Game Studios - Which is the Best?

[MetalMilitia]

Which game developer would you rate above all others, in terms of the quality of their games, their business practises or their contribution to gaming as a whole?

For me it has got to be Valve. Not only have they put out some of the greatest games ever seen on the PC, but they have been extremely supportive of their community and have developed one of the best innovations in game distribution since the CD-ROM - Steam.

I also like how much they give you for free when you buy one of their games. Take the Orange Box, for example. For the price of a regular game you get all of HL2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. Each of which are worth £30 of my money alone. Not to mention all of the additional maps and features currently in development.

Props also need to go to Epic for developing the game engines that just about everyone uses these days. Without them I dare say gaming as a whole would be a much uglier affair.

[Guitar Woman]

Looking Glass.

And Treasure.

[executioneer]

do we have to go with developers currently in business or can they be defunct

caues for currently in business i'd go with valve too, but for defuncties, oof too many to choose from easily

[Zomboid]

bioware. If it's now defunct companies, I'd say interplay :(

[Emu]

bioware

[HickMan]

I opened this thread thinking I'd be in the minority when I would say bioware. But I guess not. Good job, bioware, for making really, really, really good RPGs. Mass Effect is one of the most amazing games I've ever played.

[Mockery]

Way back in the day I would've said Sierra or LucasArts, these days I gotta go with Blizzard. They may take a while between releases, but the amount of work they put into 'em are reflected the ravenous reactions they get from their fans. Having played Starcraft II already, I think their best games may still be ahead of them.

[RaNkeri]

BioWare

[Zomboid]

Their main office is here in Edmonton but I'm not sure where, exactly. Also, I became aware of a VIDEO GAME MUSIC CONCERT they were putting on, like the day before :(

[Fathom Zero]

Valve, Epic Games, 2K Games, Double Fine

and Broderbund.

[executioneer]

defunct i'd go with simtex, looking glass studios, and interplay

[Chojin]

Interplay isn't a studio, is it? Weren't they a publisher?

Off the top of my head I'd call for Remedy.

[executioneer]

they started out as a studio- wasteland, battle chess, neuromancer, and bard's tale are games they developed

[executioneer]

and i think they did most of the first Fallout, too

[DeadKennedys]

THE BEST Valve, Blizzard

THE WORST Capcom, EA

FALLEN FROM GRACE Nintendo... seriously guys

[Fathom Zero]

The best thing Blizzard ever did was Justice League: Task Force.

[Misdemonar]

Black Isle Studios

[Roggs]

Bioware, Infinity Ward, and Blizzard

[BlackHexen]

Squaresoft, Namco, Capcom and Konami. Everyone have classics and new great series.

[MLE]

Konami doesn't deserve a top spot if only fir their business practices.

[Guitar Woman]

Capcom might be the biggest collection of fuckers in the industry, what are you

[Dr. Boogie]

Konami doesn't deserve a top spot if only fir their business practices.

Aw, I was going to say Konami. What've they been doing?

[MarioRPG]

Valve! Also Capcom.

The GTAIV crew are about to be hailed as gods so... them?

[Girl Drink Drunk]

I may sound a little old-fashioned here, but Capcom, Namco, and Konami. As for companys in their glory days, pre-N64 Nintendo, Sega, and Squaresoft. I know they dropped the "soft". I'm talking before that Square Enix merger bullshit!

[MLE]

Just ask Chojin about Konami -he has a personal vendetta, and possibly a lawsuit against them.

[Dr. Boogie]

Dammit, baiting is one-tier only on these boards! You tell me!

[Jeff The Ninja]

Team Ninja, Ninja Gaiden is proof.

[dddddddddd]

enix

[Dimnos]

Im curious to hear what Konami did to Chojin. I wouldnt have called them the best but I wouldnt have called them that bad. I would have to vote for Bioware.

[Fathom Zero]

Konami was dating his mom for a while when he was a child. They were going to get married, but then Konami started beating her. Oh, she kept quiet about it up until the wedding night when Konami staggered out onto the patio, bottle clutched in hand and vomit on it's several hundred dollar tuxedo. I remember that night. It walked away yelling, "I'll be back for you baby! I'm taking you and your little bastard out west."

Needless to say, Chojin doesn't really like to talk about it anymore.

[Phoenix Gamma]

Konami's pretty good. MGS, Contra, Castlevania, and Boktai/Lunar Knights are all pretty solid games. If you don't mind looking like a tool, there's also DDR...

Valve is probably my favorite American Studio. They always think about the player and make sure their game nudges you in the right direction while still letting you solve stuff on your own. They always patch stuff ASAP, and they've done an outstanding job with the Team Fortress 2 updates. It's nice to feel like a developer actually cares about gamers.

Nintendo as a whole used to be my favorite Japanese developer, but they haven't released anything lately that gets me pumped like in the SNES or N64 days. If Treasure starts putting out more stuff again besides SHMUPs, I'd love it. They blew me away with Mischief Makers.

[Fathom Zero]

They blew me away with Mischief Makers.

Ugh.

[Phoenix Gamma]

What? It was a really good platformer, the puzzles got pretty trickey, and the bosses were really exciting.

Only game that lets you ride a kitten riding a rocket while stopping laser beams with your bare hands. Also, SHAKE SHAKE.

[Fathom Zero]

:rolleyes :gw

[LordSappington]

I think Valve, Double Fine, Bungie, ID and Squaresoft.
Valve made a lot of epic games. Truly, truly epic games.
Double Fine's Psychonauts is unbeatable.
Bungie made great games, and is extremely supportive of fan-based work (we all got the marathon helmets for our Millennium Falcon we made of crates)
I take it back DOOM is unbeatable but psychonauts still rocks
And FF7 and Advent Children are still two of my favorite things ever.
Oh, and Team Ninja.

[timrpgland]

Off the top of my head some that I've appreciated:

Bioware, Retro, Rockstar, SNK, Relic, Origin Systems, Sierra, Level 5

[EisigerBiskuit]

Firefly Studios.

[Fat_Hippo]

Yep, Bioware all right. Pretty much only studio capable of delivering a healthy stream of good RPG's in the last 10 years, so that's definitley something.

[Schimid]

Though I've played only one of their games, I really really like Double Fine. Same way with Grasshopper Manufacturing or whatever Suda 51 is calling himself.

Konami is absolutely fantastic at making the games that I absolutely hate to play but love the story to, like Metal Gear and Silent Hill.

[Guitar Woman]

Retro Studios did a fan goddamn tastic job translating Metroid into 3D and produced some really, really atmospheric and generally great games. Corruption less than the other two, but still!

I'm eager to see what they'll do now that the Prime trilogy is over and done with.