Game companies you avoid

[Howie6925]

Any Games you dont buy or write off based on which company made them. The two I can think of are THQ and Codemasters. THQ I never really liked even back to the NES days every game they made I thought were really boring or graphics were bad. Code masters I liked with micro mahines(NES) but I then bought that "Turning point:Fall of liberty" game which I thought was going to be cool but was let down. Anyone else?

[Overbite]

I don't really avoid companies on purpose, but I haven't liked any Ubisoft game in forever.

[megasdkirby]

Depends on the console.

THQ for older, classic consoles.

Umm...that's it, actually.

[Smashed Brother]

Actually, THQ has come a pretty long way since the old SNES/Gen days. Remember Pit-Fighter on the SNES? Just typing that last sentence forced my hands into some sort of hideous claw-shape...

I don't buy any games for the new systems so I'm not sure what's crap or not, but as far as older stuff, I'll avoid THQ definitely...as well as some Acclaim stuff from the 8/16/32-bit era (Star Voyager, Dragonheart, Fantastic Four to name but a few). Bandai was also godawful back in the 8-bit days.

[duffmanth]

These days I avoid most EA, THQ, Sega and Activision games. In general I avoid most multiplatform games by these mega publishers because I find them to be lesser quality games and you end up with one great version for one platform, while the rest are buggy pieces of shit. This is why I mostly buy console exclusives. As far as past console generations, I avoid anything from the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube era made by Akklaim, Midway, Atari, and Infogrames. Akklaim and Midway had some kick ass games back in the NES and SNES days though.

[Richter Belmount]

Square enix

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Atlus

[Blitzwing256]

Bandai was also godawful back in the 8-bit days.


everything bandai touches is garbage ;-)

[kupomogli]

Unless I'm really interested in it. Nintendo. To me atleast, most of their games are a disappointment, but they do make some amazing ones here and there.

[megasdkirby]

Unless I'm really interested in it. Nintendo. To me atleast, most of their games are a disappointment, but they do make some amazing ones here and there.

For a second, I thought you were going to say "Sony" after the PS3 March 1st incident. LOL

[Cloud121]

Square enix
Seconded. Well, if it's post 5th generation releases.

[Tron 2.0]

THQ in general as for EA what they put out hasn't interested me to much.

[phreakindee]

Mythicon for Atari 2600 games. Holy crap, that crap is AWFUL. Yet I own their games...

[ScourDX]

EA for the most part. Ubisoft came second.

[Valhalla]

yeah i used to not buy THQ games either, but these days it seems they have improved greatly. I don't really avoid anyone too much, though Square-Enix (usually when they are publishing a Tri-Ace game) i'm not paying full price for any of their games.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Terminal Reality.

[Damaramu]

LJN. Absolute shit.

[lwizardl]

I have agree with people here I avoid EA games like the plague. Sega has been shitty for a while now they need to learn the fact they suck at 3d stuff and go back to their 2d roots. I also avoid any movie tie in games for the most part they are horrible.

[ScourDX]

LJN. Absolute shit.

The only game I like from them is WWF Royal Rumble.

[Gameguy]

LJN. Absolute shit.
You beat me to it, I was going to say LJN. I'm not sure if I have any of their games, maybe one or two were decent but I can't think of any of the titles.

I thought about THQ, but they released several games for the Gameboy Advance that I have so they're not that bad. The Sonic Advance games were by THQ, same with the Phantasy Star Collection. I haven't come across a copy of the Phantasy Star Collection yet so I can't comment on what it's like through personal experience. Micro Machines 1 and 2 for Gameboy Color came out from them, but I found that to be a terrible version of Micro Machines. I can't remember what else came out by them, but I'm pretty sure I have more by them.

I'll also second Codemasters, I really like Micro Machines but that's it. I thought the Quattro cartridges and Dizzy games sucked.

[Howie6925]

LJN. Absolute shit.

LJN was founded in 1970 by Jack Friedman who later founded the toy companies THQ and Jakks Pacific. Well that explains alot.

[buzz_n64]

Ocean, bad, very bad! EA, Square-Enix, Codemasters.

[zemmix]

Blizzard! I kid, I kid...

A good game is a good game and I don't care who published it. Though I stay far away from EA sports games.

[Icarus Moonsight]

LJN. Absolute shit.

Hey! That's my line! :P

[DigitalSpace]

I refuse to buy anything published by Activision unless it's used, but other than that, I don't really avoid any game companies.

[Nebagram]

I'll also second Codemasters, I really like Micro Machines but that's it. I thought the ... Dizzy games sucked.

I quoted that, now I'll ignore it. :-/ Right up until about 2007 I'd describe myself as a Codemasters fanboy- Micro Machines- everything up to V3 was awesome. The entire Colin McRae series was genre-defining. Hell, even TOCA was cool. Their recent efforts though... yech. They should never have changed their logo.

As for companies I'll go out of my way to avoid... there aren't really any off the top of my head. I'll admit I see the Activision logo as a 'badge of shitness' but I'll still buy the games. Under the right circumstances, any company can shit out a diamond if you feed it enough coal.

[exit]

I don't avoid any specific companies persay but if they're known for their bad games, or are a company I've never heard of, I tend to avoid them unless I've done some research on the game first.

[Hep038]

I just avoid bad games, I could care less who makes them.

[Smashed Brother]

LJN. Absolute shit.

X-Men (NES) and Back to the Future (NES) immediately come to mind. *Shudder*

[j_factor]

The only company I really avoid is Data Design Interactive. All the companies mentioned so far have put out some good games. For a while I hated EA, but in the last couple years they've released some great stuff.

[FayeC86]

Activision in the past. Nintendo in the present.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Well, statistically, someone has to have a preference to avoid good stuff. LOL

Activision owned the 2600, and Nintendo... Not touching that one. :p

[dreamcaster]

Pretty much anything from Sega after the Sammy buyout has been been awful, and after too many bad games, I have given up on them.

[hbkprm]

Pretty much anything from Sega after the Sammy buyout has been been awful, and after too many bad games, I have given up on them.

but sega making a turnaround
trust me

[hbkprm]

Well, statistically, someone has to have a preference to avoid good stuff. LOL

Activision owned the 2600, and Nintendo... Not touching that one. :p

i agree on the honor (or lack theirof) and a penis

[kupomogli]

For the last two years Sega has been one of the best developers/publishers out there.

Anyways. Here's another one.

Namco Bandai. However, this isn't because I want to, but because I have to. The majority of their games that they do localize and bring over here suck, the other half, and usually the better ones, are Japan only.

[Oobgarm]

i agree on the honor (or lack theirof) and a penis

LOL LOL

I'm usually OK with anyone making games and don't avoid any companies in particular-just genres usually.

[buzz_n64]

LOL LOL

I'm usually OK with anyone making games and don't avoid any companies in particular-just genres usually.

I am the same way, it just so happens that some of these companies generally make mostly one genre of games, like ea and square-enix.

I don't play FMV, RPG, Strategy, Sports or Casual board game titles

[peachstapler]

For what it's worth, you should avoid working for EA games.

[Ackman]

Definately Activision, steaming pile of crap games, esp lately, 4 or 5 years ago I wouldn't have said so. And then EA, they've got better but they've just released so many terrible stinkers, I'll never forget Superman Returns, LOTR games or The Godfather, The gameplay is terrible, they should actually get punished for releasing **** like that, they can barely be called games.

[Aussie2B]

I don't really avoid any publisher since I know even a crappy company can get the rights to publish a good game. Granted, some publishers muck up the localizations of games, but if I want to play said game, it's not like I have many options. It's either put up with a shoddy localization or import.

In terms of developers, I tend to avoid Western developers in general. They just don't often make the kinds of games that appeal to me. I grew up with NES, so I like platformers, Japanese-style RPGs, Zelda-style adventure games, shmups, arcade-style racing, etc. Western developers seem more interested in making FPSs, sandbox games, realistic racing, realistic sports, and so on. I'm always happy to give a Western game a try and have discovered plenty of gems, but in the end my gaming is still probably around 90-95% Japanese.

[Dr. Dib]

Nearly anything associated with Disney, so that would include Buena Vista Games. It's more of a personal thing against Disney for some reason that I could never shake-off my personality. I think it started with SatAM possibly being held back from DVD release by Disney and it escalated from there....

Though Kingdom Hearts has slipped into my collection...

[skaar]

I used to have a huge hate on for Eidos, but I realized after a few years that I miss some good titles if I blanket hate a company. I think there are more companies that would make me second guess a choice of title than any I would specifically avoid.

[The 1 2 P]

3D Realms for talking about games instead of putting them out. And most of EA's games with the exception of the Burnout series. And ditto for Activision with the exception of the Modern Warfare series.

[colicub]

Phoenix Games.

Even though I really want to get a copy of Animal Soccer World.

[tpugmire]

I don't really avoid any companies for console games, but I absolutely refuse to buy any Sony PC games. After the never ending series of fuck-ups that they made to Star Wars Galaxies, I have absolutely no use for them.

[MASTERWEEDO]

Wisdom Tree

[swlovinist]

Southpeak Entertainment for two words...

Two Worlds

[Famidrive-16]

valve

lol southpeak, didnt know those guys were still around

[mezrabad]

Hey OP, great idea for a thread. It really made me think about whether or not I consciously avoid buying games from a particular company, and if not what -do- I avoid buying?

No particular company comes to mind. However as far as types of games I avoid:

Any mainstream sports title pretty much doesn't exist to me. I don't even notice it on the shelves. Baseball, Hockey, American Football, Football (aka Soccer), Basketball, Olympics stuff, and most Xtreme sports appear to me as just a jumbled mess of pictures and images, providing me with no real data input.

"Games for girls" games that go out of their way to look pink, frilly and aimed at my daughter are games I've learned to avoid like the plague. I actually got a couple for my daughter once and they were really poor games. Lesson learned. She now only plays games that are fairly gender neutral but age appropriate (she's 8): Pikmin, Animal Crossing, anything Mario, Little Big Planet and others.

Licensed Crap: Any game based on a movie made to coincide with the release of same movie. Yes, there have been exceptions to this rule, Spiderman 2 being the most notable (for consoles, not for PC) but for the most part, it has to really force its way on to my radar via word of mouth for me to be even interested about thinking about considering purchasing it.

Board Games turned Videogames: Learned my lesson with Family Fun night. There's just no point in playing Sorry! on my TV when we can play it on the Dining Room table.

Xbox Live Arcade: I have bought some, Puzzle Quest and Portal come to mind, but if for some reason my internet is down, Portal -will not play- as the full game. :( That's not a model of purchase I want to encourage..

[Robocop2]

Avoid certain companies? No, I honestly pay very little attention to who made the game as long as it looks interesting.

Avoid certain genres? Absolutely

[Jehusephat]

I unconsciously avoid EA games... probably because they're mostly sports games, and I can't be bothered to play a simulation of something that I can't stand in real life.