Praise Your Favorite Game Companies

[FieryReign]

It might be a lame topic, but oh well. Alot of our time on the forums are spent bitching about videogame publishers/developers on what they did wrong and what should have been. I'm probably the worst offender...

How about some props to the devs who do things right nowadays or at least make an effort to please us? There needs to be some more positivity around here.

I'm going to give M2 some credit right here and now. They knocked it out of the fucking ballpark with their Sega arcade sprite-scalers on 3DS. Galaxy Force 2 and Outrun are simply amazing and you can tell effort went into making these titles the best possible conversions out there. Atlus seems to be another company releasing quality titles and still gives the middle finger to casuals, which I love, but unfortunately am not into rpgs.

I'm interested in hearing people's opinions on some other modern companies releasing quality titles that do things right.

[celerystalker]

I'll give some credit to Million and Miracle Kidz for keeping the Kunio/Downtown Nekketsu legacy alive. The recent remake of Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku: Soreyuke Daiundoukai on PS3, on a disc no less, was very lovingly done, even if they did mess with the controls a bit, and someday I'll try out the new Downtown Nekketsu Jidaigeki on 3DS. It's original creators who loved their old work so much they've stayed determined to keep it alive. Love it.

I also like that Toys for Bob started putting out toy playsets for the Skylanders figures to be used simply as toys outside ofthe game. I feel like it is a great step in fulfilling the promise of the concept of being a toy that interacts with the game beyond just being DLC with a figurine. Letting kids actually play with their toys is wonderful.

[Flojomojo]

I second your nomination of M2 on the 3DS. Such passion.

I also admire Aspyr's focused dedication to making Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic run well on mobile devices. It's a great port of a great game and it sounds like we will be getting KOTOR 2 soon. That one is a harder project because of the bugs and missing content, so I'm eager to see what they do with it.

They're under the radar nowadays, but I've always liked the work of Code Mystics (née Backbone, and Digital Eclipse), putting emulated oldies in places where we least expected them. They also did the Vita port of the retro-looking sword fighting game Nidhogg.

Last but not least, I like Jeff Minter of Lllamasoft for blindly charging into copyright infringement country with TxK, the best Tempest homage since his own Tempest 2000 over 20 years ago. He's a demonstrably terrible businessman, but I find that endearing even though it means we will see even fewer releases from him. His iOS games sold so little that he considers the platform "the scene of a mugging," so he's put his efforts into VR instead. The dude likes living on the precarious edge and one must respect that, even if it means never getting a proper Llamatron sequel.

[retroguy]

I have a lot of love for Bethesda. Not only are their games awesome to begin with, they actively encourage people to mod them and freely give people the tools to do so. Because of this, each playthrough can be a little different than the one before simply by trying different mods so it doesn't get stale. One of these days, it might be fun to learn TES Construction Set and try to make something myself.

[kai123]

I have a lot of love for Bethesda. Not only are their games awesome to begin with, they actively encourage people to mod them and freely give people the tools to do so. Because of this, each playthrough can be a little different than the one before simply by trying different mods so it doesn't get stale. One of these days, it might be fun to learn TES Construction Set and try to make something myself.

I would normally agree with this but their recent paid mods shenagians have put them on my watch out radar. I am glad they went back on it but man does that put a sour taste in the mouth.


My favorite is From Software at the moment. I wish they had never partnered with Namco as a publisher but at least I have the first games they made and Bloodborne.

[Tanooki]

Ask me 5 years ago I would have overall said Nintendo, but I can't unless we're just talking handheld. In that case they're fantastic, love the iterations of the 3DS and the New model is awesome. The game variety is fantastic, system has awesome output potential. The library it has is more than solid with offerings from everyone around, it's not just a Nintendo box. They even started to dust off dead stuff and do it nicely like with Kid Icarus and the too late to do any good Xenoblade now on 3DS. Atlus is another, not for those played out RPG games they do so much, not that there's nothing wrong with the SMT4 game on 3Ds, but their action based stuff like Dragon's Crown and Code of PRincess they published, great stuff and lots of play value with the rpg lite leveling mechanics and choices.


I'll second some others in here with Million/Miracle Kids with the Kunio stuff, they did wonders. Shame that PC version of Dodgeball never quite got finished, or did it? It at least never got an english release which stinks but the demo was fun. And Bethesda I'd usually never throw a bone to as they traditionally have done nothing for me, but damn I have to give them credit since they own iD software now. They really turned them around from hollow crap games to peddle engines as the Wolfenstein come back flipping the bird to multiplayer goons and going in with a really great story and stage design really sold me, and if the 4th DOOM game does this as well and gives it a modern look but the classic DOS-sy feeling of the original pair (and spinoff)s blowing off the crap pop scares every 10sec and boring repetition of the 3rd one they'll be a favorite among PC game publishers for me.

Like or hate, I think despite some really dumb moves Square-Enix needs a nod on a global level, not domestic (because of the odd snubbing with DQ7+8 and Bravely Default 2 all on 3DS.) Those snubs in Japan, FF Type 0 HD, the bringing of the FF13 line to PC, the PS4 remake of 10 which I'll get someday, the Tomb Raider rebirth which is Uncharted nearly level awesome. They're doing fine.


Would it count if I put GoG.com on this? This year alone goddamn! Indiana Jones Fate of Atlantis (and other INdy games), Sam & Max, Star Wars Tie and XW games with all addons and both versions, and most recently the best pair of Star Trek games ever made (25th and Judgment Rites.) Consider what they've put out as well in the last few years gutting out wretched DRM and reviving the dead or mostly dead like the 5 games in the Wing Commander line and they're old gamer heroes.

[The 1 2 P]

First I'd have to give love to Bungie, pre-Destiny. It was nothing but fun times back when they were in charge of Halo games. I still like 343 but I'll always have a soft spot for Bungie because of how awesome they made the Halo franchise.


Next I have to give props to Telltale. If not for The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us I would have never touched a story based point and click game. And the stories are very well crafted.

Finally I'll give props to Remedy. I loved the original Max Payne games, Alan Wake was my game of the year in 2010(I'm still awaiting a proper sequel) and Quantum Break has looked pretty phenomenal thus far. As much as I'm looking forward to it I'm actually glad they pushed it back to 2016. That way it doesn't end up getting lost in the overcrowding shuffle like Alan Wake did.

[Alexander]

I have yet to play a Capcom title that I don't like. I think that their titles are just great. The Mega Man series, Street Fighter, Bionic Commando and the list goes on. I think that Capcom makes brilliant games. Not always simple ones to complete though. Mega Man can really put a gamer's patience to the test but regardless of how ticked off I may get while playing it I'm still drawn to playing it more and more. Just can't put the controller down.

[ZP3]

CD Projekt Red. Witcher series. End of story.