit. 😀
I have to admit, though, that I’m a total T9 n00b… And that number pad is pretty stiff!
Good luck avoiding the 2 key when you’re trying to press ‘DOWN’ and vice versa.
Shoulda got the superior N85 or waited for the N86…
I don’t see how that could possibly be a problem — the D-Pad on this thing is huge.
You must be doing it wrong…