Pocket Gamer is reporting that Nokia is finally getting around to their software launch of the new N-Gage platform. This time around, instead of spending money developing really, really bad hardware platforms, they're just going to stick the gaming operating system into a bunch of their phones.

We can reveal that behind the scenes, activity is ramping up, following a top-secret workshop for publishers and developers, held in Santa Monica last week. The two-day event saw Nokia fully unveil the new platform for the first time, with a series of technical and business presentations to fill attendees in on the specifics. And check the calibre of some of the companies rumoured to have attended, according to a reliable source:

Disney, Sega Of America, Sony Online Entertainment, Universal, Square Enix, Capcom, THQ Wireless, Glu Mobile, Digital Chocolate, EA Mobile, Tecmo, Namco and Vivendi Games were reportedly all there, along with first-party developers (firms developing games to be published by Nokia) including Backbone Entertainment and Foundation9. Sessions in the Business stream included an explanation of how next-gen N-Gage games will be distributed, including something intriguing called the 'N-Gage activation code system'.

Publishers will also be able to 'track and manage' their N-Gage games, which could imply you'll be able to pass games onto friends in some form, although presumably they'd have to pay to play the full version. Other business sessions covered marketing and customer service issues. Meanwhile, the Technical stream saw the publishers get their first detailed look at the N-Gage software development kit (SDK), which is only now being sent out to them (first-party developers have had it for a while). Other technical sessions included best development practices, a guide to the new platform's back-end architecture, certification and security.