Game Developer and Distributor Likes/Dislikes

[Paro]

Which game developers do you love? How about love to hate? Or ones that you're indifferent to? Here are my opinions on the following:

Nippon Ichi: Quickly becoming one of my favorites. Disgaea was absolutely fantastic(though Atlus brought it stateside), as is Makai Kingdom(Phantom Brave and La Pucelle were good but not spectacular). I'm also swiftly falling in love with Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana. Great characters, good dialogue, fun gameplay, and lots of extras for the hardcore gamer.

Atlus Software: Another great RPG developer(and has ties to the above). I loved em for brining Disgaea stateside, and that love only grew when I got ahold of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Digital Devil Saga 1 isn't great, but it's still a solid RPG, and quite different from the norm in terms of subject matter. Stella Deus, I've been told, is also quite good.

Konami: DDR aside(not my thing), I love these guys. MGS, Silent Hill, the Suikoden series, hell yeah. Very rarely do they dissapoint.

Capcom: A developer of extremes. When they're good, they're really good(RE:4, DMC 3, Viewtiful Joe), but when they're bad, they're REALLY bad(Mega Man X 7, P.N. 03, RE: Outbreak, and Megaman EXE for Gamecube). Capcom also makes some of the best damn Zelda games ever(yay Minish Cap!)

Square-Enix: These guys are responsible for some of the best games ever made, but most of their releases since the merger have fallen flat(although Star Ocean was pretty good).

Rare: Kinda like Capcom, they oscillate between great and horrid(although most of their recent ones have been bad). They have greats like Donkey Kong Country, Goldeneye, and Conker's Bad Fur Day. However, they also have major stinkers like Diddy Kong Racing, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, and Jet Force Gemini.

Bioware: I love these guys. They consistently make great games.

Blizzard: Although they're not really a console developer, these guys are the best on the computer software market. I have yet to play a single bad game from them.

EA games: I'm probably one of the few people who don't like these guys. I'm not a big fan of sports games, and most of their other games are rather stale for me. I'm also not a big fan of Sims or Medal of Honor.

Namco: Love the Soul Caliber games(and Soul Edge, too). Katamari Damacy is great(although that's mostly SVG), as was Tales of Symphonia. Baten Kaitos was kinda lame, though(as was Xenosaga 2). Overall, they're almost as consistently good as Konami.

Insomniac: 3 absolutely fantastic Rachet and Clank games in 3 years, and a fourth this year. Also, these guys really deserve an award for managing to get so much quality out of the PS2 hardware. These guys can really make a good game engine.
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[Sylvie]

Squaresoft - I say Squaresoft because a lot of the games after the merge sucked.

Atlus - They distributed my possibly favorite game ever, (tactics ogre) so I love them.

Quest - I beleive these people MADE Tactics Ogre, so I love them more.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Kojima Productions: Here is a group of guys whose games were so successful--both critically and commercially--that they split off from Konami to become their own self-contained production house. Prior to that event, they were responsible for creating the Metal Gear, Zone of the Enders, and Boktai franchises, which they now make adept use of their status to continue to evolve.



Treasure: Similar to Kojima Productions, Treasure split off from Konami in the mid-90s to form their own company, although it was more of an exodus than a promotion in their case. Starting from nothing, they established a reputation for themselves as creators of consistently fun and innovative games. From Gunstar Heroes to Alien Soldier to Mischief Makers to Ikaruga, their products are known as some of the best, most action-packed experiences to be had in all of gaming.



Konami: Lest anyone think that the Treasure guys left them without any remaining genius, Konami put together some of the best action games of '90s both before and after their departure. While most developers took the next generation to mean "the last generation, but prettier," they employed the advanced capabilities of 16-bit consoles to the fullest benefit of the gameplay itself. In the previous era, they made a name for themselves with franchises like Gradius, Contra, and Castlevania, the quality of which they've done well to maintain ever since.



Quest: After developing the Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre games, which even now are considered among the best SRPGS of all time, Quest dissolved as its key members joined up with Square. However, the extent to which these individuals have hung together on their various projects has been such that the unmistakable Quest essence remains largely intact to this day. Games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy XII are easily recognizable as "Quest" games.



Working Designs: An American publisher of Japanese games that arose during a time when no one else in the industry cared enough to give games--particularly text-heavy RPGs--decent (or even coherent) translations. Headed by Victor Ireland, they not only translated the scripts of games but also exhaustively optimized them for the English language. Compared to stricter translations that were so impractically literal that they appeared to have been converted by a machine (http://babel.altavista.com/), a script from Working Designs was always more natural, more readable, and, through some kind of arcane sorcery, legitimately entertaining. In this way, they singlehandedly pioneered the very concept of what is now called "localization" in games.



Atlus USA: Picking up right where Working Designs left off, Atlus consistently brings great niche games out of Japan bearing top-notch localizations. And while Working Designs was such an small-scale operation that you could believe Mr. Ireland ran it out of his garage, Atlus's greater manpower means they can work their magic on a much more regular basis.



Intelligent Systems: This is the development team that produced--and continues to produce--games like Super Metroid, Paper Mario, and WarioWare. I think that kind of resume speaks for itself.

[Dreddz]

Capcom - They created Street Fighter, I cant ask for more than that. And series such as Resident Evil, Mega Man and keep coming out with new unique games such as Okami. They also dont give up on their classics, and give them a chance against games released in this generation by porting them.

Square-Enix - My appetite for RPG's always seem to cured by this company, so many great games, I bow down to them.

SNK Playmore - A company that still keep in touch with their old school roots. I like that :cool:

Sega - A company that never seems to give up, its a shame that they backed out of making hardware, but they still release great games and give equal support to all three systems. Virtua Fighter, Sonic, Phantasy Star and Shenmue. Sega are Legend.

Ion Storm - Its sad they closed their doors, but while they were making games, there was no competition, Deus Ex, Thief, Anachronox....you get the idea.

[Araciel]

ATARI-hate for the delays....but i guess that's just a vent more than a hate really

capcom- love/hate....they release so many rehashes and sequels, which is what people want, i know...but still. they have a lot of good games! dead rising is my poison right now