So, the forums are moving slowly. For my own amusement I wanted to post this and let everyone debate his/her/it's favorite dev and why.

Personally, Id have to say Valve, just for their track record of perfection. Never has there been a bad Valve game(Im not counting Half-Life source, since it was really a tacked on afterthought). Think about it for a second. Half-Life 1 and 2 changed FPS's, the Episodes continue to be fun. Portal and L4D are 2 of the best original IPs in recent memory. Counter-Strike had a 10million userbase at its peak. If any dev has set high standards and then stuck to them, its Valve.

Also, I think as a publisher, EA has made the most amazing turn-around this year. Publishing games from Vavle, Epic, and also Rage and Brutal Legend. They actually improved their sports games(at least Madden, I dont know or care about the rest), released several great titles recently (Burnout, Dead Space, Mirrors Edge, Battlefield) and in general quit all their bullshit that makes us hate them.

Infinity Ward.

Name the last bad game they've made. Varied? No. Original, arguable, but Infinity Ward games have sucked away hours of my life.

Blizzard. they never make a bad game, whether you like WoW or not its the best MMo ever made, and the most succesful to boot.

Iv spent lots of time on Starcraft and Warcraft :)

And

Bioware, best rpg maker in the buisness, i still hope that EA hasnt destroyed them.

Epic Games.  Ever since Unreal they've always pushed technology to it's limits. Which not only has made their games awesome, but other developer's games better too.  The games they make are for hardcore competetive gamers, they don't give 2 shits about nubs.  The games are balanced and skill based.  They also release very nice tools with their games for the community to create mods and levels, and continue to support their games after release, with free maps and content (although that is changing since they aren't doing PC games).

Atari.... j/k 

Valve for certain.

Then you can expect great games from big names like:
Rockstar
Konami internal devs
Capcom internal devs
SquEnix
Ubisoft Montreal/Paris

Flashes of brilliance have come from the likes of:
IO interactive
Remedy
Quantic Dream
SimBin (most of the talent have left to form Blimey Games)
ISI (made the engines behind some of the best racing sims)

Lionhead ..

After playing L4D it's now a tie between Valve and Bioware.

id Software
Rockstar North
Ubisoft Montreal
SCE Santa Monica Studio
Kojima Productions
Capcom Production Studio 4

mastachefbkw


After playing L4D it's now a tie between Valve and Bioware.

I didnt think of Bioware. Theyre definatley in my top 5.

And to VX:
Regardless of the fact that WoW (and most MMO's in general) is trash, Blizzard still made Warcraft, so they are auto-greatness.

Valve
Deadline Games(Because I met some of them, and they're Danish :))
Ubi Montreal(If I can forgive them for the awful Shaun White junk)
Rockstar
IO Interactive
Infinity Ward

Sega without a doubt.

From my Master system to the end of the Dreamcast Sega has always given me the thing I was looking for.

Outrun, Space Harrier, Afterburner, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Sonic, Vectorman, Virtua Fighter, Sega Rally, Phantasy Star, Panzer Dragoon, Shinobi, Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue,...and that's just the stuff that comes to my mind right away.

Sega has made so many good franchises and/or games and a lot of them are classics.

Sonic might not be as great as he used to be that doesn't mean that Sega doesn't make great games anymore. They still make good games and have a  hidden gem from time to time the most recent one being Valkyria Chronicles.

Just looking at what they'll be bringing me this year makes them my favorite. I'd have to say from all the developers out there they have the most impressive line up for 2009 so far for me. With games like House of the dead: Overkill, MadWorld, Bayonetta, Sonic and the black knight, OutRun Online Arcade.

And if we're lucky we might also see Phantasy Star 0, Yakuza Kenzan and Yakuza 3 this year.

HotD: Overkill isn't being developed by SEGA.
MadWorld isn't being developed by SEGA.
Bayonetta isn't being developed by SEGA.

AM2 is usually pretty damn awesome with very few disappointments from my standpoint.

Criterion is also awesome, though I didn't give a crap about Black.

Demonoroth


Sega without a doubt.

From my Master system to the end of the Dreamcast Sega has always given me the thing I was looking for.

Outrun, Space Harrier, Afterburner, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Sonic, Vectorman, Virtua Fighter, Sega Rally, Phantasy Star, Panzer Dragoon, Shinobi, Skies of Arcadia, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue,...and that's just the stuff that comes to my mind right away.

Sega has made so many good franchises and/or games and a lot of them are classics.

Sonic might not be as great as he used to be that doesn't mean that Sega doesn't make great games anymore. They still make good games and have a  hidden gem from time to time the most recent one being Valkyria Chronicles.

Just looking at what they'll be bringing me this year makes them my favorite. I'd have to say from all the developers out there they have the most impressive line up for 2009 so far for me. With games like House of the dead: Overkill, MadWorld, Bayonetta, Sonic and the black knight, OutRun Online Arcade.

And if we're lucky we might also see Phantasy Star 0, Yakuza Kenzan and Yakuza 3 this year.

Now, SEGA would be a hard one.. while SEGA inhouse titles clearly was in the top 3 of almost every single genre you can think of. (no other company matches this at ANY point).  Since Dreamcast, ive been constantly been let down (bar Outrun 2 and VF5).. But overall, yeah, it'll have to be SEGA.

In it's short Life, Dreamcast was by far the best console ive ever owned..  So yeah, SEGA. Oh and VF5 is by far visually the best looking game to have been seen outta my PS3 and 360. VF team are mostly consisted of original SEGA employees, so it just goes to show.

2nd has to be 'recently experimentalists' Nintendo.. Can put their mind to anything and it'll usually show-up it's competition. Too much ideas, creativeness and talant within.

id for Quake 3
Valve for the HL series


Ive notice people mention alot of western Developers. Alot of these (some under different names and combinations), had games ranging from the 16bit era and were absolute utter shit next to SEGA and Nintendo titles which they were in complete competition with.

Too bad this isnt still the 16Bit era, and Sega and Nintendos games are utter shit now compared to the devs we listed.

_Majik_


HotD: Overkill isn't being developed by SEGA.
MadWorld isn't being developed by SEGA.
Bayonetta isn't being developed by SEGA.

Ooh yeah kinda forgot headstrong doing HotD and the other two are Platinum games.


Which reminds me. I forgot to mention Platinum games (clover) in my last post.

Making Viewtiful Joe and Okami...yeah they're on my list for that. Also with what they're making now I'm sure they'll deserve to be on it. They already announced two of their games for which they made a partnership with Sega. I'm wondering as what the third will be since that was the deal. A shame Capcom owns the rights for Okami and Viewtiful Joe would have loved to see them make another one of those.

Can also put Kojima productions on that list. I want them to make another Zone of the Enders and Snatcher.

Psygnosis (still around in some form as Sony Liverpool). WipEout, G-Police, Colony Wars. Thank you and good night.

Kojima Productions
Ubisoft Montreal
Team Ico
Naughty Dog

Ive notice people mention alot of western Developers. Alot of these (some under different names and combinations), had games ranging from the 16bit era and were absolute utter shit next to SEGA and Nintendo titles which they were in complete competition with.

Mmmm i cant really spot any of those, tell me which?

immortaldanmx


Too bad this isnt still the 16Bit era, and Sega and Nintendos games are utter shit now compared to the devs we listed.

Yeah right, The Latest core Nintendo and SEGA titles such as SMG and VF5 are flawless. Have yet to play any title(s) this genereation that are as perfectly crafted.