Handset maker Nokia has launched its mobile games service in a worldwide effort to capture share in one of the fastest growing mobile segments.

The Nokia N-Gage platform will let Nokia device owners find, try and buy mobile-designed games directly from their handset.

Mobile game players can also connect with each other through the N-Gage Arena community. Participants can meet friends, find others to play multiplayer games, discuss topics on message boards and through live chats, and join in tournaments and hosted events.

The worldwide launch came after feedback from an eight-week test of the N-Gage First Access program was positive, according to Espoo, Finland-based Nokia. The company claims that consumers from more than 100 countries registered for the service.

Leading games publishers have developed titles for the N-Gage platform.

The first set of games to debut are "EA Sports FIFA 08 by EA Mobile;" "Brain Challenge and Asphalt 3: Street Rules by Gameloft;" "World Series of Poker Pro Challenge by Glu Mobile;" and "Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep and System Rush: Evolution by Nokia Publishing."

Many games will be exclusive to the N-Gage platform and include online community features and new graphical experiences for mobile phones.

By installing the N-Gage application on their Nokia device, mobile consumers can create a Friends List, send and receive private messages and undertake instant messaging-style chat.

Users can earn N-Gage Points for playing games and participating in community activities. They can also play through the N-Gage Web portal on the PC where they can also buy the games for download to their mobile devices.

The N-Gage-compatible devices include Nokia N81, NokiaN81 GGB, Nokia N82, Nokia N95 and Nokia N95 8GB.

Games up
Nokia has entered the market at a time when use of mobile games is up.

Data from mobile measurement firm M:Metrics for February shows that 48.4 million people played a mobile game, 20.2 million played a game they had previously downloaded and 7.6 million downloaded a new game.

Compare this with the same period last year when 45.2 million consumers played a mobile game, 18.5 million played a game they had previously downloaded and 6.8 million downloaded a new game.

Also, among Nokia device owners, in February 20.1 percent -- 5.9 million consumers -- played a mobile game versus a market average of 21.4 percent, according to M:Metrics, Seattle.

Data showed that 6.2 percent of Nokia owners played a game they had previously downloaded versus an 8.9 percent market average and 2.7 percent downloaded a new game versus a 3.4 percent market average.

"Nokia is currently underperforming in the games market today primarily due to the fact that the U.S. market is flooded with low-end, free Nokia phones that came with carrier contracts," said M:Metrics senior analyst Mark Donovan in a statement in response to Nokia's news.

"Today, N-Series devices are still quite expensive and are not widely distributed in carrier channels, resulting in low market adoption," he said.

"However, among those toting high-end Nokia devices on the Symbian operating system, 30.8 percent played a mobile game, indicating that mobile gaming is a popular activity on these phones."