Mobile phone giant Nokia is aiming to engage with the handheld gaming market with the launch of its new platform.

The N-Gage service will at first only be available to owners of the N81 handset but, if successful, the firm plans to roll the platform out across its range of handsets.

Top developers EA, Gameloft and Vivendi have been enlisted to make titles for N-Gage which will be compatible with a range of Nokia devices.

Jaakko Kaidesoja, from Nokia's play new experience division, said that the development marked "step two" in Nokia's strategy to enter this market.

He explained that step one was the original Nokia N-Gage launch back in 2003.

Mr Kaidesoja added: ""We are looking at a new form of gaming, unlike our traditional ideas of games.

"All of the games on the N-Gage platform have some sort of connectivity - such as instant messaging and a friends list."

The original N-Gage platform was launched to compete with Nintendo's GameBoy but was panned for its design and poor sales.

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