A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a little fare-thee-well to the Nokia N-Gage service, and as it’s now coming to New Year’s, I thought I’d follow up on the Ovi front. When I started my previous article, I had only begun to notice the yellow posters and banners for Ovi Store. Today, they’re everywhere. For newer Nokia device owners, Ovi services (Store included) are probably something you already use by default on your phone, though I’d love to hear your thoughts on it compared to the likes of the iPhone app store.

For me, it’s about how to go about getting my games. Yes, get an iPhone, I know. But, that doesn’t mean I’m dumping my N86. I’m the kind of guy that picks up whatever device I’m using for the day, and knows that it is updated with stuff that will keep me occupied. Like I mentioned in my last post, I’m still enjoying Sims 3 on N-Gage.

Anyway, I digress too much. I’m here to talk about this new Ovi Store Nokia is pushing. But, first things first; if you go to www.ovi.com and click on ‘Games’ on the top menu bar (the button that looks like a controller), you’ll be directed back to N-Gage. I suppose since N-Gage is technically still alive till the end of 2010, the link will continue to exist, but the real goodies are inside the Ovi Store now.

I already noticed that there were much more games in the Store than there ever was on N-Gage, but according to Nokia numbers, there are over 1000 downloadable games in the Ovi Store library. Now, I’ve gone through the site, and the games and apps range from standard Java fare to higher budget titles. At the top of the list, you can find pretty good deals for games from publishers such as Glu Mobile (Guitar Hero 5, Transformers, Modern Warfare 2, Age of Empires 3), Electronic Arts (FIFA 10, Sims 3) and most of the Gameloft stable – most of these games go from S$1.99 to $9.99.

However, you’ve got to look out for the duds as well. Nokia doesn’t seem to be making the Ovi Store regionally specific, and there are a lot of questionable games and apps in there. At the bottom of the barrel, there’s stuff like ‘Gay or Straight’, a game/app from publisher Lunagames that—for two dollars—determines if you’re gay.

Questionable content quality aside, it still seems like a smart move. When Nokia developed the N-Gage, it was to compete with dedicated handheld gaming consoles. As it has now evolved into a service race, instead of keeping N-Gage as a gaming portal to compete with the likes of the PSP and DSi in the Playstation Store/DSi Shop front, they’re consolidating everything into the Ovi Store to combat the rise of the iPhone and the Apple App Store.