The Big Ten

[BioShockWins]

And no, I'm not talking about college!!!
I'm talking about gaming teams! Well, development teams to be exact.

But what are your opinions on who are in the top?
I'm not a very rounded gamer... and I only actually just got my 360, so most of the teams I mention will probably be mainly for the Xbox. So someone straiten it out for me!

And in no particular order


Irrational
Bungie
Valve
Square


Uh... halp?

[Marko Shadows]

uhhh sooo,

Epic (GoW, UT3)
Bungie (Nuff said)
Valve (Half Life)
Bethesda Softworks (Fallout, Oblivion)
Irrational(SS, SS2, BioShock)

IMO those are the top 5 anyways. Nobody else really deserves mention lol

[Hadrian]

I must mention Relic here as for me they are one of the best devs teams I have seen over recent times. Many of their games work right out of the box with very few issues, and are normally top marks on programming.

[audiosnag]

You've forgotten two huge ones and they both start with B

Bioware
Blizzard

[Death]

Blizzard ☺☺☺☺ing sucks. They take UNNECESSARY time to polish their game. The people at Blizzard are just lazy pricks.

[Marko Shadows]

blizzard also made a game that ruins ppls lives.

[audiosnag]

Blizzard ☺☺☺☺ing sucks. They take UNNECESSARY time to polish their game. The people at Blizzard are just lazy pricks.

You must be joking. I would rather them take too long to polish then release half finished ☺☺☺☺.
With the number of amazing games under their belt they're above reproach IMO.

[audiosnag]

blizzard also made a game that ruins ppls lives.

haha this is very true

[Death]

Please! It doesnt take 6 years to make a ☺☺☺☺ing game. Bungie makes their games in 3 YEARS and they are highly polished.

[audiosnag]

Please! It doesnt take 6 years to make a ☺☺☺☺ing game. Bungie makes their games in 3 YEARS and they are highly polished.

Maybe if your talking individual franchises but they release titles an a consistant basis

1994 - Warcraft
1995 - Warcraft 2
1996 - Warcraft 2:Beyond the Dark Portal
1996 - Diablo
1998 - Starcraft
2000 - Diablo 2
2001 - Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction
2002 - Warcraft 3
2003 - Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne
2004 - WoW
2007 - WoW: Burning Crusade

Theres no six year gap in there.

[oranos]

1. Rockstar Games
2. Nintendo(In-house developers)
3. Blizzard Entertainment
4. BioWare
5. Capcom
6. Ubisoft(They have some flops, but they have alot of hits)
7. Bethesda
8. Lionhead Studios
9. Bungie Studios(would give it a higher rating but they are known for very few titles atm)
10.IO Interactive(Responsible for the Hitman Series, Freedom Fighters and Kane & Lynch)

Tried to make the best list I could >.>

[Hadrian]

No offence Audiosnag but some of them are just re-iterations of the same game in a newer guise and doesnt take that long to do. If it was a whole new game then Death is correct in his statement as Blizzard have not released a fully new game for some time.

[audiosnag]

[QUOTE=oranos;214166]
5. Capcom
QUOTE]

Ohh capcom..how did i forget them?
They def deserve to be on that list.

[audiosnag]

No offence Audiosnag but some of them are just re-iterations of the same game in a newer guise and doesnt take that long to do. If it was a whole new game then Death is correct in his statement as Blizzard have not released a fully new game for some time.

none taken :D
what games are u referring to? im curious

[BioShockWins]

Starcraft... the last one was like... forever ago.

[Hadrian]

The Warcraft/WoW re-iterations was what i was refering to. Have you seen a new game released by blizzard in recent years that hasnot been related to these? That in itself is a mark of lazy development, when a dev team cant even get fresh ideas of there own but have to regurgitate old ideas in a new package.
Not bashing Blizzard per say just stating an opinion.

[audiosnag]

Starcraft... the last one was like... forever ago.

yeah i agree that game took too long coming out but again thats a single franchise...im talking pure content be it different franchises, expansions, whatever...the company supports its player base without a doubt

[audiosnag]

The Warcraft/WoW re-iterations was what i was refering to. Have you seen a new game released by blizzard in recent years that hasnot been related to these? That in itself is a mark of lazy development, when a dev team cant even get fresh ideas of there own but have to regurgitate old ideas in a new package.
Not bashing Blizzard per say just stating an opinion.

yeah i see what your saying but i consider that a major selling point in that example....theres a ton of people who love the warcraft universe and the opportunity to actually immerse yourself in it is huge for fans...they could have made the same game with a brand new IP but i would much rather have the chance to enter Azeroth

[Hadrian]

yeah i see what your saying but i consider that a major selling point in that example....theres a ton of people who love the warcraft universe and the opportunity to actually immerse yourself in it is huge for fans...they could have made the same game with a brand new IP but i would much rather have the chance to enter Azeroth

I see where your comming from but surely even in that respect Blizzard are behind the times. Taking NCsoft for an example , they have released several expansions for Guild Wars but still produce original titles such as City of Heroes/Villans in between and a few otehr titles. This is where I think Blizzard has gone wrong in focusing to much on Warcraft/WoW and not using there programming skill and knowledge to come up with new ideas and perspectives in this and other genre's.

[audiosnag]

I see where your comming from but surely even in that respect Blizzard are behind the times. Taking NCsoft for an example , they have released several expansions for Guild Wars but still produce original titles such as City of Heroes/Villans in between and a few otehr titles. This is where I think Blizzard has gone wrong in focusing to much on Warcraft/WoW and not using there programming skill and knowledge to come up with new ideas and perspectives in this and other genre's.

Yeah thats true, they havnt released an original IP in a long time and i'd say after Starcraft 2 that should be next on their list.
I still think they deserve to be on the top ten list though due to the fact that they've yet to release a stinker and they've created some genre defining games.

[storm84]

Blizzard ☺☺☺☺ing sucks. They take UNNECESSARY time to polish their game. The people at Blizzard are just lazy pricks.

Maybe that unnecessary time is the difference between an average game and a spectacular one. You think its easy to get a game like Starcraft balanced, or include the amount of assets that Diablo 2 had? Wish more companies would polish their games in the same way Blizzard does, because what they do is the difference between a good and a sensational game....

Bring on Diablo 3!

[audiosnag]

Maybe that unnecessary time is the difference between an average game and a spectacular one. You think its easy to get a game like Starcraft balanced, or include the amount of assets that Diablo 2 had? Wish more companies would polish their games in the same way Blizzard does, because what they do is the difference between a good and a sensational game....

Bring on Diablo 3!



agreed:D

high five

[BioShockWins]

What about...
STALKER!

[Hadrian]

Well we can take any RTS game and ask if it is balanced from day 1 and the answer would be a resounding no. As for the Diablo elements , tbh as a person who owns db2 there is really very little to the game overall, other than the equipment and that can easily be countered by any current MMORPG. I am not bashing Blizzard on this, I am merely saying its a matter of opinion. Titan Quest is a BD2 style of game and has a lot of similar elements. It took a long time in development but is still flawed even now. That is where Blizzard are good imo, taking a current title and tweaking it, rather than creating a new franchise or style of play.

No RTS game is truley balanced unless the teams are identical in every way, and that would be no fun would it. Thats why games like DoW have had many patches to improve balance. And that is why I said Relic shold be considered as their games are always top notch imo and they are not afraid to say they got something wrong and try to fix it for the sake of balance. One might argue that Relic has focused on RTS games for the reason of similacrum, but imo games like CoH, DoW or HW, have to be taken as seperate entities as they all have different game engines, and different play styles.

[PrivateJoker]

And no, I'm not talking about college!!!
I'm talking about gaming teams! Well, development teams to be exact.

But what are your opinions on who are in the top?
I'm not a very rounded gamer... and I only actually just got my 360, so most of the teams I mention will probably be mainly for the Xbox. So someone straiten it out for me!

And in no particular order


Irrational
Bungie
Valve
Square


Uh... halp?

NINTENDO
Capcom
Square-Enix
Konami
Bungie
2KBoston/2KAustralia
BLiZZARD
Sega (publishes some great franchises!)
Rare
Epic (persuaded by Gears Of War)

Also, when was the first time you heard "halp" on the internet? I remember once I was playing Starcraft and my partner kept on yelling "HALP" "HALP" and I was laughing so hard...I let him die just to read him continuously misspell HALP. lol :p

[storm84]

No RTS game is truley balanced unless the teams are identical in every way, and that would be no fun would it. Thats why games like DoW have had many patches to improve balance. And that is why I said Relic shold be considered as their games are always top notch imo and they are not afraid to say they got something wrong and try to fix it for the sake of balance. One might argue that Relic has focused on RTS games for the reason of similacrum, but imo games like CoH, DoW or HW, have to be taken as seperate entities as they all have different game engines, and different play styles.

That is true, balance is impossible. But eliminating dominant strategy, i.e. tank Rush, is something that can be done and Blizzard have done very well implementing 3 completely unique races and not having one race as being superior. That alone is enough to praise Blizzard on their polishing practices.

Diablo 2 may have had simplistic and repetitive gameplay, but the variety is huge. And there are a huge number of assets in the game. Its not just different coloured creatures, there are many creatures, 30 skills for each of the 5 races to animate, huge areas to explore (randomly generated), massive (for its time) cut scenes. It was an incredibly polished game when it came out.

[Hadrian]

That is true, balance is impossible. But eliminating dominant strategy, i.e. tank Rush, is something that can be done and Blizzard have done very well implementing 3 completely unique races and not having one race as being superior. That alone is enough to praise Blizzard on their polishing practices.

Diablo 2 may have had simplistic and repetitive gameplay, but the variety is huge. And there are a huge number of assets in the game. Its not just different coloured creatures, there are many creatures, 30 skills for each of the 5 races to animate, huge areas to explore (randomly generated), massive (for its time) cut scenes. It was an incredibly polished game when it came out.

IMO Relic have done a better job with Dawn of War on balancing a game with 7 races. A much trickier prospect when you consider there almost all unique race types.

I also should add I think Sierra should get a note here as they to have had various different kinds of games on the market and all the ones I have had or played have been extremely well polished and run nigh on perfect every time right out of the box.

I liked Diablo 2 but it was just a massive click fest with no real skill required other than picking the right skills/powers/magic. I had a fanatic/zeal paladin I got up to level 60+ and then just gave up on the game entirely. Diablo on the playstation remains one of my fav 2 player games as me and a buddy would play it and I would go the mage and he would go the warrior and we just went to town over and over on the random maps, and it was mighty fun at the time. But not Blizzard has lost sight of the innovation that made it a top rated developer and IMO have focused to much on remaking or reworking there old titles and have nothing new to show for it.

[storm84]

I won't disagree with anything you said there, though none of that really is to the point being made about them. Its interesting that Blizzard have not done anything new at all, more just popularised certain genres. Bringing back the action / adventure RPG, refining the RTS genre (then changing it slightly for Warcraft 3), and making the most expansive online world out there.

One thing they did well initially, Battle.net was incredibly innovative for its time.

But in terms of quality control, I know that if I buy a Blizzard game I'm getting an incredibly polished product. It may not be revolutionary, may not be even as evolutionary as it could be, but it will no doubt be a balanced and addictive game. They do something right, you aren't supposed to sell that amount of copies of hardcore games, especially not on PC. And they are one of the few companies that hasn't sold out and moved to console so I give them mass respect.


In saying all that, I'm looking forward to Hellgate: London - think it will carry exactly the same guarantee of a complete game that the Blizzard name carried.

[Mr.Bubblez]

NINTENDO
Capcom
Square-Enix
Konami
NAMCO
2KBoston/2KAustralia
BLiZZARD
Epic (persuaded by Gears Of War)
id
SONY (mainly GT5 yummy yummy)


bungie is a one trick pony and sooooo bias against PC so they dont make the list for me.

[Mr.Bubblez]

and guys publishers/dev teams aint always the same thing...

technically Kojima Productions is the dev team behind MGS4 and Konami is the publisher... same thing with NINTENDO...

[Mr.Bubblez]

flaked out and forgot Valve...

triple post :D :o

[Musedmark]

Actually CoH uses a modified DoW engine, heck even the interface is similar.
Anyway.
Erm

*goes to work*

[Newbiezilla]

Nintendo
Capcom
BioWare
2k Boston/Australlia
Bethesda Softworks
SquareSoft (back when they were good, not this Square Enix crap)
Bungie
Konami
Rare
Ubisoft

[PrivateJoker]

NINTENDO
Capcom
Square-Enix
Konami
NAMCO
2KBoston/2KAustralia
BLiZZARD
Epic (persuaded by Gears Of War)
id
SONY (mainly GT5 yummy yummy)


bungie is a one trick pony and sooooo bias against PC so they dont make the list for me.

I was just naming the companies responsible for publishing and developing said games. Also Bungie isn't a one trick pony, many Macintosh gamers consider Bungie's first trilogoy, Marathon, to be some of the best first person shooters ever made, especially Marathon 2. (Probably the best mac exclusive video games ever made). I'm sure after Bungie's ridiculous/over the top commercial success, they will probably be pressured by Microsoft to get to work on a new franchise...and probably an expansion to Halo 3 will be well within reason.