Limber up your thumbs, folks: Nokia is about to give N-Gage its long-awaited full-on launch, backed up by a slew of top games.

Speaking from the snowbound wilds of Lapland, Nokia’s gaming grand fromage Jaakko Kaidesoja has just announced that the preparations for N-Gage’s rebirth are almost complete, and that it’s heading for the N81, N82 and N95 in a matter of weeks, with the N73 to follow in the spring (sorry, N73 owners – there are some memory issues to crack first).

There’ll be a big, tasty portion of games served alongside the main N-Gage feast, although quite how calorific it is is still to be determined. Basically, we’ll be getting at least six games on launch day, but it could be as many as eight – and whatever happens more will be popping up in the following weeks.

Jaakko also mentioned touch screens, saying that with Nokia set to introduce several touch-sensitive handsets this year (ooh yes please), the N-Gage team is beavering away to make the gaming app fully compatible with pokeable, proddable displays. We’re not going to get touch screen-compatible games at the launch of these new handsets or anything – but they’ll certainly be arriving a few months down the line.

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to come up with a suitably cool/hilarious/geeky gaming handle and get ready for some serious mobile phone gaming. Unless, er, you own an N73…

Related news stories:

N-Gage: All you need to know

N-Gage First Access goes live!

NokNok Forum: Will N-Gage live up to the hype?