That one dev you can always count on.

[Zhukov]

Well... somehow I doubt I'll be rocking anyone's world when I say, "Valve and Bioware." But hey, I enjoy their games. Sue me.

My other two would be Irrational Games and Team Ico.

I'm sure I could come up with a few more if I sat down and wrote a list.

 

[captaincabbage]

Rockstar, Insomniac, Naughty Dog and Sucker Punch are the ones that instantly come to mind. Yahtzee summed it up perfectly in the InFamous 2 review. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th are all unsung heroes IMO, always working away in the background producing excellent games whilst games like Duke Nukem Forever get all the spotlight for being shitty.

 

[tehlordofmyownworld]

Most are going to repeat it, but Valve.All of the games I have played by these people has been joyful,frustrating,intelligent, and full of action.

 

[Noremac60]

Naughty Dog (Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted)
Santa Monica Studios (God of War games)
Valve (Do I really need to list them?)

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well as far as quality goes Blizzard and Valve are the only ones still top notch, the money hunger is another issue all together.
And first party Nintendo games are very good, problem is you can never know what was actually their work until you play it.

Bioware went downhill long ago, the dates probably match up with the day EA bought them.
And many others make good games, just that they don't put much time on polish.

 

[The Apothecarry]

Bungie has always failed to disappoint me. As long as they keep developing great content, I'll preorder it with a smile on my face and the Halo theme in my head.

 

[Flip-Shying]

In order of reliance: Rockstar, Naughty Dog, Valve. I put Valve as third because Episode 3 is taking too damn long!

 

[Apprentice88]

From Software;

I love my Mecha simulators and they really know how to make Mecha Simulators.

 

[omega_peaches]

I forgot to say, Bungie WAS one, but I for one thought Reach was fucking awful.

 

[FalloutJack]

What, you mean like ummm...Atlus? Atlus which puts out unusual and interesting games? Atlus which I never hear spoken negatively about on the Escapist or anywhere else? Atlus which has Jack Frost as the official mascot? (Hee-ho!)

Yes, I think they're reliable. What of it?

 

[Mr. Omega]

Nintendo. Sure, they have questionable or even regrettable actions some times (Not localizing The Last Story, Xenoblade and Pandora's Tower,and the Wii was lacking in games), but the games they make always end up fun. As much as the internet (and especially this site) loves mocking their games as well their console, they are still high-quality games.

Valve. I'll let everyone here take care of this... then again, considering Episode 3, can we really say this? (Yes we can, but I had to make some reference to Valve time...)

Volition. They are rapidly becoming one of my favorite devs in the industry, and Saint's Row the Third looks like it could very well be one of my GotY at this rate. Plus, the best part is just putting things about them completely out of context. Example: they put a rainbow-farting unicorn in a game where you fight martians. This is the kind of insane shit we gamers grew up on.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

Rockstar does a fairly great job. Also, Valve, when they actually make their games.

 

[Zeema]

Rockstar Bioware and Bethesda

they Da Best

i rekon

 

[easternflame]

Bethesda Game Studios, From arena to Fallout, to Oblivion and Skyrim, those guys are fucking genius.

 

[Couch Radish]

Definitely Valve.

In all their games they have never disappointed me. Their games are always interesting and fun to come back too. Especially Portal, Team Fortress 2, and the Half-Life series.

 

[Nazulu]

I think Valve is the only developer that hasn't completely disappointed me with some shitty game design and marketing decisions. Can't wait to see how episode 3 turns out.

Most of my favourite games still come from Nintendo though.

 

[Rabish Bini]

Croteam (Serious Sam, yeah!)
Running With Scissors (Postal, yeah!)

And I guess Volition are pretty good too

 

[octafish]

Bioware is the only company that hasn't disappointed me(other than a company with 1 game, or only 1 series of games), without making up for it with some goodies (I'm looking at you, Neverwinter Nights!)

Obsidian is close, but Dungeon Siege 3 was really damn Meh. Also Atlus is up there with their SMT games, but I haven't played Devil Summoner or finished DDS, and Persona 1 was terribad in terms of combat.

You see I was all prepared to say Obsidian and you have to bring up Dungeon Siege 3. It hadn't crossed my mind because it isn't the sort of game I associate with Obsidian and also it isn't the type of game I play. When you say Obsidian I think "Deep RPG that is flawed in some way but manages to overcome those flaws to be one of my favorite games". Every Obsidian RPG is a solid nugget of gold, with a bit of shit smeared on the surface, but still a solid nugget of gold.

Otherwise I trust Troika, and Looking Glass, these guys will never make a bad game.