You get a say on gaming's most important issues.

It's to be expected that most readers of this site, like the staff, hold up Nintendo as the best developer in the industry. But obviously there are many great ones, from Sega to Capcom to Namco to Rare and so on and so on. Only the most deluded fanboy would argue otherwise, and we hope there are none of them at our forums. Doesn't look like it anyway...

Which developer (bar Nintendo themselves) is your favourite and why?

Shenlong:

'Tis easy; Capcom. They made, IMHO, one of THE best games this generation, Viewtiful Joe, and are on the verge of making some amazing games too. Devil May Cry 3 looks promising, and the same with Resident Evil 4 (which is potentially going to be the best Gamecube game to date). It goes without saying; Capcom make some killer games, and are one of the few companies who are creating new franchises, unlike others who tend to churn out sequels (which isn't necessarily bad).

It's hard to pick a developing team from Capcom, but the ones I'll go for are the ones who created VJ, forgotten their names already, was something like Production Studio 4 or something I believe.

Lakatu:

For me it has to be Ubisoft. I've just been really impressed with the consistant quality and quantity they are producing.

They certainly don't make the very best games in the world but they make loads of very good ones and I've been impressed at the rate they are working at. XIII, the Splinter Cell games, Prince of Persia and many more games in the last year or so.

Hellfire:

Does Retro Studios count? Because if it does, it has my vote for the wonderful Metroid Prime. I must say I'm impressed with Ubisoft and Capcom lately. Ubisoft managed to make Prince of Persia, Beyond Good and Evil, Splinter Cell and Raven Shield and they're all at least pretty good. Kudos to them. Capcom also has my respect for what Resident Evil 4 is shaping out to be, the courage to make Killer 7, but mostly because of the Viewtiful Viewtiful Joe.

The Production Studio in charge of Crystal Chronicles also deserves credit for having the courage to make a Final Fantasy different from the usual formula that's fun and entertaining. Silicon Knights, oh yeah they rock! Eternal Darkness is just an awesome game, one of the best so far and Metal Gear, was, in my opinion a very good game. Factor 5 managed to make better flying missions on Rebel Strike that on Rogue Leader, but made those god damned awful on foot games that ruined the game, so boo to them. [One would have sufficed, you know - Conor]

CodeName_88:

It's Capcom. There are many companies who produce great games, but Capcom have to be applauded for producing original games, such as Viewtiful Joe, wich is nothing other than Viewtiful. Resident Evil 4 should also be one of the best games on the Cube, as it mixes the 3rd-Person shooting genre with the genre it's most commonly know for, Horror.

Speedysurfer:

Quite a hard choice...

It seems many people think of Capcom as their favourite developer, which is quite reasonable, as we can see in great Capcom games such as Viewtiful Joe, all the Resident Evils (except the Gun Survivor ones) and all the 2D Street Fighter games Capcom's great quality and quite some creativity (although they made some crappy ones too, like Capcom vs SNK 2 EO and those lousy conversions from RE 2 and 3 for the Cube). But, unlike someone said here, even though they come up with some new franchises, Capcom does churn out sequels, and even though Resident Evil 4 is a revolution in its own way, the same cannot be said of Devil May Cry 3 or any Street Fighter game that may come out in the near future. Everyone just expects more of the same. I'd choose SEGA as my favourite.

Many SEGA games are marks in videogame history, and today SEGA makes the most original games out there. SEGA comes out with some of the craziest ideas. Come on, who would have thought of games as Super Monkey Ball or Jet Set Radio? Not only were these games very original, but unlike Capcom's new franchises, these sold like hot cakes, because they actually appealed to either the hardcore gamer and the casual gamer (you don't expect a casual gamer to play Viewtiful Joe, do you?). Also, when they're not making such original games, they're making great games anyway, such as Virtua Tennis (who would have thought a tennis game could be so fun AND so simple to play?) which has only been recently equaled in quality by Top Spin, and Skies of Arcadia.

Capcom is probably the best with 2D fighters and survival horrors, but that's just it. Ubi Soft's Tom Clancy games are great...but they're all the same genre, and then there's PoP, which is a great adventure game. Square just makes RPGs. The list goes on...

SEGA, on the other hand, have great games of many genres. You've got great sports games, like the 2K series (pity they don't come out for the Gamecube anymore) and Virtua Tennis. You've got great RPG's, either offline as Skies of Arcadia, or online as PSO. You've got great puzzle games, like Chu Chu Rocket and Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2, which are also great party games. You've got some pretty good racing games in the arcades (who hasn't played Sega Rally?). And then, there's Sonic, which even though his last games weren't that great, everyone knows and remembers playing its games. These are just some examples, there are quite some more. Last but not least, SEGA games' gameplay is quite unique. You may not know what game you're playing, but if it's a SEGA game you'll easily know it's from SEGA...

Choze:

Hard to choose I like many. Blizzard, Namco, Capcom, Square, EA.

I was typing Namco (close) but Capcom stole my vote as of late because of RE4 and some of their actions in the industry. They have made many major franchises and some crazy games, lol. Lately they seem to be experimenting here and there and they are known as being the main Japanese developer who have gotten anboard more violent and darker stuff than others in the region. They were responisble for publishing GTA in the territory.

As for game quality they have played their part in history. Street Fighter 2 revolutionizing mutliplayer games by making you fight against the other player instead of playing with them. Residnet Evil is one of their current major franchises and sold a huge maount during the PS1 days making it one of the biggest worldwide franchises ever as it appealed to the Asians as much as it did for people in the West. And many more.

I'm really looking forward to Resident Evil 4 amongst their current lineup for obvious reasons after much praise at e3 and beyond for renewing Resident Evil and taking it in a new direction. I'm also excited about many other games from them.

Fighter of Foo:

It's got to be Ubisoft all the way. Splinter Cell, Beyond Good & Evil, Prince of Persia, XIII; I've got them all and love them all! On the horizon we've got Splinter Cell 2, Prince of Persia 2 and loads more that aren't sequels.

I'm beginning to sound like a PR robot! Well, anything's better than sounding like David Dickinson. I hate him so much! Sometimes I just like to... *clenches fists*

D.Lo:

It's funny, but third parties are the thing that changes most generation to generation. There were some powerhouse developers/publishers in the 8/16 bit days that never sucsessfully transferred to 3D (remember Sunsoft?). Then there are some sub-standard or languishing companies that revived their fortunes to become powerhouses early in the PS1/N64 era (Acclaim, Namco, Rare, THQ). Well this generation Acclaim, Rare and THQ have fallen away, and Ubisoft, Factor 5 and others are here.

This generation, you have to give it to Ubisoft. They used to be the definition of mediocre, but now they're one of the best.

However, what I would like to say here is my favourite 3rd party is Konami, because that was true for over 15 years. Now, it is not. I loved Konami games so much on the NES, SNES, GB, GBA, N64, MD, TG16, PS1, even now about 2/5 of my 230+ game collection are Konami games.

Here's a URL with a picture of some of my Konami games from about half a year ago (I now have all Contra and Probotector titles, and the PS2 castlevania, and boxes for some of the others - ah, ebay).

But since Konami has shafted the Gamecube, they can get stuffed. I've got every single one of the 18 console Castlevania games, but if Gamecube doesn't get one, that's it. I'm never buying one again. I've got almost 90 Konami games, but if Gamecube doesn't get better then Disney Skate, I won't buy any of their games on any console, no matter how good they are. [A tad extreme, don't you think? - Conor]

Nintendo is more important to me.

Monopolyman:

I'd have to agree with the majority saying it is Ubisoft, because most of their games are sweeet, such as XIII, Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow, Prince of Persia and Beyond Good and Evil. Another thing about them is that they always try to be innoative, and although they have their share of sequels, they also often release original games.

I also agree with everything D.Lo said about Konami :)

That's all for this week's edition. Be sure to check out the Gamecube Forum for the next topic, and your name could be here next Saturday. Didn't contribute? You can still post your thoughts below.