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[starsrift]

I think, as long as a large company doesn't rush titles out the door before they're finished(EA comes to mind), regurgitate the same titles with updated graphics every year or two(EA comes to mind), or mistreat/abuse employees(EA comes to mind), they're just fine in my book.

Yeah, EA's going after Langdell and their strong developer-outsourcing arm are both pluses for them, but this isn't a KotoR or Fable good/evil metric balancing act we're talking about, here.

So companies like Valve and Blizzard have my strongest respect, as they don't do these things. Blizzard and Valve aren't particularly innovative - Blizzard has two genres(RTS, Action-RPG) it makes and Valve has one(FPS) - to take a page from Hecker's rant, they finish their games to their logical conclusion. Sure, "Valve Time" and "Blizzard Time" may be running jokes, but they prove that it works.

I also admire Stardock, though they have a stronger app and publishing business than game development.

[The_dude]

To piggyback off of jotapeh,

If the primary goal of an AAA company is to please investors (i.e. majority titles sell at least 5 mil copies, if not more), and if they are not doing this, then and only then are they sucking. If a company rushes titles out of the door and still makes money, they are not sucking. If they regurgitating past material and still making money, they are not sucking. If they mistreat employees and they are still making money, well, thats a different beast. Basically, any "suckage" qualities other than profits fall into the subjective category.

Remember, the video game industry is an industry.

[MaloEspada]

What's been said about Capcom by Shawn. Games are good, fan community gets very high attention, there is love for game making and not only game selling.

[Gimym TILBERT]

I think, as long as a large company doesn't rush titles out the door before they're finished(sEgA comes to mind), regurgitate the same titles with updated graphics every year or two(sEgA comes to mind).

Fixed for the sega love (after 1998)

[Melly]

To piggyback off of jotapeh,

If the primary goal of an AAA company is to please investors (i.e. majority titles sell at least 5 mil copies, if not more), and if they are not doing this, then and only then are they sucking. If a company rushes titles out of the door and still makes money, they are not sucking. If they regurgitating past material and still making money, they are not sucking. If they mistreat employees and they are still making money, well, thats a different beast. Basically, any "suckage" qualities other than profits fall into the subjective category.

Remember, the video game industry is an industry.

You're right, the games industry is an industry. Which is sad, in a way. I know it's that way with pretty much every form of entertainment that gets very popular, but again that's just sadder.

I used to find the idea of making a lot of money with not too much effort attractive. That idea is waning as I start seeing people whose sole goal in life is "to make money" as parasitical to society. Same to the people that invest on them, expecting high returns.

But as far as 'suckage' goes in this thread, I believe the OP wants to know of mainstream companies that nurture a passion for games and a respect for developers, or that aren't under the control of companies that don't.

[Shawny]

I think it's pretty obvious I'm a big Nintendo fanboy. Sure, they get some hate because of their Wii [Activity] games that are mostly huge selling casual oriented tech demos, but you can tell people like Iwata and Miyamoto are people who love games. Iwata, for example, got into games creation when he was really young and is a big Kirby fan  Also, Nintendo is one of the few big comapanies who really like making 2D platformers, and they're really good at that.  

I think Nintendo is easily the top dog of the gaming industry. They have a strong attention to unique gameplay and concepts and it helps them a shitload in the long run. They can get lots of unique series out of their ideas.

I also love Nippon Ichi, but I'm a flat out nerd when it comes to strategy rpgs and good art styles. 

[Rm88~]

I also love Nippon Ichi, but I'm a flat out nerd when it comes to strategy rpgs and good art styles.

There's Atlus too, I love Atlus. They bring some awesome Japanese games to America even if they know those games will not sell.

[AriesT]

Nintendo does not suck.

Their products are always good and the quality is maybe the best in the whole gaming market. I mean, tell me a game in which you can control your character as good, as precise and as versatile as you can control Mario (in 64 and Galaxy).

Nintendo might not have the best costumer relationship but thats just a "small" flaw.
They always release their games without big bugs without some really bad and annoying feature. In times, when games are becoming WAY to simple, players start to cry if there is no auto-health and shooters are way to long if you need about 8-10 hours to complete the story mode, Nintendo still holds the gameplay value up.
And sometimes I think they are the only developers who can do that...

I do not want to say that other developers and big publishers are all bad. Even EA and AB got their good games. However, the amount decreases rapidly.

[Valter]

My favorite game company is Treasure, hands down. My only complaint is that they've been making a lot of licensed games recently (like Bleach fighting games), which is kind of frustrating; their original IPs are fantastic!

as long as a large company doesn't rush titles out the door before they're finished(EA comes to mind)

Thing is, EA does well with the games it doesn't rush out the door. I've loved playing all of the Lord of the Rings games that EA has published over the years.

tell me a game in which you can control your character as good, as precise and as versatile as you can control Mario (in 64 and Galaxy).

In Super Mario 64? How about every single game?

I love Super Mario 64 to death, but the controls are not among its merits. Precise movement is damn near impossible, and the camera gets caught on basically every wall.

[Shawny]

My favorite game company is Treasure, hands down. My only complaint is that they've been making a lot of licensed games recently (like Bleach fighting games), which is kind of frustrating; their original IPs are fantastic!

holy shit yes!

i cant believe i forgot treasure. gunstar heroes is my favourite co-op game ever.

mischief makers is nostalgic as hell for me too.

[Melly]

As far as I know, Treasure has taken a heavy dive in recent years. When before they used to make some of the highest quality games in the industry, nowadays they don't seem to get on the spotlight at all, and I never hear of anything good coming out of them.

So working in Treasure may not be an attractive prospect if all you'll do is work on licensed games, unless you enjoy tha kinda stuff.

[Daiz]

I have a special place in my heart for GSC Game World for doing their thing with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Probably no other games have managed to suck me into their world so much as the STALKER games have.

But speaking of publisher, I really think EA is doing great these days. Even though they still release yearly updates of their sport games (which I don't give crap about myself), they brought people Fifa 10 which seems to be universally agreed upon as a great game. So they do actually care about those too. But that's not really the main thing.

The main thing why I like EA is that they're much more open to new ideas than in the past and that they're funding new and original titles based on that too. Dead Space and Mirror's Edge were among the first products to come out of that. Of course, both will have sequels, but at least I'm very interested in Mirror's Edge 2, since ME1 left a lot of room for improvement.

Also, the Langdell case also gets some points for EA. All in all, I'd say EA is probably the "best" big publisher at the moment. As for the opposite, I'd say Activision-Blizzard with the dick moves they've been pulling for quite a while.

[Shawny]

As far as I know, Treasure has taken a heavy dive in recent years. When before they used to make some of the highest quality games in the industry, nowadays they don't seem to get on the spotlight at all, and I never hear of anything good coming out of them.

So working in Treasure may not be an attractive prospect if all you'll do is work on licensed games, unless you enjoy tha kinda stuff.

I disagree!

[Rm88~]

The Bleach DS fighters are pretty good, though, definitely the best fighters on the console.

[Melly]

Well, I may have been mistaken, but they have been less heard of in recent time than they used to be, I feel.