dolgion said:
What are the greatest developers for each era, separated into PC and console gaming. Maybe that's easier to narrow down. So for example, my take would be Origin for the late 80's, early 90's for PC gaming. Nowadays, it'd be Blizzard in PC gaming. For consoles I think Nintendo really deserves the title for the entire 90's in console gaming, though I'm not a fan myself. I just respect their contribution and achievements.
Even seperated by era, that's hard to pin down...the great developers are great for different reasons. Nintendo still makes great platformers, adventures, and RPGs--but if you're not a fan of platformers, adventures (Zelda style, anyway...), or J-RPGs, you probably won't be a Nintendo fan. Anyway, here's my list.
Since I already mentioned them, I'll start with Nintendo. In the 80's, they released a hit arcade game that would go on to practically create the Platformer--Donkey Kong. With that, the company was pulled out of a tough financial time and the most well known video game protagonist was born. After the great market crash of '83, Nintendo was the company that saved the American console market with the NES. To attack the problems of low-quality shovel ware and porn games that plagued the Atari 2600 (and added to the problems that led to the crash in the first place), they used a "seal of quality" system as a self-imposed censorship and used cartridges that could only be produced by Nintendo themselves. This heavy-handed approach would eventually hurt them, but that part comes later.
The company would prove to be pretty far ahead of its time--experimenting with motion controls and as early as the 80s. In addition, their more popular games tend to help define their genres, especially when the games in question were different enough to actually start their genres:
Metroid's blend of platforming and adventure led to an action-adventure sub-genre that's actually (partially) named after the game--Metroidvania.
Super Mario Bros., while
Donkey Kong created the platformer, and Pitfall added the sidescrolling element, it's this game that refined the genre's basic mechanics and helped define it. Side scrolling, power ups, secrets, and--of course--lots of running and jumping.
The Legend of Zelda. Not the first action-adventure game (I think that was Adventure for the Atari 2600, but my pre-Nintendo game history knowledge isn't that great...yet), but it certainly helped to evolve the genre, open-world gaming, and--eventually, 3D gaming as a whole.
I would go on, but this is getting long and I've got other developers to talk about. Basically, more sub-genres were created and popularized by Mario Kart (which possibly went on to inspire car fighting games like
Twisted Metal, but that'd just be a guess on my part), Mario Party (Boardgame-based mini game collections), Super Smash Bros.(a fighter that allows four players at once, uses heavy doses of platforming mechancis, and doesn't use a healthbar), Pikmin (Action-RTS? I know games like that have come out since Pikmin, but I can't recall any before), and Wii Sports.
In addition to creating/popularizing/evolving a handful of genres, they also practically created the handheld market as we know it today, started a chain of events that led to Sony getting into the market, popularized touch screen and motion controls for gaming, and helped expand the typical gaming audience.
You know...this post is definitely getting too long, and I've got an exam to take. I'll just do a second post later today giving my opinion on the influence of Capcom, Konami, Sega, Square Enix, Sony, Microsoft, Bungie, Valve, Id Software, Epic Games, Bioware, Bethesda, Blizzard, and anyone I can think of who's started or made a huge contribution towards a genre or market...even Zynga...*shudders*