Your favorite Game company and why??

[Eldritch Warlord]

Valve.

Strong game output

I'm sorry, but I find that hillarious. There's many things to praise Valve about but their output isn't one of them.

Mine:
Bungie - Great games on a reasonable schedule, and they still maintain their sense of humor

other's worth mentioning:
BioWare - The world's best RPG's
Bethesda - The world's best open world RPG's
Ubisoft Montreal - Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six Vegas, just a strong flow of quality games
Valve - Half-life 2 and Portal
Blizzard - StarCraft
Stardock - Galactic Civilizations 2
Triumph Studios - Age of Wonders

EDIT: left out the why

 

[Vigormortis]

Valve.

Strong game output

I'm sorry, but I find that hillarious. There's many things to praise Valve about but their output isn't one of them.

Mine:
Bungie - Great games on a reasonable schedule, and they still maintain their sense of humor

You say Valve's game quality/quantity output is laughable but then say Bungie is one of the best? Bungie has all of 3 well-known, critically acclaimed games under their belt. Valve has at least 13. So, I'm sorry but I find THAT hilarious. It's one thing to disagree but to state something like that is ridiculous.

For my favorites:
Valve - I own a copy of pretty much every game they've made and have enjoyed each and every one
DICE - I loved the Battlefield series and Mirror's Edge looks to wow me as well. I've started to realize they have quite a talented group over there
Relic - now, while most of my love for them stems from the greatness that was Homeworld, it's become obvious that they are just the best RTS makers in the industry
ID - maybe it's nostalgia, but I love their games and they create some really cutting edge engine tech every few years, like their new ID tech 5 engine

There are also a few companies I once favored but that have since proceeded to throw up all over themselves in recent years:
Epic Games - their latest offerings in terms of games and engine tech are mediocre at best. sad since I loved the UT series up until 3.
Blizzard - it bugged me with all of the time they've spent on WoW, and it irked me further when I saw how mediocre StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3 were shaping up to be, but then the whole "you have to buy 3 games to get StarCraft 2" thing was the last straw.
Bungie - I adored Halo. I'd even go so far as to consider it nearly a masterpiece as far as console shooters go, but the lackluster design and poorly written story in the sequels showed me they had lost their touch.

 

[TylerC]

Valve, like everyone else said - awesome support and updates for games along with Steam, they actually seem to car about the gamers.

and Dice is getting up there, I can think of a game off the top off my head, but Mirror's Edge brought it way up, even if EA is involved with the creation of that game.

BioWare is pretty awesome as well.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Jupiter. The World Ends With You is fantastic.
Nippon Ichi, Rhapsody and Disgaea.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Valve.

Strong game output

I'm sorry, but I find that hillarious. There's many things to praise Valve about but their output isn't one of them.

Mine:
Bungie - Great games on a reasonable schedule, and they still maintain their sense of humor

You say Valve's game quality/quantity output is laughable but then say Bungie is one of the best? Bungie has all of 3 well-known, critically acclaimed games under their belt. Valve has at least 13. So, I'm sorry but I find THAT hilarious. It's one thing to disagree but to state something like that is ridiculous.

I'm sorry you misunderstood me then. Valve has a terrible game output (as far as quantity goes). How many Valve games were released between Half-Life and Half-Life 2?

Bungie has consistently released full games (as opposed to mods and expansions) at intervals of no more than four years, back during Marathon they did it in one.

And you may notice that I put Valve on my honorable mentions list.

 

[Iaspis]

Rage for creating two true masterpieces: Expendable and Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. R.I.P.

EDIT: Three masterpieces: I can't believe I forgot Shogo M.A.D. :O

 

[Ronwue]

Ubisoft for the Silent Hunter Series.
Valve for existing.
Bioware for almost everything.

 

[Vigormortis]

Valve.

Strong game output

I'm sorry, but I find that hillarious. There's many things to praise Valve about but their output isn't one of them.

Mine:
Bungie - Great games on a reasonable schedule, and they still maintain their sense of humor

You say Valve's game quality/quantity output is laughable but then say Bungie is one of the best? Bungie has all of 3 well-known, critically acclaimed games under their belt. Valve has at least 13. So, I'm sorry but I find THAT hilarious. It's one thing to disagree but to state something like that is ridiculous.

I'm sorry you misunderstood me then. Valve has a terrible game output (as far as quantity goes). How many Valve games were released between Half-Life and Half-Life 2?

Bungie has consistently released full games (as opposed to mods and expansions) at intervals of no more than four years, back during Marathon they did it in one.

And you may notice that I put Valve on my honorable mentions list.

I see what you're trying to say, but your argument is still flawed. For one, Counter-Strike: Source, unlike it's predecessor, isn't a mod, it's a full conversion. As is Day of Defeat: Source, Team Fortress 2, and so on. Yes, there was a long hiatus from Half-Life and it's spin-offs to Half-Life 2, but that's because Valve was designing Source, Steam, and had about four games in simultaneous development, including Team Fortress 2. Now, consider how many games have been released since Half-Life 2. Episode 1, Episode 2, Portal, CS:S, DOD:S, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life Source. That, along with all of the updates to Steam and the additions of the Friends network and Steam Cloud and not counting mods like Garry's Mod, is a hell of a lot of product for 4 years. Bungie made a total of three game in an even longer time interval. Again, you're argument is flawed.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

. . .Bungie made a total of three game in an even longer time interval. Again, you're argument is flawed.

Three complete games (by complete I mean worthy of a full price tag) each with it's own unique and proprietary engine. Though I see what you're saying.

Would you agree with me if I argued that The Orange Box has two "complete games" (as defined above), Half-Life 2 being one and the other a Frankenstein mix of all the rest?

I really don't care how much they produce as long as it's good, but it's nice to see consistent output. On a related note I'd like Valve to discontinue they're focus on "shorter cheaper games." The approach works well for off-beat focused products like TF2, and Portal (we'll see about Left 4 Dead) but it rather ruins the experience of a story-driven epic like the Half-Life series.

Have we arrived at a mutually pleasing consensus?

 

[ungothicdove]

Valve for the Half Life series, Portal, TF2, and I'm assuming after playing the demo: Left 4 Dead. I can't forget Steam Either. I love the weekend deals.

 

[Gestapo Hunter]

Bioware for Mass Effect, KOTOR, and even Jade Empire.

Bethesda for the Elder Scrolls, hundreds of hours of my life well spent.

you must be my long lost brother

 

[Vigormortis]

. . .Bungie made a total of three game in an even longer time interval. Again, you're argument is flawed.

Three complete games (by complete I mean worthy of a full price tag) each with it's own unique and proprietary engine. Though I see what you're saying.

Would you agree with me if I argued that The Orange Box has two "complete games" (as defined above), Half-Life 2 being one and the other a Frankenstein mix of all the rest?

I really don't care how much they produce as long as it's good, but it's nice to see consistent output. On a related note I'd like Valve to discontinue they're focus on "shorter cheaper games." The approach works well for off-beat focused products like TF2, and Portal (we'll see about Left 4 Dead) but it rather ruins the experience of a story-driven epic like the Half-Life series.

Have we arrived at a mutually pleasing consensus?

Lol, I suppose so. I was just trying to get a clear image of what you meant. It's all a matter of taste anyway. I'd actually consider Team Fortress 2 and Portal to be complete games in and of themselves, with Portal being a neat, compact, exquisite example of game design and narrative instead of just a long story. Episode 1 and Episode 2 would be better combined as one game, but at least 2 was much better in all regards. (and leaves high expectations for 3) As for Bungie, I get what your saying. I suppose I just wish they'd do something else instead of whoring the same franchise over and over to appease the greedy Microsoft money-gods. Though one has to admit they did rush 2 out the door a bit too early and it suffered because of it.

By the way, I didn't mean to come off as confrontational. Annoyance had migrated over from an argument I was having with with someone I know. I won't bore you with details.

 

[Dr Spaceman]

Ok I looked around and could not find this topic here I am.
What is you favorite Games company and why?

MY OPINUIN
valve:because of the half-life series
DICE:because of the Awesome Game Mirror's Edge [the Demo was great]
bungie:The halo series

Not the only person who mentioned DICE because of Mirror's Edge, but, hello people! Battlefield? 1942? All the other ones? They made those too... [/whine]

And now...
MY OPINUIN ( )
Stardock: Not just for games, I love their philosophy
Valve: Not only great at making games, but also great at recognizing talent and supporting the fanbase

 

[darthsmily]

Valve: For the constantly strong quality of games they release and Steam.
Infinity Ward: Call of Duty Series.
Crytek: Far Cry and Crysis
Ubisoft: Assasin's Creed and Far Cry 2

 

[Firzen777]

Valve and Blizzard have done well for me. Valve has a couple of great games (Portal, TF2, CSS) and Blizzard with it's Starcraft and Warcraft (both the rts and mmo).

 

[I III II X4]

Sonic Team/Sega:

Vector-Man, PSO/PSU.

FromSoftware:

Every Armored Core title. (Chrome Hounds too.)

Bioware:

The KoTOR series was good, and Mass Effect was pretty nice.

Clover:

They made Okami, damn it!

As for localization teams, Agetec has my gratitude for carrying the AC series, and I'll throw Ubisoft a bone for getting FA state side.

 

[B4D 9R4MM3R]

Interplay for publishing:
- Descent
- Earthworm Jim
- Fallout 1, 2 & Tactics
- Freespace
- MDK
- Planescape Torment

BioWare for producing:
- KotOR 1
- Jade Empire
(No, Mass Effect *is* supposed to be missing)

Westwood Studios for producing:
- Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn
- Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun
- Command & Conquer Red Alert 1
- Command & Conquer Red Alert 2
- Dune series

iD for producing:
- Doom 1, 2 & 3

Epic Games for producing:
- Gears of War
- Unreal Tournament: G.O.T.Y. (1999)
- Unreal Tournament 2004

Oh, and a massive thank you to EA for:
- Producing great quality games time and time again
- Providing excellent technical support
- Never destroying any highly acclaimed studios for profit
- Never ripping people off
- Never wasting people's time

 

[justacop]

Free Radical Design for Timesplitters series (Absolutely brilliant).
And 2nd place Epic Games for Gears of War (Brilliant fun) lol.