Notices

Not that I game a lot, but casting around I don't see anything. And certainly not with anything approaching the fit & finish of a typical iPhone game.

I was quite curious to know how the game development scene in Maemo is actually, and whether I've missed anything - it seems to be based mainly around emulators and ports. Which are cool and all, but not original and ultimately pretty poor as gaming experiences go.

Pointers? Comments? Suggestions?

I liked
Duke 3D (duke nukem 3D)
Open Arena (fps ported)
Super Maria War (ported) can also be fun
Angry Birds is funny

your right it is mainly emulators. angry birds is about the most polished actual game we have, i blame the shoddy ovi store for not supporting paid apps until now.
but there are some great games on emulators,
have you tried scummVM? cant beat some classic lucasarts adventures.

but where do you get the games for scummv?

try google, there are a load of scummvm games on the scummvm website.

Ports can be a good thing, I don't think I would be using my n900 much for gaming if there werent loads of ported classics, in a way it's a the familiar games that get people into playing. It is true that alot of them though seem to only be half ported, shame that.