Nokia's long-promised revival moved a step further away today, the Finnish mobile giant revealing that the platform's relaunch is now on-hold until December while the firm polishes off the software that will run the side of things.

The 'Ovi' brand already incorporates games, music, photos, GPS and online technology, with N-Gage functionality originally scheduled to launch in late November.

"N-gage is coming in December. Software testing is taking a bit more time than what we had expected," Nokia's Kari Tuutti told news agency Reuters.

While the original N-Gage fell to intense from and Sony, publishers like and Gameloft are still backing the format, which could enjoy something of a renaissance now handset technology has improved.

We'll keep you posted.

By Luke Guttridge