Despite the fact that Nokia's N-Gage was ridiculed for its taco-like appearance and that the phone/handheld gaming device just didn't sell very well for the Finnish company (even with the relaunch of the improved QD model), Nokia is apparently giving the N-Gage another chance to succeed.

According to the Nokia sponsored semi-official blog Future Watch, by the middle of this year, "the N-Gage experience will evolve into the next generation of mobile gaming." The blog suggests that the new N-Gage will make its debut this September and that two major publishers, EA Mobile and Gameloft, are already backing Nokia's latest effort.

"We expect EA Mobile and Gameloft to bring a number of top-selling, award winning titles to our platform between our launch. 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 blog announced.

"By early 2008, we expect to have some of the biggest franchises and hottest mobile games included in the N-Gage experience," it concluded.

This news comes only days after rumors began circulating on the web that Nokia had begun to show off its new N-Gage technology at a discrete meeting in Santa Monica. Rather than produce another dedicated gaming device, however, it would appear that Nokia is following the plan outlined by VP Antti Vasara over a year ago, which is to include the N-Gage technology in a number of handsets.