30 Days of Video Games

[Chibinuva]

Day 27 - Favorite Developer

Nintendo is just so awesome. I may be a fanboy, but there's no denying their consoles are pretty awesome (even if the Wii is just a Gamecube 1.5 with motion controls,) have always had the best handhelds, and their games are great, if only because there are so many platformers. Definitely my favorite console developer, and easily one of my favorite game developers.

They created Sonic the fucking hedgehog. Since that's also my favorite video game series, that easily puts them as one of my favorite developers.

Honorable mention goes to Activision, since despite people hating them, I've enjoyed quite a bit of their games. (MW3 and the Spider-Man games come to mind.)

[Badnik Mechanic]

Day 27 - Favorite Developer

I don't really have one... but if I must pick one... I guess...

From Software

Everytime From Software announces a game, I get both excited and nervous, mainly because you know it'll either be absolutely stunning... or kinda meh.

From Software have been around for years, they don't have a huge legion of fans or a game character/series that says 'YES THATS THEM!' Yet I suspect if I listed a bunch of their games chances are you would have played them and enjoyed them.

One of the best series they've ever made is virtually unknown, yet most people are aware of it's two biggest sucessors... Kings Field.

Kings Field

Kings field is a series where you basically walk through the dungeons and forests of various castles fighting off monsters and other scary things... like this skelleton.

Rawr scary!

Or this scary spider! From Kings Field 3.

It's a pretty cool game, lots of weapons, lots of magic, lots of items, an RPG players dream.

There would be 4 Kings Field games in total, not all of them got translated into english.

This is the sequel to the Kings Field series...

Suddenly, if you didn't know what Kings field was... now you're interested in it right?

FromSoftware took one hell of a risk with Demons Souls, for a long time they couldn't find a publisher, even Sony turned them down, fortunately thanks to word of mouth and Atlus taking a risk, we got one of the best games ever made, which also spawned Dark Souls... HO HO! They didn't have trouble finding a publisher then!

They also make Armored Core, a game in which giant mechanised robots fight each other with tons of weaponry.

It's dangerous to go alone... take this.

Now... FromSoftware do have one problem... they don't know when to stop... the Armored Core series should have probably ended a long time ago, as it's dwindling review scores are testiment to, but if you have never played an armored Core game, chances are if you pick any, you'll love it, the problem the series seems to have is fatigue, only they don't realise it.

But one reason I like FromSoftware... they made this... /lie they didn't!

Steel Battalion, it was a game for the Xbox which could only be played if you had this!

Only two games were ever made for the controller, they were... ok games... not outstanding, but a lot of fun. But when you see a controller like that.. you just so want to play with it don't you? lol go on try and convince me you're not at least curious to see what it's like.

.... .. .. ok I lied... they didn't make Steel Batallion... Capcom did... however... they are however making the third game in this series, will it use the controller? Or will they make something new? Who cares! With a game like Steel Batallion and FromSoftwares name on the title, you know it'll be good... or kind meh right?

So yes, FromSoftware, they tend to make games, really good games, games that I like to buy.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Hogfather

[Tornado]

How the hell do you play a first person game with giant spiders that doesn't give you guns?

[Badnik Mechanic]

How the hell do you play a first person game with giant spiders that doesn't give you guns?

With a great big axe! And magic!

[Double Agent Motobug]

Favorite developers? For day 27?

Harmonix music systems! These guys barely act professionally a lot of the time, instead they talk to their fans as thought they were talking to their best friends, and fan input is actually a HUGE part of their daily business routine ever since they opened the floodgates for Rock Band DLC and allowed us to create and publish our own songs into the RBN. There was a learning curve for both them and us, regarding RBN. A lot of the time in the dev forum they'd be just as puzzled by weird glitches and hilarious things as we were. There's also an off-topic area in the dev-forum where you can talk about pretty much anything, as long as it was mostly music related, and the actual Harmonix people often post and comment in there about the best things. There've been a few times where Harmonix people have contacted myself (and even Wolfy, on another site!) to say that our music totally rocked, and that they bought our songs and wanted to know where to buy the albums. <3

Then there was the idea. Yeah, One user on the dev-forum was like "Hey we should make a 10 minute megamix of a bunch of RBN songs to promote the RBN!", then after we selected which 12 songs would be a part of it, Harmonix stepped in and was like "GUYS. This is a BADASS idea, We pulled some strings and we want to make this official DLC."

Everyone was like "WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

THEN THEY ACTUALLY DID IT.

(^ The song at 7 minutes in is by mine and Wolfy's band, btw)

It was amaaaaaaazinggg. Also, I am apparently married to Harmonix as a whole; their person whom runs the Harmonix Skype Voice Mail and I were randomly derping around once and I was jokingly like "YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME, I WILL MARRY ALL OF YOU" and they responded "Sure, next week in Vegas sound fine?". We proceeded to joke around about making a love song about "Harmonix and Me", with the RBN project lead (The Overnord) singing on it.

Aaah, good times... xD They also enabled me to meet and work with Mr. Bumblefoot, the current lead guitarist of Guns N Roses. <3

(Also, runner up is probably Mojang, just for how bloody informal and wicked they are. xD They're just the most hilarious company...)

Edited February 12, 2012 by Aptiva

[Arcade Racer CC14]

I'm going to go with Sega because of their large amount of fan interaction, memorable franchises, epic music, fantastic amount of merchandise both retro and modern, and the simple fact that unlike a few Nintendo games I could mention, I'm actually compelled to revisit and replay Sega games that I've already completed. Plus, the fact that Sonic is my favorite video game series might have something to do with it, too.

[Meow]

FAVOURITE DEVELOPER:

HANDS DOWN...IT HAS TO BE PLATINUM GAMES.

ALL IN BOLD AND CAPS BECAUSE THEY ARE THAT AWESOME

But seriously, others have already gone on about why Platinum Games is so amazing so I'll save myself a wall of text and just say 'READ THE OTHER POSTS'. Platinum Games though makes me feel like a badass while playing their games. Sure you're playing through the eyes of one of their wacky characters but I never cease to feel so accomplished and well...-cool- whenever I play the games. Hell, even when I am not playing the game and watching one of their totally over the top and extremely corny cutscenes (usually) I still can't help but also feel like a badass because even though I am doing absolutely nothing but watching, the fact that I am watching such awesome automatically elevates me to feeling like that. Yes. THAT IS JUST HOW AMAZING PLATINUM ARE.

They also hit the sweet spot of mine. This thing I feel videogames were missing for me in my life, which is 1) that sense of feeling like a badass like I mentioned before and 2) doing things for the sake of -fun-. I have never felt such a pure unfiltered sense of fun in a videogame in a long time. Don't get me wrong, I love video games and I'm not all "ARGH RETRO IS THE BEST" because I enjoy games across all the generations...but I feel a lot of games try too hard to be super innovative and end up losing that fun factor. Platinum Games though? They go HEY GUYS CHECK US OUT WE DO ACTION GAMES WELL AND THEY PLAY LIKE ACTION GAMES SO YOU SHOULD PLAY OUR GAMES BECAUSE THEY'RE ACTIONEY AND HAVE CRAZY STUFF....and in their own little way while not immediately being 'innovative' on the surface, they offer advancements to the genre in their own right. Plus when you play their games you know its a Platinum game, so they have a really good identity in terms of the quality and polish they have.

And oops look at that I just gushed about how awesome they are even though I said I'd save myself the typing - BUT I CAN'T HELP IT. Lots of caps in this here post because I cannot contain myself when talking about this company.

YEP.

Edit: OH, and Sean mentioned Konjak...and I have to agree, Konjak is THE MAN. Daisuke Amaya also deserves a mention because he crafted Cave Story.

Edited February 12, 2012 by DesertPunk

[Tori Himemiya]

Day 27 Favorite Developer:

I was gonna say "Give me my 20 Day Badge" and call it quits but quitting is for losers.

So without futher adu I'll say...

CAPCOM

Yes those guys. They make awesome games like Devil May Cry, Dino Crisis, Resident Evil, Darkstalkers, and so forth. These games they make are pretty good as well as being fun. I could name a lot of my favorite games but most of them are from Capcom. But sadly they love making stupid decisions, perhaps the worst ones ever seen. But hey I hope they continue to make great games.

Runner ups:

I'm too tired to list any.

[Nintendoga]

Day 27 (shit I gotta start doing these earlier in the day so I don't forget them) Retro Studios.

Where Dreams do come true...

Retro Studios is an amazing developer. They made Metroid Prime 1,2,3, Mario Kart 7 (sorta) and best of all, Donkey Kong Country Returns. Like seriously, Metroid Prime was one of my favorite GC games,a dn prime 2 and 3 while not being as amazing, were still pretty damn great. Then during E3, I almost jumped up and cried when I found out Retro Studios was bringing back one of my most treasured series Donkey Kong Country, and even more happy when it turned out not only to be better then the original trilogy, but also one of the best platformers of the decade. (hmm, Rayman Origins or DKCR....I'm still on the fence) The fact that they easily moved from the FPS genre to the platformers genre seamlessly was also pretty incredible.

Next they worked with Nintendo on Mario Kart 7 by providing those re-done retro courses + DK courses, and now they say they're making a game everyone wants them to do. I am ecstatic and can't wait, especially if the rumors of it being a new Starfox are true. Retro Studios has never failed to disappoint me, and I'm always eagerly awaiting what the next Retro game could be. Though imo they should really make their own IP like Rare, to become more well known.

[Noir]

I love the Half Life series. I love the Portal games. I love TF2 to death. And even Left 4 Dead, TFC and Counter Strike are pretty fun. But that's not why I'm choosing Valve. As great as their games are, Nintendo can put out just as consistently amazing experiences, and more frequently at that. No, Valve is my my favorite developer for another reason. Attitude.

Valve is a truly impressive company for how in touch it is with its customers and its willingness to embrace changes in how their market operates. Steam itself simplifies buying and playing games so much, and reflecting Valve's stance on piracy, it really is a great service that does everything it can to convince you that it is worth buying games to use it. And that's actually the case. The convenience of the in-game overlay and screenshot manager and of the chat in general are absolutely things I want to have, and it's a far better solution to piracy than alienating customers through DRM. Even ignoring that issue, they're just nice features that you don't get often. Then there are the many giveaways, sales, and of course the abundance of free updates to their games, that show Valve definitely cares about the happiness of their customers more than just taking their money.

Not to mention Valve is full of cool people. Gaben of course is the hero of vidya, a guy who really knows damn well what he's doing and does it best. The tour videos showing the laidback atmosphere and the commentary modes in their games show that Valve's employees genuinely enjoy their jobs and have a ton of passion and creativity, and knowing that helps me enjoy their games more, personally. They're a bunch of nerds who love what they do and are free to contribute how they please I think that's a great thing for a developer to have.

I mentioned before that as far as games themselves, Valve is easily on equal terms with Nintendo. The latter unfortunately likes to hold themselves back when it comes to providing great services and that's what keeps them from being my favorite developer. But I'll be damned if they don't know how to make a game. I can think of nothing beyond Metroid: Other M and Pokémon Black and White that Nintendo has put out that has genuinely disappointed me, and more importantly, there's more than an abundance of near-perfect games to tip the scales. They have an impressive track record and hold many spots among my favorite games, and hold a dear place in my heart.

[\Lennox]

Day 27 - WHATS YO FAVORITE MAKER OF VIDYA

I'll have to rank them, mmkay?

#1 - Game Freak

Yeah, I just had to list this one down. I mean, Game Freak was the one responsible for getting me to play video games. Game Freak was the one responsible for making me appreciate video games as an art form and not just as a way to pass time and keep myself occupied. Game Freak was the one responsible for making me realize that gaming in any form had beauty, immersive stories that ranged from thievery over to world conspiracies. Game Freak was the one responsible for making me feel like a kid, every time I play a game. Without Game Freak, I will never be able to find a course in college. Game development. Without Game Freak, I will be eternally bored. Without Game Freak, I will not know what a perfect game even is. You know what franchise I'm talking about, and I will stick to it forever.

#2 - Nintendo

These guys also got me into gaming. They were the makers of the first few consoles I've ever had in my entire life--I plan to work for them, and much like Game Freak, I would have no ambitions or aspirations without them. This company's first-party line-up singlehandedly changed my life in some form, and I have to owe it to them. They are also one of the video game franchises with the most consistent output (almost always stellar), to the point where I end up wanting to play them over and over again. They were also my inspiration for everything I did when it came to gaming: I always looked to Nintendo as a means of creative direction. All of my ideas are derivative of some of their top franchises in some way or some form, and I will forever be a die-hard fan of Nintendo, even if I end up ostracized by HD-fags who can't comprehend why.

#3 - Sonic Team

Sonic Team taught me that even in the face of executive meddling, bad fanbase factions and overall outcries from all parties within the spectrum of game development, you don't have to succumb to what they want. Even though it came to a point where 2005-2009 was one of the worst eras they've had for critical reception, Sonic Team realized that they could make games they wanted to make. And the games they wanted to make were the ones that were incredibly stellar, beginning 2010. If they felt what they did was right, they examined it and quickly improved it the biggest celebration in the video game industry. They've had enough bullshit from those so-called 'true fans' and now they choose to make what they feel is great. Thus, Sonic Team has become one of the most adaptive, if not resilient developers I've heard of.

[Shane]

Nintendo and its many studios and subsidaries. Nintendo's titles are undoubtedly the best in the industry and without them, we wouldn't have anything.

Nintendo invented the platformer. Nintendo brought home consoles back in style. Nintendo brought touch screens and motion controls into the gaming world. Nintendo introduced online play and DLC back in the SNES days, Japan only though. Nintendo introduced proper third-party support, allowing companies to produce their own games for the NES without going through Nintendo as a publisher.

I suppose I should expand a little on the actual games they've developed... While the team that made the original three was sold to Microsoft, the Donkey Kong Country series is one I've mentioned plenty of times. Super Mario is an obvious one. Pokémon is debateable seeing as Nintendo doesn't seem to actually own Game Freak seeing as they released a PS1 game in 1999, but Nintendo does partially own the Pokémon license. Zelda, Kirby, Mother, Metroid, F-Zero, and the rest are all also classics. Nintendo shaped all of our childhoods here in one way or another.

Edited February 12, 2012 by XD375

[Shoot em up Capbusta]

I've been a fan of this company since I first started playing video games. Growing up playing their games have molded me to be the gamer I am now.Nintendo has produced numerous of well known franchises. From mario, zelda, metroid and many others they have franchises that you really can't duplicate. Say what you will about them but they make great quality games even if they're the same franchises nintendo still try to innovate to give you a different experience.

[T-Min]

Day 27: Favorite Video Game Developer

I'm just going to continue being boring, if that's okay with everyone.

BUT ANYWAY.

These guys have been innovating with absolutely freaking amazingtastic games since the NES days. From Mario to Metroid to Zelda, these guys are responsible for a crapload of fantastic classic games. But quite possibly the best thing about them, though, is that they only got better at what they did. On the NES, we got Super Mario Bros. 1-3, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. In the SNES era, we got Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, and Super Metroid. Then, in the N64 era, we got Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, some of the greatest and most revolutionary games ever made. I guess the GC era didn't quite live up to that, but when it comes to the Wii era, well...

They outdid themselves. Three times.

And that's not even getting into all the others...

[Goldenlink64]

Day 27: Favorite Video Game Developer

Donkey Kong Country 1-3, Battletoads, Killer Instinct, Jet Force Gemini, Starfox Adventures, Donkey Kong 64, Blast Corps, GoldenEye 007, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Diddy Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day. What do all these games have in common? Well, they were all made by one company.

While I haven't been able to play ALL of the games I mentioned (Blast Corps, Killer Instinct, Battletoads and DKC are all games on my "I need to play someday" list), everything else I played has always been the result of a well developed product (except Stairfax Temperatures and Jet Force Gemini, but YourMilageMayVery for those games).

Sure, I didn't really like Jet Force Gemini and Diddy Kong Racing could have been better considering it was a ripoff of Mario Kart (it wasn't bad though, hell it's actually better than MK64 in some ways), but outside of those two games, everything I've played on here has been a spectacular product of the days of the N64. Hell, Rareware WAS the Nintendo 64 back then and pretty much made the console's Killer Apps (IMO). Without them, the library was nothing (that's why the Virtual Console sucks, outside of Nintendo's First Party games, there's absolutely NOTHING else to play because they can't put Rareware titles on the Virtual Console due to stupid licensing issues. <Insert generic Microsoft eats babies comment here>)

I think my favorite thing about Rareware however, was the music, every game they made has good music. Robin Beanland (Jet Force Gemini, Killer Instinct, Conker's Bad Fur Day), Graeme Norgate (GoldenEye and MAYBE Perfect Dark, I'm not sure...) and Grant Kirkhope (Banjo Series, Donkey Kong 64, GoldenEye, Perfect Dark) have created my favorite songs throughout gaming. I didn't like Jet Force Gemini, but you know what? That game's title screen music is friggin' amazing. Sometimes I'll pop Gemini in my N64, JUST to listen to it's title screen in it's full midi orchestrated beauty. I've also had DK Isle stuck in my head to the point where I play it on the piano almost every day too. Did I mention that the Banjo Kazooie Theme was one of the first themes I ever learned how to play on the piano? :3

OHHH NOOOOO!!!!

Unfortunately, Rareware has passed it's prime in this day. After moving to Microsoft, many members left to form Free Radical (who made the epic as hell TimeSplitters Series...but then they merged with Crytek and now nobody knows when we'll ever get TimeSplitters 4 because Crytek would rather develop Crysis 2 or whatever they feel like instead)

Some say that Rare will bounce back, but honestly, with the Stamper Brothers gone (founders) and Grant Kirkhope having left to Big Games and Graeme Norage leaving for Free Radical (now Crytek). Rare is but a shell of a company that prefers to work on Kinect and Mircorsoft Avatars nowadays. Never mind that Conker sequel or another Killer Instinct that many fans have been asking for. Nope, casual motion Wii Sports rip offs are MUCH more creative!

...but you know what? Rareware made my freaking childhood. Let's not remember Rare for this soulless shell of a company they've turned into, but for the epic games they used to make. GoldenEye 007 has been making me rage recently as I just got up to Control Center (infamously bad escort mission I'm sure you all remember) on Secret Agent, and at the same time, I'm getting ready to start a brand new file on Donkey Kong 64. I'm not going to stop playing their games, and if you haven't tried any of their games, get yourself an N64 and refresh yourself with some epic classics. Rareware 90's was one HELL of a company!

Super Rare Awesome Chocolately Fudge-Coated Mega Super Runner Up: One man created Touhou Project and that man is ZUN!...but unfortunately, I didn't find out about Touhou until a few years ago, so by that logic, my freaking childhood > 2 years of High School and College.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Goldenlink64

[Marcello]

Day 27: Favorite Video Game Developer

Easy choice, really. Nintendo is the only developer I can always trust to bring me a great game. Too bad you can't do that with SEGA. That and the fact that they have my favorite series, they definitely win here. Each new game they release is something I always look forward to. Their games usually have a high replay value. I don't know how many times I've played through OOT or Pokemon games..

I also got into gaming thanks to Nintendo and Super Mario. I said it on the first day, but I started playing when I was 3 with my mom.

And like Carbo, it's sad that just a few years ago, I could've said Rare

Edited February 12, 2012 by MarcelloF

[Red Cap]

Day 27 - Favorite Developer

Like so many others so far, my choice is Nintendo. Their games are so playable it isn't even funny and they almost always jam pack their games with reasons to come back to them several times after you've already beaten them, on top of some being so good that you'll probably want to start over and beat the game again. Their games also hold the fondest memories for me, and they've crafted my two favorite games of all time, which are Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Red Cap-Blue Spikes

[Sonic the Hedgehog in 3D]

They make wondeful games, that I always seem to enjoy, Billy Hatcher, Samba de Amigo and of course, Sonic. Sonic Adventure is my all time favourite game and Sonic Team brang me into gaming.

As for Nintendo you can always expect quality games from them, even their second party games. Pokémon, Mario, Zelda, Metroid are all great examples of amazing Nintendo series. All their games you can easily get sucked into and have a great atmosphere to them.

[turbojet]

Did I tell you that I recently got into Fighting games because of these guys? Yes. Oh yes. Fighting games have always been a button mashing experience to me until they showed me the light.

[PeanutButterDimond]

Day Twenty Seven - Favourite Developer

Sucker Punch Productions

Games they have made :

Rocket: Robot on Wheels - Platformer - Nintendo 64 - September 17 1999

Sly Cooper and the Thievious Racoonus - Stealth Platformer - Playstation 2 - September 23rd 2002

Sly 2: Band of Thieves - Stealth Platformer - Playstation 2 - September 14 2004

Sly 3: Honor Among thieves - Stealth Platformer - Playstation 2 - September 26 2005

inFAMOUS - Action Adventure Sandbox - Playstation 3 - May 26 2009

inFAMOUS 2 - Action Adventure Sandbox - Playstation 3 - June 7th 2011

Upcoming:

?????????? - ?????????? - ?????????? - ??????????

History

Sucker Punch Productions is an American video game company that was founded in 1997 and based in Bellevue, Washington. It was an independent company until they were bought by Sony in 2011. All of their games are for a playstation console except for on. Their first game, Rocket: Robot on Wheels, which was a Nintendo 64 game. The company's co-founders worked at Microsoft where all the co-workers worked for various reasons that weren't all too game related. They all loved bvideo games and decided to make a company and when it came to the name...

"The other company founders and I had worked at Microsoft for a decade or so before starting our new company. Having chafed under corporate policies about what constituted an acceptable project code name, we were looking forward to giving the company a name we'd never ever get away with at Microsoft.

"We came up with a list of ten or so names, and eventually my lovely and talented wife saw the list. She said (and I quote), 'I don't care what you call the company -- as long as it isn't Sucker Punch.' We figured that the best way to choose a name a 14-year-old boy would think was cool was to choose a name that a lovely and talented 38-year-old woman thought was unacceptable ... so 'Sucker Punch' it was!

"After twelve years, I believe I've been forgiven."

- Chris Zimmerman, Sucker Punch co-founder and development director

Reasons why Sucker Punch Productions is my favourite

Sucker Punch Productions probably comes as no surprise for those who have read my previous posts in this thread. I love this company. Not only are all of their games great, they are very open with the fans and are very nice, They changed Cole's design when people didn't like it and even joked about the whole thing.

I've played all of Sucker Punch's games except their first one, Rocket: Robot on Wheels. All of their games are well made, fun to play and fun to keep coming back to. Which is why I will always blindly buy a game by Sucker Punch because they always work hard on their games. They even said they don't want to work on more than one game at a time so they can focus on game and make it as great as possible.

They have released some behind the scenes video and you can see how much they love their jobs and how much time and effort that put in to the game. When it came to inFAMOUS that spent around a year or more just getting the concept for the game all figured out before they even started the story. In these Behind the Scenes videos, you can also see that the people at Sucker Punch also aren't afraid to poke fun at themselves, whether it be a bad placeholder line ("Cliiiiiiiiimb moooove.."), early awkward animations (If you saw a guy running like that in real life, what would you have guessed happened to him?" "Mmm... burn victim?") or old designs ("We should of learned from the dreadlocks to not give Cole hair").

They worked hard, always make great games and I am absolutely excited as always for their next project.

Edited February 12, 2012 by PeanutButterDimond

[Tornado]

Fighting games have always been a button mashing experience to me until they showed me the light.

[Lucky]

Day #27 - Favourite Developer

SEGA and their many subsidiaries... because to be this good takes AGES.

Yeah, they've been through some rough patches, but SEGA has still been responsible for some of the coolest things I've ever experienced. And if it wasn't for them, I'm not sure if I'd have ever gotten into video games in such a big way in the first place.

I mentioned a lot of this in my post the other day, but SEGA were the ones who always embraced the future and weren't afraid to take a risk (or else we wouldn't even have Sonic). They were releasing games (and even hardware) years ago that we still haven't quite seen the likes of since, and when you look at many features that surfaced over the last decade or so, you realise that SEGA done a lot of it first. And while they might not have been a commercial success, I will always respect a company that tries to do something different... it's just very sad that a lot of it backfired on them.

Oh yeah... and they always had the best ad campaigns, whether it was taking digs at the competition or this man:

So there's one very good reason to love SEGA... if you don't Segata Sanshiro will kick your arse.

But in all seriousness, I could go on forever about just why I love these guys. They might not be perfect, but when they do something right... oh man, do they do it right. And asides from being the creators of some of the most creative games out there, you've gotta give them credit for their sheer amount of fan interaction. Oh and perhaps the most important reason... any company that had Yu Suzuki on their side wins by default.

Honourable mentions: SNK, Nintendo, classic Rare, and Epic.

[Cola]

Because Nintendo was the driving force behind my childhood, and I still play many of their games today. I was one of the first in line to grab a 3DS when it launched, and it sits at my desk every day, with my full library of 3DS and DS titles right at my fingertips, most of them developed by Nintendo themselves! When I say Nintendo, that includes all their companies, including Retro Studios (Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong Country Returns), HAL Laboratories (Kid Icarus: Uprising, Super Smash Bros), and Intelligent Systems (Paper Mario Series, Pushmo/Pullblox, most Warioware games), to name a few.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Cola

[Phantomime]

Valve.

Pictured: Gabe Newell being a hero to gamers everywhere.

l almost feel obligated to write about them. They make awesome games, tell good stories, and Steam. Just... Steam.

They are one of the most level headed companies in the industry, and it shows. They really do care about the customer. Steam is easy to use, has tons of features, and is the best way to play PC games. They constantly have awesome sales at prices that more than once I have questioned if they are even legal.

They also have really great games like Portal, Half-Life, and Team Fortress 2.

Also, with stuff like Steam Workshop they're openly embracing modders, something that is a very rare gift indeed.

Edited February 12, 2012 by Phantomime

[PSI Wind]

Nintendo, of course. They brought video games back from the dead for one, but their games have generally been consistently amazing. Their consoles are also great.