Not a particularly eventful week by anyone's standards, I think it's fair to say. There are a few interesting little snippets of news that are worth mentioning though. Elsewhere in this weeks digest is a little article I wrote a year ago, chronicling Retro Studio's trials and tribulations. It's amusing to read how bad things were looking for Retro, before Metroid delivered, big time.

Anyway, topping the bill this week is the bad news that Capcom's wonderful quartet of original, GC-exclusive titles aren't, well, GC-exclusive any more. Apparently, Capcom's original statement about the games (Viewtiful Joe, P.N.03, Killer 7 and Dead Phoenix) was incorrectly translated, and in fact they did not state that the games were exclusive to the GC. That's not to say that they will be coming out on any other console; simply that if the developers so wish, they can port them to the Xbox and PS2. However, the games are being developed with the GameCube solely in mind, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

My opinion? I would personally be very surprised if any of these games will ever be converted to a rival console. Here's why:

1) Production Studio 4, the division of Capcom responsible for these 4 titles, is headed up by one Shinji Mikami- a vociferous critic of the PlayStation 2. He is a huge fan of Nintendo's purple box, and it is doubtful whether he would support the games crossing platforms at any point.

2) It seems to me unlikely that Capcom would have let the world believe for a whole month that the games were GC-exclusive, when in fact, they weren't. Very odd if you think about it.

3) Capcom and Nintendo are getting very friendly- very, very friendly. I'm guessing that Nintendo and Capcom have a sort of trust-agreement with this- the games aren't GC exclusive by means of a binding contract, merely the result of a mutual agreement between the two companies. After all, Nintendo can trust Capcom- they are handling the Zelda GBA game, for example, and have developed two excellent Zelda GBC games. Nintendo don't just go handing out their biggest franchises like that- I think its indicative of the two companies' comfortableness with each other. Capcom were just keeping their options open with their recent statement.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll all be delighted to hear that Resident Evil 4 is not going to any other console- and that's a cast-iron fact. Onto other news, and the news that Link will be appearing in the GameCube version of Namco's upcoming, highly anticipated fighter Soul Calibur 2 is very welcome indeed. Despite being gaming's worst-kept secret over the past few months (Link's appearance was unofficially 'revealed' months ago) its fantastic to see him as a playable character. Link will be equipped with the hookshot and other as-yet unnamed weapons.

Not really very much else of any real note to report this week- so without further ado, take a look back towards Christmas 2001, when I wrote this very down-beat report concerning the plight of Texas-based Retro Studios:

RETRO IN CRISIS- DECEMBER 2001
Nintendo's newest second-party developer, Retro Studios, is in severe trouble. The Austin-based studios have been hit with redundancies, Raven Blade cancelled by Nintendo - among others - and now, the companies last chance, Metroid, is looking decidedly over-ambitious for the Texan outfit. But what went wrong?�

The company was formed in 1998 by the former Iguana Entertainment President, Jeff Spangenberg after he was somewhat mysteriously removed from his position at the aforementioned company. Immediately after founding the company, - a Nintendo-funded second-party -, Spangenberg began 'poaching' staff from giants such as id Software, Valve, and Electronic Arts. Soon after that, Retro began work on no less than four separate games. All was well- seemingly.�

Three years later and three of those four games have been cancelled by Nintendo of America due to being distinctly unimpressed by Retro's work. And what of the fourth game, Metroid?�At Spaceworld this Autumn Retro showed off a few shots, but that's about it. The only previous Metroid footage was shown at E3 earlier this year, which consisted of a very jerky and unimpressive FMV video. So, Retro have yet to produce a product, or anything vaguely resembling one. How did this happen?�

Internal squabbling seems a fair bet. The art teams blame the coders who couldn't code very well, the programmers blamed the artists, saying the visuals they created could not realistically be used in-game. Both of these groups then blamed management figures for their inability to keep things in check. While this was going on, they were spending money at an unacceptable rate, and Nintendo then punished them by terminating development on three of their four projects, and almost a third of their staff.

There can be little doubt that if Retro doesn't seriously deliver with Metroid, the company is as good as doomed. Their future hinges on next May's E3 exhibition in Los Angeles. The American public are have been waiting impatiently for a Metroid sequel, and if it doesn't impress at E3, you can bet that development will be handed over to another developer. Hopefully though, no such thing will happen. After all, Retro have some of the most talented and proven people working for them. But the question remains: How did such a talented bunch of individuals fail so spectacularly? - M.C, Dec. 01

How times have changed, eh?
Until next week, people.

-Mark Cullinane
[email protected]