Your favourite games creators?

[Nanor]

So who are your favourite games creators? I mean, EA and DICE certainly aren't on mine, and shouldn't be on any of yours. I mean, what they do to butcher their games, and half the things they do are just absolute stupidity.

However, I like what I see from Relic, the creators of Dawn of War and Company of Heroes. I've been a member of their forums and they really and truly do put so much attention into what their fans say. For example, I've been browsing around their forums and I can see their admins, and people who actually work at Relic, posting and giving input. It's like an apparition! We really should be seeing more of our game developers. They're listening to what their fans are saying, and keeping the fans interested by giving news etc.

Although they may have perhaps, messed up the netcode on CoH a bit (I hear your teeth griding Bambi ) they really do have a concrete game. Despite a few things being problamatic (Calliope spam!) the game is still majorly enjoyable. I'm yet to hear an "OMFG MY ROCKET WHEN THROUGH THE TANK" as I heard so often in BF2 in it's early days. The game is doing remarkably well for it's early days compared with BF2. We'll just have to see if Relic break their game by patching it.

Relic so far is the only company that would tip the balance towards buying a game because it says Relic on the cover.

What 'bout you guys?

 

[Gibsonfire]

Hmm my list would include Activision as they make similar games to EA however they actually work and are fun to play, Valve for their ingenious download system Steam (Which actually works ), Blizzard for the excellent WoW which is always evolving with their dedicated team.

 

[elDiablo]

WARNING: everything below is taken as my opinion. Don't think this is the way everyone thinks

• id Software - in the early days, they were the beginning of the PC games' era. Not just Doom (which is obviously a big player), but Commander Keen (well, Daring Dave in Copyright Infringment) was the first side-scrolling game for the Apple II computer. All games before it were like Zelda for the GB - move to edge of screen, whole screen moves to next section - whereas Commander Keen was side-scrolling, like Super Mario for the Nintendo.
• John Carmack - nowadays, id Software is becoming more like EA. It's big, thinks it can just do whatever game it wants, with little innovation, and just copying whatever else is around (Quake Wars is just a pretty version of BF, but I'm sure it will as fun). And, yes, Carmack is part of this (wanting to make Doom3, Quake4 and the likes), however, he as a Games PROGRAMMER is quite an awesome guy. He is the one coming up with MegaTexture - a way of making a HUGE (think Gigabytes, not Megabytes) texture onto a game world, so that artists can make one big, non-repeating texture (for the ground, for example). This could bring some new life into games.
• Introversion Software - these guys are my all-time favourites. If you don't know who they are, or what they do, this is them. Oh how I love them, let me list the ways:
  • They have shown that in a world of big game developers, the small companies can still kick arse.
  • And, related to that, the Steam people have Darwinia posters hanging in their offices. Iv don't have Steam posters hanging in their office/garage. Who love whom? Really?
  • They don't give up, even when they start to run out of money. Darwinia took a LONG time to make. Iv where literally about to run out of money when it was released, and it didn't even sell very well upon initial release. Yet here they are, a year or so later, releasing their third game.
  • Iv don't do copies. Uplink is different to pretty much everything out there, Darwinia is completely different to Uplink, Defcon is completely different to Darwinia. No one can even begin to imagine what they will make next.
• Armadillo Run's creator - a single guy making a very addictive game.

So, yeah, my favourites.

 

[Tetsuo_Shima]

Is this a discussion, or just another opportunity to take a cheap dig at EA? I'm fed up with all this 'hate EA' crap, if you don't like them, don't buy their games. I'm sick and tired of you waving horror stories in front of my face as if it's going to change my mind.

That aside, the development companies I like the most are probably Take Two/Rockstar, EA (no, not just to make a point. Think CnC, Medal of Honor, Battlefield for chrissakes), Rare (although, they have been cack of late. Viva Pinata? Away you go, Rare), Polyphony digital (GT, numerous other PS games). Theres a few others I like but can't remember. Nintendo themselves are vg masters, maybe my favourite of all. Oh, and of course, Squeenix! (Square Enix, or maybe just Square, cos the older games are better in general)

 

[thatbloke]

(well, Daring Dave in Copyright Infringment)

I Think you'll find you mean Dangerous Dave.

otherwise... I agree with the lot

 

[elDiablo]

Pah, I'm in labs since 8:55, I can make ONE mistake You didn't even know I ordered a pizza from you yesterday!

 

[thatbloke]

its not my fault i had a screen that was full of 50 pizzas to make for an hour! every time you make some, more came in. And in future if you want to order a pizza you need to call the store, not me

 

[DocBot]

I like DICE (but then again, EA owns them now). Starbreeze as well - both of these were originally made up of "scene" guys, and that makes it fun. Black Isle. Lots of others, there are just too many!

Also, when you're picking/not picking on EA, you sure you mean _development_ EA and not _publisher_ EA? Because publishing doesn't have much to do with the creation of a game as such (other than allow for it) imho.

 

[Piacular]

"OMFG MY ROCKET WHEN THROUGH THE TANK"

CoH is far more frustrating than that, at least in BF2 you can fire at the tank. Relic are not on my list, their games are not, for me, as great as they seem to be for others.

I'd put in DICE, 2 out their 4 Battlefield games have been excellent, even whilst being flawed!

Blizzard are nice and consistent, though I don't particularly play WoW, I understand a lot of people do .

Microsoft Game Studios! I stand by the publishers/creators, they have never made a bad game! Rise of Legends doesn't count, it's not gaming entertainment, its torture.

Ubisoft, more of a publisher, but lot's of thier games are most excellent. Far Cry *fond rememberance*, probably one of my most replayed single player games ever. All the SC's, and recently Dark Messiah. Thuper .

Cavedog! Wooo! TA = seminal! Not TA:K, that can go sit in a hole. 1 out of 2 isn't bad .

Westwood. The C&C series are fun, played them all and liked most of them .

Ooh, and Valve! HL series are legendary, and CS was free!

 

[DeZmond]

Microprose did some good work - notably X-Com interceptor (decent space combat), Worms 2, and a whole host of others. Also spawned half the decent development studios that are now out and about.

Again for the same reasons as elD I like Introversion a lot.

And Lucasarts are one of the best developers ever - NO question. (Just played Jedi Knight again... what a lovely lovely game )

 

[BiG D]

Microsoft Game Studios! I stand by the publishers/creators, they have never made a bad game! Rise of Legends doesn't count, it's not gaming entertainment, its torture.

Ubisoft, more of a publisher, but lot's of thier games are most excellent. Far Cry *fond rememberance*, probably one of my most replayed single player games ever. All the SC's, and recently Dark Messiah. Thuper .

Microsoft, yes. Freelancer!

Ubisoft Montreal, if we're talking developers. Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia. Can't lose there.

Q? Lumines. Meteos. Fuck yes.

 

[Devil_Incarnate]

I disagree with everything eldiablo said, mostly just on principle but also because of the hours of sitting watching him playing that damned armadillo game because i couldn't be bothered getting up and going back to my room.

 

[Wraith]

It's hard to narrow down a list as there's so many good ones out there but here goes.

Bethesda Morrowind adn Oblivion are both fantastic games. Giant scope for exploration, with a superb mix of fighting, magic and diplomacy. I love the Dark Brotherhood quests. And it has Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean doing the voices.

EA / Dice I've played all of the Battlefield series except Vietnam and loved them all. Also, while I've heard all of the horror stories about BF2, I never had any major problems with it until recently, and even those I think are down to my ISP rather than the game itself. I've also had no problems with BF2142. Not even experienced any lag in the titans like other people have. Finally, I have to say the titan mode is suberb. Attacking and defending the titan is one of the most intense and yet fun gaming experiences I've had.

Westwood Command & Conquer. All of them.

Egosoft A small German company best known for their space trading/combat series. While the storylines in their games are not great , the gameplay is a lot of fun. They also listen to their fans. Half of the features in the newer games come from ideas posted on their forums by fans of their games.

Lucasarts Jedi Knight series, X-Wing series, Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 (although the ending of 2 was rushed for release). Oh, and Lego Star Wars

Rockstar The GTA series is great fun, especially Vice City. San Andreas was not as good as the previous two, what with the introduction of the character building and the "press the button at the correct time" missions.

I can't remember any more at the moment, but there are plenty of other good ones out there.

 

[Gibsonfire]

Lucasarts Jedi Knight series, X-Wing series, Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 (although the ending of 2 was rushed for release). Oh, and Lego Star Wars

Oh yes KOTOR! Amazing game, true Star Wars Roleplaying

 

[waterproofbob]

I LOVE EA.

NOW I'LL TAKE U ALL ON.
hehehehe thats right u heard me.
no in all honesty i just looked through my game collection and half of them have some EA link and i have very few complaints. i was entertained by them and tbh thats all i'm looking for.

 

[BiG D]

Lucasarts Jedi Knight series, X-Wing series, Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 (although the ending of 2 was rushed for release).

KotOR was developed by Bioware. Bioware outsourced 2 to another studio, I think.

 

[Gopha]

Activision: Clearly for SOF , Total war series and CoD
EA/DICE: Even if there games do not work well first time they are Brilliant, they Aim high, do not always reach their goals but they come damn close!
Neversoft: Cant beat the classic Tony Hawk series and Shaun Palmers Snowboarding!

 

[PsiSoldier]

Ooh, I forgot Westwood .

Yeah, they got eaten by EA so they're not really around anymore .

 

[SgtFury]

KotOR was developed by Bioware. Bioware outsourced 2 to another studio, I think.

Yep to Obsidian Entertainment. The company who have just recently finished Neverwinter Nights 2.

Again another one licenced out from Bioware.

 

[BiG D]

That's the one.
* Sharpens his random game trivia *