Updates about Nokia's N-Gage II continue to pour in. The other day, we reported that the Finland-based mobile phone manufacturer held a top secret workshop for publishers and developers in Santa Monica. In the said workshop, Nokia allegedly dished out SDKs of the new phone and discussed features related to gaming.

Anyway, a Nokia sponsored blog is now announcing that the release of N-Gage II will be on September, and EA mobile and Gameloft have already promised to provide launch titles. The entry continues:

They aren't the only ones, as throughout the year we will continue to make exciting announcements of other leading publishers adding their titles to our games catalogue. The biggest franchises and hottest mobile games will be available to N-Gage users by early 2008.

If you've read our previous post about this, you already know by now that a good number of publishers and devs attended the above-mentioned workshop. If all these companies will come up with games for N-Gage II, then all we can say is Nokia has indeed learned its lesson well.

Nokia has been rumored to re-enter the handhelds game market for quite a while now. There are a lot of hushed talks about it, but the giant mobile phone manufacturer has been playing mind games with both the competition and consumers as well. Apparently all those end today.

Online site Pocket Gamer mentioned that Nokia actually held a top-secret workshop for publishers and developers in Santa Monica last week. Accordingly, the company unveiled N-Gage II for the first time in the said workshop and provided the attendees with its technical aspects.

A lot of analysts actually credit the original N-Gage's failure to lack of games but if these attendees are serious on making games for Nokia, then we're sure that there will be hell to pay for Nintendo and Sony. Those who were at the workshop are as follows:

Disney, Sega Of America, Sony Online Entertainment, Universal, Square Enix, Capcom, THQ Wireless, Glu Mobile, Digital Chocolate, EA Mobile, Tecmo, Namco, Vivendi Games, and first party developers Backbone Entertainment and Foundation9.

Furthermore, Nokia explained how next-gen N-Gage games will be distributed as well as something called the "N-Gage activation code system." Would-be publishers are also said to be able to track and manage their own games. The on hand publishers also got their own SDKs as well. And so, is 2007 going to be the year the handhelds console war begins anew? This is going to be exciting.

Are you familiar with Modojo.com? Not quite? Well, we're on the same page but it just so happened that we came across them today. Actually, it is a website dedicated to gadgets which include gaming handhelds. To our amusement, they have there a feature article that lists the top ten portable flops ever.

While we don't agree 100% and we're having some reservations ourselves, we thought it would be well to put it out in the open. In that way, we can all discuss it, compare notes and have the decision made among ourselves. It seems well to us that Modojo holds the Gameboy and the DS in such high esteem. The list furthermore, as their site claims, include noteworthy systems which either failed hard, or, well, failed really hard.

10. Atari Lynx - remarkably powerful with 16-bit graphics engine and a 4096 hue color palette; however it consumed batteries so fast, U.S. $189.99 entry price and the skateboard-like shape.

See the full list after the jump!

I know you must love playing your N-Gage games, so this news is a treat for you. Nokia's N-Gage Game Shop is offering new downloadable games online.

After buying the game and downloading it to your computer, you then have to transfer the game files to your MMC card via an MMC card reader, and you're ready to play (and challenge just anyone who you think is worth playing against). You can try the games for free first so you'd know exactly what you're buying.

The games available in Nokia's N-Gage Game Shop are as follow:

• Glimmerati - Here you'll have to race for fame and fortune on the circuit while at the same time trying to unlock Club Glimmerati's secrets.
• One - You can challenge any fighter from any part of the world to determine The One.
• Rifts: Promise of Power - Exploring a world with futuristic technology and dark magic will make this 40-plus hours of epic role-playing exciting.
• High Seize - You'll set sail for adventure during this age of pirates, wooden ships and pirate's gold.
• Mile High Pinball - This will let you experience a fresh take on classic pinball action.
  

Other games included are Pathway to Glory, Pathway to Glory: Ikusa Islands, Operation Shadow, Requiem of Hell and Ashen.