The forum's back up and running and with it comes the Staff Roundtable. We've got two this week to make up for the absence, covering Gamecube's developers and games for 2003.

Note: the first Roundtable is a little outdated, so we haven't taken into account Konami's, EA's and some other developers support. Oh, and it was at a time when some of us were a little down about the developer situation, so forgive or grumblings. Anyway, enjoy!

With Codemasters cancelling their Gamecube games, should we expect another N64 situation with publishers?

Conor: Have to say, this thing is getting pretty worrying. It seems that in all the excitement of any consoles birth a host of publishers jump on the wagon and announce a slurry of new games. This was no exception with Gamecube, the release list was buldging. Especially with TBAs.

But then the initial excitement and optimism fades and cold, hard reality sets in. Unfortunately, Gamecube hasn't done as well as some of the publishers would've wanted and so they're retreating. They're taking back all their early promises, cancelling their projects, not making any announcements for the future. Sega cancelled their sports games on Gamecube. Konami have shown great hesitation towards Gamecube. Infogrames have expressed their concern. And now Codemasters have pulled the plug on all their GC games.

Nintendo needs to do something to stop an N64 situation happening. We mayhave loved it, but the N64 had serious problems with the quantity of games available. Publishers didn't see the system as a viable platform for their games compared with something like Playstation, and with the amount of PS2s in peoples homes it's no surprise early mumblings on a similar situation have arose again. Hopefully things will pick up though, and all this will clear up soon. But if it doesn't, Nintendo need to act.

Ash: Yeah, the amount of developers withdrawing from the Gamecube is very similar to the days of the N64. While we got through we were told about a lot of developers for the Gamecube and many games, while we have a lot of games we do not have the sheer quantity the likes of the PS2 have.

It could be down to any number of things, Gamecube adverts are few and far between, casual gamers see it as kiddy and many other things meaning Nintendo isn't pushing the Gamecube. This has a knock on effect which leads to the developers worry they wont sell and not making any games.

I just hope Nintendo can do something to improve this, because apparently the Gamecube is easy enough to developer for, now we just need the games to be made. These three or four Nintendo AAA titles a year wont do us!

Link: I personally don't find that there is a lack of publishers for the GameCube right now. The only developer that I think should be working on the GameCube that isn't is Konami. They have said they have some projects underway, though, so I expect to see some titles (and good ones other than Disney) by the end of this year. Apart from that, though, everything seems to be covered. We have TS2 for FPSs, Metroid Prime for FPA (and in Europe soon), F-Zero soon enough for racing, Eternal Darkness and StarFox Adventures for Adventure (and moderately soon you will have Zelda), and there's PSO, Summoner 2, and Skies of Arcadia Legends coming soon to fill the RPG gap.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Capcom's lineup of very interesting games including RE4 and then there is Square (or whatever they're called when they develop for Nintendo) who will have FF: CC out by the end of the year. Then we will have some surprise titles (some hopefully from Capcom) that will come out, hopefully including Too Human. So, as far as I am concerned as long as there aren't any gaps in software genres then we have plenty of good developers. Sure a good racer or sports game might help (and some RPGs are always welcome), but as far as CodeMasters go I honestly have to say, with no offence to CodeMaster, "So what?"

bjlangley: The problem with being a small third party developer for Nintendo, is that there is no way that you can compete with the first and second party titles.

For instance, Sphinx was recently announced, and on the PS2 and Xbox it could well be the best adventure game out there, as in all honesty those platforms don't have anything in that genre trhat shines particularly brightly. But on the Gamecube, it will be competing with Zelda. No contest really.

I can't say that I've been particularly upset by Codemasters withdrawing Gamecube support, or any of the other third parties that have been less than willing to play with the Gamecube, as there really is a wealth of goodness direct from Nintendo, which is surely the reason we all bought Gamecubes anyway?

As long as the big third parties stick around, the Capcom's, Sega's and the like, I really don't think that my gaming diet will suffer at all.

The important thing for all companies is that they make a profit, so they have to make big games, hugely appealing games, and some of the small developers simply can't compete and have to withdraw. To me, it's no loss at all.

Franklin: It's unfortunately a sad reality that if you develop for a Nintendo console your games have to compete with the 1st and 2nd party games. As we all know about 90% (or more) of the people who buy a Nintendo console buy one to play the 1st and 2nd party games, making it very difficult for 3rd parties to sell their games on Nintendo systems.

Some people such as myslef might not be too bothered that these 3rd party games might not make it to the cube cause we still have 1st and 2nd parties. But then without these games there is little to attract the so-called "casual" gamer and as we can see from PS and PS2 sales "casual" gamers make up a very large proportion of the market.

Lucky Nintendo will always have the handheld market to keep profits up to stay in the home console market.

Javid: You have to realise that Nintendos largest audience consists of people who buy the console solely for the AAA titles and the odd other few that may interest them. The problem is, these other titles are often multi-format and they dont sell too well on the Cube considering they often arrive later than they do on the other consoles (why is beyond me). If Codemasters felt they had to quit making for the Cube then they obviously needed to as the demand wasn't there.

I can't see an N64 situation arrising again though, from the set off Nintendo played their cards right and made the Cube easy to develop for etc which draws alot of developers in, you can see how many titles the Cube has out and looking back to the N64 days its quite impressive. But, needless to say, not quite impressive enough, the PS2 still has more.

At the end of the day, Codemasters quit becuase they had to, the majority didnt want their games so in the end it shouldn't bother many people, it wont have too much effect to Nintendo either but the danger is if a kind of 'snow ball' effect comes into play and others follow along the same line that are more significant then Codemasters, then theres a problem.

Apart from the big games (Zelda, Metroid, F-Zero, Final Fantasy etc.) what are you looking forward to this year?

The Enigma: For me, the game to look forward to the most, apart from the previously stated big games, is Unity, which is being produced by Peter Molyneux and Jeff Minter. Although very little is known about it, it still sounds as though it could be genre-defining stuff.

Also I'm on the look out for Animal Crossing 2, which will hopefully reach these shores after the disappointment of Animal Crossing not being released on this side of the lake.

Kevin: Other games im looking forward to this year include Tom Clancy Ghost Recon and Conflict Desert Strom as its time we got some stealth team shooters.

Franklin: Are there any non-big games worth looking forward to? Well other than Zelda and Metriod, i'm really looking forward to PN 03 and Viewtiful Joe, but those would likely be big games too. Also RE: 4...but that's not out till next year at the earliest... unfortunatly, but that's a big game also isn't it?

Steve: Apart from the "big ones" im looking forward to quite a few actually...

Vexx I'm very interested in getting. Enter the Matrix - this game seems to have taken ages to make, I'll look forward to playing this. Also, Burnout 2; I loved the first one and want the 2nd. Oh, and Killer7 is looking rather tasty as well..

Link: TOO HUMAN! Too Human is my most anticipated game. Ok, so it might not even come out here in North America in 2003, but I'm still hoping. Apart from that and the big titles I don't think there are a lot of games that I am looking forward to. It will be interesting to see how Pikmin 2 turns out, but I wouldn't say I am anticipating it that much. I am looking forward to announcements more than games I guess. I am interestd to see what Retro Studios is working on next.

As for the other consoles I can say that am looking forward to Fable and I am interested in seeing how the Rare games turn out.

Phuzzy: I have to say I agree with The Enigma : Unity is what I'm looking out for this year.

Also, however, FF will make a welcome return to a Nintendo console in FF:Crystal Chronicles, of which I'm highly excited about.

Conor: One game I'm keeping my eye on for this year that I didn't even think I'd be excited about is Skies of Arcadia legends. I don't know why, but recently I've been feeling some RPG cravings, and writing it's preview for C-E has only intensified my hunger even further. The game, quite simply, looks astonishing. And with the massive amount of free time I'll have after my exams, it's 60+ hours gameplay will come in mighty handy.

I'm also looking forward to Harvest Moon for the end of the year. Being a PAL gamer I never got to experience he N64 edition of the series (boo! hiss!) and can't wait to start planting, farming, and, erm, dating. As well as this, P.N 03 will probably be finding it's way into my pocket sometime before the end of the year, the action in it looks to be quite enjoyable. Capcom's other beauty, Viewtiful Joe, which just looks...stunning.

There's more to Gamecube than Metroid and Zelda y'know.

bjlangley: Like Conor, I'm looking forward to Harvest Moon and Skies of Arcadia, but as well as these I'm fairly interested in this Giftpia game, but fear it may be Japan only.

I also find EA's promise of GBA connectivity on a bunch of it's sports titles very interesting. I'm wondering how they'll put it to use in FIFA 2004.

Mark: I'm rather interested in Capcom's 'exclusives'- will they live up to the hype? Viewtiful Joe and P.N.03 are the ones to look out for. FF: Crystal Chronicles also gets my vote as something to get very very excited about. Speaking of RPGs, Brownie Brown's Magical Vacation (bear with me) the GBA game is looking excellent- remember, many of the Secret of Mana team worked on it, so its practically guaranteed to be great. Ooh, yes, Harvest Moon for GC and GBA aswell. After the frankly wonderful Eternal Darkness, Silicon Knights' Too Human is another game I have huge anticipation for. Roll on E3 for more.....here's to 2003!

Ash: Well I'm mainly intrested in the big games to be honest. Not many smaller games appeal to me but I do try and play them to get a good impression of them, so there may be some I like, I just got to try them first.