27 replies to this topic

[Felix]

Out of all the companies that develop and create games for the world to play, which is your favorite(s) out of them, and why? Mine would have to be Insomniac Games.

Their games are filled with creativity, effort, & quality. Not to mention, they created the Ratchet & Clank series, my favorite video game series of all-time.

Edited by Felix, 11 August 2012 - 11:32 PM.

[Balding Spider]

My absolute favorite is a tough call, but put a gun to my head and I would name Platinum games/Clover as my favorite (before you say it, Platinum is Clover). I've been a big fan of many of their games. The games they create are so full of personality, are of top quality, and often so balls to the walls crazy. And I love it.
These guys aren't afraid to take risks with their games, I love them for doing it.

[Shrek]

Yong-Yong games, no contest. Bringing us such gems like Sonic 3D Blast 5, Sonic Adventure 7, and many other classics that have warmed the hearts of our youth for generations to come.

...Jokes aside, I'll definitely go with Media Molecule. Not only have they made the amazing Little Big Planet series, but they also constantly take in fan-input and are always trying to appeal to the fanbase over everything else.

Edited by Shrek, 11 August 2012 - 05:00 PM.

[Gregzilla]

Despite their questionable marketing decisions and laziness in recent years, Nintendo is my favorite just because I love pretty much all their big franchises. Their old games are legendary, and I still have fun with most of their new games. Some say they are past their prime, but I think they still have what it takes to give us that felling of good old Nintendo magic. I will admit they need to step it up in terms of game announcements for Wii U, but I still love 'em.

But if I had to say who is the BEST developer, I'd have to say Valve. They know how to keep first-person games interesting, and they have a brilliant understanding of how to tell stories in an interactive medium, whether it be the hilarity of Portal 2, the seriousness of Half-Life, or even the amusing TF2 videos. Plus, they constantly keep gamers up to date in certain aspects of their games, listening to what players want and supplying the goods. The only way I can really describe it is..... Valve just gets it.

Also Rareware. Before the dark times.

[Nix]

When you see this company's name on a game, you know it's going to be good. Platinum Games has shown that they have a knack for creativity and they push various gameplay genres to their limits in both style and substance. This is the only company out there where I can say that I like all of their games, and a couple of them, like Bayonetta and Vanquish, are some of the best games that I have ever played. It's no wonder why I got, and still am, pissed as all hell when SEGA delayed Anarchy Reigns outside of Japan. I'm looking forward to AR when SEGA finally decides to release it here, I'm interested in the game they're developing for the Wii U (Project P-100 I think?), and I'm definitely pumped as hell for Metal Gear Rising.

Edited by Pinkamina, 12 August 2012 - 02:58 PM.

[Tornado]

You've seen it before. Now see it again, rewritten for the modern August audience (A.K.A. lol copypaste)!

It's 1990. You've just released a state-of-the-art arcade cabinet that can give Capcom's CPS-2 a run for it's money (notable because CPS-2 didn't come out for three more years). But damn it, those home consoles on the market just can't handle your awesome shit. The SNES isn't even out yet and you know it can't either. So fuck it. Just sell that hardware to regular people (well, rich regular people), and if anyone really wants your games on "regular" consoles than fob it off to others to do the wetwork (though there were a few really good ports, like AoF on the TurboGrafx-CD). Not enough people can afford your stuff, but really want to play it? Well, make a version of it that runs on CDs, and reward them for putting up with the flaws with the medium.


And so they did. And while there were certainly some stinkers, SNK spent 14 years, basically by themselves for the most part, absolutely flooding the system with games. Quality games that were at least comparable to that of their competitors, if not outright better. But that's not why I'm saying SNK, because I was middle-class in upbringing rather than a Batman-esque child of privilege so I didn't even have a Neo CD (though my cousin did). No, stuff like this is why I'm saying SNK:



Look at how absurdly detailed that game is. How smooth and complex the animation is. How everything looks like no expense was spared in its development. And how that was on hardware that came out before the SNES.


Now remember how Capcom nearly lost their shirt on Street Fighter III when they developed that the same way. Note how Art of Fighting was, if it was recognized at all, was only remembered because of Dan; whereas FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE SO WHAT'S IT GONNA BE? IT'S THE THIRD STRIKE Y'ALL IT'S STREET FIGHTER III!



..



*ahem*





Anyway, if the care and detail they put into AoF 3 doesn't show you just how little of a fuck SNK gave sometimes when it came to actually making money, when they spared no expense to ground-up redesign what was basically (at that point) their fourth-string franchise, I don't know what does. They did it just for the sake of seeing if they could, and because the few people who did actually play it would love it. They developed all the Metal Slug games basically the same way (though those at least made money for the company). In fact, the KoF series was from the start just a long-running love letter to their fans, and thanks to the PS2/PS3 I've gotten as many an hour out of those games as I ever have for the Street Fighter titles. And the best part is, they haven't changed. While I suppose they are somewhat more financially responsible (supporting their "fix" with terrible spin-off titles, creepy dating sims and pachinko machines; most of which never make it out of Japan so they are irrelevant to this slathering of adoration), they are just as crazy for the detail as they were in their prime. KoF XIII is boss, yo.











Bonus round: Dimps was made up largely of SNK defectors who evacuated when the company exploded at the turn of the century. So you have SNK to thank for giving Dimps the training and skills to produce all of the glorious titles they've bestowed upon the Sonic community.



Yay!

Edited by Gilda, 11 August 2012 - 05:34 PM.

[Katzii]

Does 1990's Taito count?

Because they made Parasol Stars. That's all they need to have done.

[Stritix]

SEGA. They created great games such as the classic Sonic's (1, 2, 3&K), and the adventure Sonic's (1, 2, Heroes).

Their games from 2005-now have been rather...bad. Nothing innovative or anything above average quality. They're not getting better either, but they're still my favourite for the old games they used to put out.

I suppose in second place, Nintendo. Apart from NSMB2, their games have remained to be great, innovative, and always high quality.

[Ruby CUL Terumi]

Because Guild Wars

[-Clara Oswald-]

Got to be Naughty Dog. They created Crash Bandicoot for the PS1 and the Unchartered series for the PS3.

Rockstaedy for their part in creating the Batman games, Arkham Ayslum and Arkham City. Massive and creative level design with tones of replay value.

Ubisoft for Rayman. Great music and level design. Love the comedy side of it. Strong and rewarding gameplay.

Edited by MilesKnightwing, 11 August 2012 - 05:34 PM.

[Nepenthe]

The companies that have given me the most bang for my buck over the years, the ones who have produced the most titles that I have played for the longest spans of total combined time, have easily been Nintendo EAD and Sonic Team. Super Mario World, the classic Sonic games, Super Mario 64 and Sonic Adventure, Galaxy, Unleashed; it kinda goes on. Certainly I've gotten on a kick with other games throughout my gamer lifespan. I remember the weeks I was on a Crash Bandicoot 3 binge, I remember when I opened the Xbox for Christmas with my brother and we played Halo together, I certainly recall tripping balls over Rayman Origins, and I currently cannot stop playing Modern Warfare 3's online multiplayer, but none of these companies their subsequent titles to me have had the same impact on my gaming memories and preferences as EAD and ST have.

[Felix]

SEGA. They created great games such as the classic Sonic's (1, 2, 3&K), and the adventure Sonic's (1, 2, Heroes).

Their games from 2005-now have been rather...bad. Nothing innovative or anything above average quality. They're not getting better either, but they're still my favourite for the old games they used to put out.

I suppose in second place, Nintendo. Apart from NSMB2, their games have remained to be great, innovative, and always high quality.

Sega is a publisher, not a developer. Sonic Team makes the games. :U I will agree on them developing games like the Classic series and Adventures, each of which were good for their time.

[Ride The Walrus]

Suda51. Easily. Their games are so unique, and brilliant it's a no-question for me.

Valve would probably be my second though.

[ChaosXVI]

Ever since the Metroid Prime Trilogy ended, I await each E3 with extreme curiosity, wondering just what these amazing people are crafting behind the scenes. Donkey Kong Country Returns was not at all what I was expecting that project to be, but they blew me away once again with a game that after removing nostalgia glasses, is superior to the original DKC games...except for DKC2's soundtrack. Can't wait to see what they are cooking up next, hoping for Metroid though!

Edited by ChaosXVI, 11 August 2012 - 07:57 PM.

[The Blue]

Why? Well, for starters, Ubisoft has developed games like Beyond Good and Evil, Tom Clancy's, I Am Alive, Far Cry, Assassin's Creed and -most importantly- Rayman. What's not to like?
And another one:

YEAH POKÉMON.

That's all I can think of.

[Dan-imeJ86]

This should have easily been Nintendo, for the sheer number of quality games and cool to addictive franchises. Plus my impulsive urge to purchase any console or handheld they release. But...well...just like every other machine the 100 year old company release, they always seem to have a long and dry demise as the next one takes over. But that doesn't happen to the handhelds oddly enough...

The GameCube had a long and dull end, with very little to nothing new coming to the console game wise, during the readying of the Wii, and I'm starting to see that with the Wii currently too. The only Wii game I can recall, that will be worth getting before a wild WiiU appears, would be Kirby's 20th Anniversary game, but I don't even know when that is supposed to be released...
Another thing the big N do that annoys me, despite being a Nintendo fan boy, is the region lock. I was so disappointed to learn about the 3DS and that very issue. Being European, there are a lot of gold that will never see the light of day here. I don't care about not understanding a language, any and all fans will find a way around that. Yet they insist on forcing us to import a local machine to play the local games. It was cool to be able to play any game for any region on the GBA and original DS. Plus I don't understand if there's a financial benefit to the region lock, or not...

SEGA can't possibly take the top. I do enjoy most Sonic games, but often get bored with Super Monkey Ball and...well...they don't seem to give enough attention to there offer franchises.
They also don't seem to be using Platinum Games to it's full potential. I clearly saw that in the Anarchy Reigns thread. There called "Platinum Games" for goodness sake! They could create a game called "The Crappiest Game In Gaming History" and it would still be f*cking awesome!!

...oh...that's right, this is a topic about your favourite game developers. Not a topic about potential mistakes, game companies make.



Nippon Ichi Software



The Unofficial Mascot, Dood!

Everything needs something...unique, that once seen, you instantly think of whatever that...unique something is supposed to represent. For NIS, that has to be the Prinny, dood. The Prinny also represents the companies sense of humour which almost always makes it into there games. Kinda like the Prinny himself, who will often appear in random games. Digging deeper into those games can often net you an appearance from other characters from the franchise the Prinny first appear in.

Even The Europeans, Dood!?

Once upon a time, I would see the type of games that NIS would create and think "Heh, I bet that doesn't leave Japan." Because of my cynical nature, I often enjoy being wrong. As not only did those games make it to the US, they surprised me even further by sending them here, to the EU area. And this almost always happens with NIS games.

Sadly there are still a handful of games that don't make it to other countries. At the top of my list of disappointments would have to be La Pucelle: Ragnarok, for PSP. A port of Tactics on PS2.

Takehito Harada & Tenpei Sato, Dood!

Need I say more?

--------------------

I'm gonna hafta cut this post shorter than I wanted, as I have to go off the computer now. I might edit in the rest later, but at the moment, my Dad insists on checking out ebay for who knows how long, so I gotta go... T_T

Edited by DanimeJ87, 11 August 2012 - 08:10 PM.

[Discoid]

Back in the 30 Days thread, I listed mine as Platinum Games, just as many others had as well. They're a damn good developer, after all. ... But now?

Yeah, the recent release of Persona 4 Arena has changed my mind on this one. Why? Well, you don't need to look any further than their Persona series. Back in 2006, Atlus showed gamers one of the JRPG genre's very best games; Persona 3 had fantastic gameplay, a great story that managed to get really dark and cynical without becoming pretentious and hypocritical in the process, tons of mythology and religious symbolism, stellar voice acting, and one of the best localization jobs the genre had ever seen. Persona 3, despite some flaws, was a revolutionary game, no doubt. But how do you top that? Well, two years later they managed to do just that; a game that took the base created by Persona 3 and built upon it, fixing all the major flaws in the process. It's no secret that Persona 4 is my favorite game, and that's exactly why. Despite the story not quite having the depth of Persona 3's, it's seriously damn-near flawless in my eyes. The only thing I can find to complain about is one minor nitpick about the story. It's that good.

So they're good at making JRPGs. That's cool, but being limited to one genre is a bit lame, so where should they go from there? How about a 2D fighting game made with collaboration of acclaimed developer Ark System Works? Fucking. Yes. Despite its very existence practically being an oxymoron (JRPGs and Fighting games don't tend mix very well), Persona 4 Arena is leaps and bounds better than even I had expected. An awesome story with lots of mystery, intrigue, character interaction, and even some heart-wrenching moments? A great fighting system that manages to be both incredibly deep (as per usual for 2D fighting games) but also more easily accessible for newcomers than any other serious 2D fighters? Sign me up.

So I love Persona. Big whoop. Anything else these guys can do? Hell yeah. We've already covered how they've excelled at making both JRPGs and 2D Fighters, so how about we talk about one of the best puzzle games on the market? Yep, directly after releasing Persona 4, Atlus' Persona Team started developing Catherine, a very... quirky game that managed to garner a ton of attention for its ballsy premise and unique use of the tired "morality system". While the gameplay was definitely fun in its own right, the big draw for this game, as to be expected from Atlus, is the story. Even with a premise as simple as "Choose between committing with your girlfriend or staying together with this hot girl you just met", Catherine is full of twists and turns to keep the story interesting for the few hours of a single playthrough (of course, multiple playthroughs are encouraged and worth doing).

On top of all of their awesome internally developed games, Atlus is also a fantastic publisher, bringing over niche games and supporting them fantastically (compare Atlus' handling of Demons Souls to Namco Bandai's performance with the sequel, Dark Souls), and that's something I very much appreciate as well. Their PR work is also great, and they always communicate with their fans (there's a section in their forums dedicated to requesting localized games; if they see that people are interested, they'll try and get to work on localizing it). Hell, they've offered to localize Namco Bandai's Tales of games for them just because of how inconsistent Namco Bandai is with their own releases.

I freaking love Atlus, and you should too. They're by and large the best company working in the industry as of now, simply because they know what their fans want, and they deliver on it.

... They also have an adorable mascot and that's always a plus.

[Urban Flow]

[Lennox]

Welp, I'm torn. I may as well just go out on a limb and redo my 27th daily post for the 30 Days of Vidya event. In exact order, but its in a spoiler tag.

Monolith Soft. Ahh, the new Nintendo EAD3 for me. They've recently been taken over by the big N, and their inaugural Wii release, Xenoblade, has convinced me to follow their various design philosophies with RPG's, such as how they've put a spin on them, innovated them and most importantly, revitalized the entire JRPG genre after the dragging corridor-fest that was Final Fantasy XIII.

In a world of Skyrims and Mass Effects, Monolith Soft's titles provided players with a new way to enjoy JRPG's--modernizing them without making them too boring, which was their new stance on story-versus-gameplay ever since the Nintendo buyout. Their older games had quite the emphasis on cutscenes and plot, to the point where their games were more known for their immaculate storytelling with myriad symbolisms and deep, expansive inter-game connections. Yeah, I do like a lot of storytelling in my gaming.

Now, they've been known for such worlds and settings as expansive, full of life and sidequests as these:

Spoiler

Or maybe even characters and key elements as immaculately designed as these:

Spoiler

Since they were just a bunch of graphic designers and artists for various Squaresoft games back in the day, JRPG's and design are very much their forte. Namco also bought them to produce various RPG's that didn'nt have the Tales of name, such as Namco X Capcom. Now, substance in the form of various settings, innumerable sidequests and elements packed with charm and content have found their home in Monoilith Soft. They've even helped me focus my attention on gameplay and preventing things from becoming too linear.

Let's face it, Monolith Soft is just that awesome.

OH AND I FORGOT TO MENTION~:

Spoiler

Game Freak. If anything, I hold them responsible for getting me into video games in the first place. Due to their input in creating the Pokémon franchise, I grew up fond of JRPG's much like it--Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy, heck, I prefer Japanese gaming over any other type any day (just as long as you don't give me eroges/H-games/guroges). And of course, if you say Game Freak, you have to say...

NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINTENDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~! WOOOHOOHOOHOHOOOOOH! Yes, Nintendo is by far one of the pioneers that doesn't just revolutionize gaming--it singlehandedly saved video games from the 1983 crash that doomed the field, and caused it to innovate the ways in which Man has fun. And let's not forget their main competition's ace studio before the 3D gaming era, which is...

Yes, Sonic Team. To me, this studio proved to me that games with broken bases for fanbases were good--there were people who believed in the franchise that they were making, and their inaugural Sonic franchise was successful enough that it went beyond competing with Nintendo and got one of the biggest fanbases in the history of gaming itself. And yeah, Sonic > Mario nowadays. XD

Edited by Hedgehogs Boosh, 11 August 2012 - 09:42 PM.

[Teoskaven]

-Monolith Studios: Let's put simple: Nietsche theory of the death of God and stuff + giant robots. Epic win istantly. I wish they stated at Square a little more...

-Kojima Production: Did i really have to say for this one? Just their presence made Castlevania -Lords of Shadow- a much more epic game.

-Clover Studios/Platinum Games: All that was stated before.

-Sucker Punch: Both the Sly series and the inFamous series are pretty good and well done. I put these guys up Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games because the series they abandoned weren't as much big as Crash and Spyro were. Oh yeah, and because i don't like the Uncharted series.