Developers! Who do you love?

[Tron714]

Just curious on the knowledge of people have on their favorite developer. Not publishers! So no EA bashing crap cause all they do is dictate their own devs and publish games.

I would have to say my favorites are Gearbox, id Software, and Bioware. I love Mass Effect and KOTOR and Gearbox has released some great shooters(also ported Halo to the PC very well). Gearbox is releasing Borderlands in a few days and I think they are trying to pull in some people with the whole FPS/RPG style going on. id Software, it has been a long while since you released a game I loved. Now with Rage, we might see id Software be in the spotlight for a while. Unless Zenimax decides otherwise.  

[nitnit]

EA still sucks for constantly dictating to their developers to add stupid things into their games. Also for giving great series to bad developers.

Regardless, Blizzard is pretty much top tier. Black Isle Studios was pretty godly until Interplay ran ittself into the ground, Looking Glass Studios was really good too. Bioware is decent, though their games tend to be buggy and all very similar. Obsidian could join my list of developers I like if they do New Vegas well.  

[Tron714]

nitnit

EA still sucks for constantly dictating to their developers to add stupid things into their games. Also for giving great series to bad developers.

Regardless, Blizzard is pretty much top tier. Black Isle Studios was pretty godly until Interplay ran ittself into the ground, Looking Glass Studios was really good too. Bioware is decent, though their games tend to be buggy and all very similar. Obsidian could join my list of developers I like if they do New Vegas well.

Obsidian is doing New Vegas. I'm just wondering if it will be done right. Since its not supposed to be part of the series, I am curious if it will be like Fallout 2 in a way.

As for EA, maybe your thoughts will change with their new development plan. Haha I know that I keep saying that but thats just because I am glad to see someone giving developers that can shine some support. So developers like Double Fine who had games over looked that were great (Psychonauts) can have their game published and advertised for. If it wasn't for EA then Brutal Legend wouldn't of been released.  

[nitnit]

I know that Obsidian is doing New Vegas, that's why I said if they do it right I'll probably add them to my list of developers I like... lol

There have definitely been some fine games made that were published by EA, it's just the way that they force developers to put things in their games (often for the worse), and give great series to developers who shouldn't have them.

Perfect examples - EA forced Looking Glass Studios to put a co-op feature in System Shock 2, terrible idea that ruins the game if you do it. As for giving great series to bad designers, look at what happened to the command and conquer series. The last game in it made by Westwood was Red Alert 2, and it's the last one in the series to be considered very good.  

[Haratio TaFotter]

I'm a pretty big fan of Grasshopper Studios. Their games are weird, but its their randomness and strangeness in games like Killer 7 and No More Heroes that really keeps me coming back for more, even if they don't realse games all that often.  

[Tron714]

I like Grasshopper Studios. Their exclusives for the wii are pretty solid. I enjoyed the little I played of No More Heroes and my girlfriend wants to pick up the sequel.