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Top Developers This Gen

This generation's been packed with heavy hitting games from top-tier developers. We've been on plenty of trips with Nathan Drake, courtesy of Naughty Dog. And we've saved both Ferelden and the galaxy because of the games Bioware have created. There's no doubt that this gen, developers have pushed themselves and the consoles to the max. But which developers have consistently delivered on hard-hitting, big name titles that kept us hooked until the very end?

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InactiveUser5084d ago

Out of those five I'd drop Bioware and bump Valve up.

omi25p5084d ago

id take out valve. Not because they dont make great games (they do)

But because the whole business with Half Life is just BS

guitarded775084d ago

One serious omission is That Game Company.

ExCest5084d ago

@omi25p

wow. Valve isn't a Top 5 dev because HL3 isn't coming out? Personally, I'd rather them spend more time on it to make it better. Not to push it out early and become unpolished and "crap".

da_2pacalypse5084d ago

Not sure what Bioware is doing here. Their game quality has dropped ever since they were bought out by EA.

omi25p5084d ago

No Not because Half Life isnt out. But because they havent said anything about it.

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Drake1175084d ago

For me i would just take out valve since i'm not a huge portal fan(but i know alot of ppl are) and i love the living hell out of half life 2 but that was mostly made last gen. I would add Bungie in its place.

Baka-akaB5084d ago (Edited 5084d ago )

Wonder why however , even if obviously to each their own ?

Most of the list added something truly outstanding , innovative this gen and/or technological marvels .

While halo might be great and successful , its novelty was last gen on the first xbox , and it did nothing impressive tech wise . Keep in mind i'm only talking about this one particular gen .

Meanwhile Portal is definitively innovative , and pushed another boundary is storytelling as well .

Ducky5084d ago

Don't have to be a fan of portal to be a fan of Valve.

They also made L4D and TF2... and HalfLife2's episodes were this gen too.

Baka-akaB5084d ago (Edited 5084d ago )

Indeed , but even by only counting portal , i dont see bungie being on top , ever .
He's entitled his opinion again , i just dont agree

Drake1175084d ago (Edited 5084d ago )

For me L4D and TF2 aren't that big of a deal. I own both portals and they are prob the most unique games by a big dev this gen by far and away, but for some reason i can't really beat them more than once, its just kind of a one and done thing for me. I guess it all just depends on how you define a top developer. There's no doubt that the crew at Bungie has tremendous talent and they have constantly delivered big name titles that score well with the reviewers. Now if some how Valve shows up at E3 and says HL2 ep 3 is coming out early next year then i can easily say they should be in that top 5(for me).
Honestly a list of the top 5 devs this gen is a pretty tight squeeze since you could make a strong case for a lot of studios(such as Sony Santa Monica or Irrational Games) to also be on that list. I'm honestly not bothered at all by Valve being on that list and for most people they prob are top 5.

MaxXAttaxX5084d ago

Halo 1 and 2 were last gen as well. Just like Half Life 2.

So why would you put Bungie in Valve's place, when their best work was from last gen?

Drake1175084d ago

Halo 3 and reach are still good games...

MaxXAttaxX5084d ago

They are good.
But Halo 3 really wasn't much of a next-gen game compared to Halo 2.
I said their best work was Halo 1 and 2. Not that 3 or Reach weren't any good.

Shepherd 2145083d ago

Bungie is one of the top devs this gen. They added very refined features to Halo 3, such as map editing and a theater mode way before FPSs like black ops started doing it. Bungie.net also had extremely specific stat tracking and integration features for players of Halo 3 and Reach, such as heatmaps and easy render to video. These are things they didn't even have to do.

Add to that that Bungie remained extremely close to their fanbase by putting weekly news updates called the Bungie Weekly Update, weekly playlist updates to keep the gametypes fresh, a steady stream of game patches and map packs, and weekly contests and replies to fan outcries on a consistent basis. Again, things they didn't have to do and something most devs don't bother to do and if they do, not as frequently as Bungie has done it.

Bungie has spoiled me and countless other fans because I have never played another game where i felt as comfortable as I did with Bungie. Even if Bungie made a decision I didn't agree with, I knew that Bungie was at least being fair and attentive. There is no reason why Bungie shouldn't be in the top five.

humbleopinion5083d ago

Halo 3 was not only a good game, but pretty much revolutionized what games are about this generation: single player, mutliplayer full fledged campaign co-op, score metagame, full game replays and clip editing in theater mode, co-op level editing while fighting between two teams in forge mode, sharing game types, maps, movies, screenshots inside the online community, integrating the game with full fledged online statistics: from individual, to cumulative, to heatmaps, highly customizable multiplayer game settings down to the scoring policy: Halo 3 is one of the earliest and richest example of how much content a game should offer and how it should integrate with its innovative community online system.

Many developers have followed suit at least partially, and some have even topped them in specific offerings. But even today there aren't many games that are capable of delivering the same amount of content Halo 3 already delivered 5 years ago. Compared to how innovative Halo 3 was, even Halo Reach was only a marginal improvement.

Drake117 is actually right in some aspects: Half Life 2 is indeed a last gen game (released at the same time as Halo 2 and even available for the original Xbox), and even (the awesome) Left 4 Dead which people mention here was actually developed by Turtle Rock Studios - so the credit should go to them. Valve themselves should be thanked mostly for the portal games (which are kind of a very strong point on their own) and the newer Orange box components (TF2, EP2).

Both companies should appear on such a list, probaby instead of Rockstar because counting their games (GTA, RDR and Max Payned 3) is basically ignoring the fact that there are multiple different studios under the Rockstar Umbrella, so that's not really a fair count.

I also find it weird how Epic isn't mentioned here: not only did the revolutionize the third-person shooter this gen with one of the most highly critically acclaimed trilogies, but they also did a tremendous step forward with their Unreal engine, which became something much more than just running Unreal Tournament and other few games: Mass Effect, Batman, Bioshock, Gears of War, Borderlands, Mirrors Edge, Lost Oddysey, Mortal Kombat, Shadow Complex, Rainbow 6 Vegas, Tribes Ascend and countless others in various genres are running on top of Unreal Engine, so we should at least partially thank Epic for all of these games.

Shepherd 2145083d ago

humbleopinion said it way better than I did, and he is especially right about Epic.

Everyone misunderstand "best developer" and "best game". People want to praise Santa Montica simply because they're game had good graphics and was a good game, but that can have little to do with the developers personality. Did they dev innovate? Did they pack all of their games with content? Were they close and responsive to their fanbase? These are questions that you need to ask when choosing a top dev, otherwise it would be yet another "top five games" list. A game can blow you away with story or graphics but if you don't hear from the developer for months at a time, that should tell you something.

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ATi_Elite5084d ago

Nintendo - Mario Zelda Metroid but Nintendo brought motion control and innovation to gaming that we haven't seen in a while. You can NEVER leave Nintendo of a top Dev list.

Blizzard - WoW expansions, Starcraft 2, Diablo III, HUGE Pro-Gaming Sponsor and Blizzard makes a Billion dollars yearly even though only a lousy 10.8 million (down from 12.5m) people play WoW!!

Naughty Dogg - Uncharted series has brought a level of quality to consoles that NO ONE can deny. ND just does some many thing right with this series that you CAN NOT DENY it!

Bioware - Mass Effect alone has Bioware on the list but add in Dragon Age and The Old Republic plus Jade Empire and Bioware has been all the rage this Gen

Rockstar - Too much quality Too much diversity too many Big name titles. Rockstar pushes the boundaries every time out!!

Valve - There still is NO such thing as "a Bad Valve Game". Between the games themselves and the all the Mods I could play on the Source engine all year and never play the same game twice. In the Gen of the FPS NO ONE has consistently done it better and with more innovation and diversity than Valve.

Not on the List
Bethesda - Bugthesda has quality issues but makes OUTSTANDING games.

GSC Game World - STALKER series my personnel favorite and greatest innovative game this gen but they have the Bug issue too.

SilentNegotiator5083d ago

Rockstar? Blech. A bunch of over-rated games with clunky controls, boring worlds, and not a single like-able character in sight.

Ducky5083d ago (Edited 5083d ago )

The controls being clunky is something that I can agree with... but Rockstar has some of the most human characters around. Being like-able is based on personal taste, but most of the characters were characterized pretty well.

RDR brought the wild west to life, and the GTA series has done a consistent job of creating a breathing world. I don't really see many devs topping them on those areas.

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jamesensor5084d ago (Edited 5084d ago )

Not many games launched but they do improve their few games to the best. It should be on the list by all means. Better a perfected game than a shallow and buggy one released one after the other to engross numbers. (Enhanced Editions of The Witcher that they released for example, shows care and perfectionism)

AnotherProGamer5084d ago

I'm sorry but Bethesda doesn't deserve that title. their games are not up to the polish of games made rockstar, valve, or Naughty Dog.

GamingPerson5084d ago (Edited 5084d ago )

My top 10 not in order.
R*.
Nuaghty Dog.
Valve(portal 2 = 35,000+ puzzles).
CD Projeckt Red.
BioWare.
Creative Assembly.
The original Infinity Ward.
Frictional Games - indie true horror games.

Btehesda - buggy game but offers unlimited replay value on pc(85,000 mods) & anyone completely mad at them is a ps3 only player so I can't speak on that since I don't have ps3 version. I stop playing R* games after 2 months & will be playing skyrim maybe for a year or 2 years after graphics mods.

Arena Net - loved Guild Wars 2 beta.

I am sure to get thumbs down for the ps3 part though I play on ps3 and am a pc & ps3 fanboy. lol :(

Also nothing from MS.

Lilioups5084d ago (Edited 5084d ago )

so u played ONE freaking beta for lets say 8hours and u now you say arenanet is one of the best studios THIS GEN ????

a whole beta in a whole freaking gen ???

this guy is funny lol

ExCest5084d ago

@Lilioups

Opinions, bro. Besides, Guild Wars is a really good game. And Arena Net is one of those companies that makes MMOs that aren't pay-to-win. So credit goes to them. (But I personally don't think they are worthy of my top 10.)

dark-hollow5084d ago

or maybe because their games are bigger than gta iv, uncharted and portal combined.

5084d ago
InTheLab5084d ago

Define bigger? Because the world of Skyrim is sparsely populated compared to a GTA or even a Assassin's Creed. Add that to how long it takes to get from point A to B and sure, Skyrim seems enormous. But you can walk for an hour and never see a soul.

There's also a distinct lack of variety with items. On Daedric axe enchanted with Fire looks exactly like the one enchanted with Soul Eater...and named that named axe dropped in that cave from some boss. Same thing with all weapons and armor. There's no variety to weapons or armor and I know this because I have them all via console commands on PC.

There's only a handful of voice actors as the same dude that's giving you a quest to save his chickens sounds exactly like the Jarl of Whiterun who sounds like the shop owner who sounds like the Blacksmith.

Skyrim is less than 5 gigs of data while those games you listed are twice that amount. Kingdoms Of Amalur is also a big game and it's no where close to being as buggy as Skyrim. I've played 40+ hours of Kingdoms and never had to worry about saving every 5 minutes. Same thing with the Witcher

Having a big game is no excuse for being a sloppy developer..

Ducky5084d ago (Edited 5084d ago )

^ Neither GTA nor Assassins Creed have a comparably large numbers of NPCs that you can talk/interact with compared against TES/Fallout.

When you say there's no variety in items, what other game are you comparing it to? Certainly not GTA/AC I hope.

The sound cast is small compared to the number of NPCs, but their newer games have improved that. It's par for the course for an open-world game. (Skyrim has like 80 voice actors?)

Amount of data is mostly a meaningless point because it doesn't have a direct link with anything. RAGE is over 20gb in size, yet it doesn't have a whole lot to do in its world.

On consoles, Bethesda is one of the few developers that make these large games where you can explore a large map, interact with many NPCs, complete quests using different approaches, all while keeping track of all the changes that you make to the game world. A 'sloppy developer' wouldn't be able to do those things.

On PC, Bethesda is one of the few devs to still offer SDK. I'm happy with that.

european_cannon5084d ago

Naughty Dog makes interactive movies now, not games, like Bethesda. And ND can't even tell a story right as Uncharted 3 was a complete mess, not to mention a complete bore to play through.

Bethesda is eaisly the best Dev this gen even with bugs, followed by Valve and Rockstar.

Lilioups5084d ago

hate more plz here have some cookies....

naughty dog do great G.A.M.E.S

eat that..accept the facts that they are the top 3 studios this gen and go take a walk stupid hater

Hicken5084d ago

Bugs make them HORRIBLE devs; that should be as easy to see as it should be to spell "easily."

thatgamecompany is my #1 They've only done three games, but they showed me a side of gaming in those three titles that no one else has even come close to. Up until this point, Valkyria Chronicles has been my favorite game this generation, but the more I think about it, the more Journey deserves that position.

After them, I'd probably say Naughty Dog is number two... and then it'd be a toss-up for any companies after them.

smashcrashbash5083d ago (Edited 5083d ago )

Oh please don't even start. Bethesda doesn't get a free pass for making buggy, glitchy games. At least ND makes games that don't need a million patches to fix it. And the long overblown things that Bethesda makes that you call 'story' is a joke.

And the characters with the creepy staring eyes that barely look human. At least ND knows how to animate a characters and make them look like something besides lifeless dummies. People where concerned about Drake and the crew.Who were the characters in Bethesda's games? Did anyone even care about what was happening while they were out picking daisies, doing stupid tasks for lazy peasants and searching for plants?

They make huge worlds and can't even make you care about what was happening to the world or the fact that it was being destroyed. Stop the ND makes movies BS for the love of god. Just because your head is so far up Bethesda's @$$ that you can't see how careless and half @$$ed they do their games doesn't mean we all are.

Nimblest-Assassin5083d ago

So Bethesda gets a free pass for releasing buggy games, and can be called the best dev's for releasing an unfinished product? What a world

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Chitown712915084d ago

Yea definitely Rockstar and Naughty Dog for me....

Waddy1015084d ago

My Top Developers this Gen are in no particular order:
Valve
Bungie
Naughty Dog
Rockstar
Bioware

Bungie deserve that spot more than Bethesda, Bungie are one of the best developers out there for listening to fan feedback.

MrMister5084d ago (Edited 5084d ago )

Ah yes Bungie--whoring out the Halo franchise so much that they had to finally leave MS because of the franchise abuse. I mean look at COD: Fan feedback is the reason why games like that never evolve. Developers need to innovate and the fans need to either accept it, or move on. Anything is better than conformity and a stale lack of innovation/creativity.

Waddy1015084d ago

I'm sorry but how did Bungie "Whore out" the Halo franchise? They released 5 games in 10 years.
They didn't leave MS because of franchise abuse, they decided to stop making Halo games because they wanted to move onto something different.

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50°

Red Dead Redemption Hits 3.3 Million Netflix Downloads on Mobile

Red Dead Redemption hits 3.3 million Netflix downloads on mobile, underscoring how subscription access drives reach over paid sales.

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Christopher105d ago

More like people don't play these type of games on their phone normally and don't try them out. Not like the places where people do play these games haven't crushed those numbers easily.

How many people actually played more than an hour of the game or came close to finishing it on mobile is the real question. If people aren't playing the games to a point that is purposeful, then why try when a subscription that is behind a streaming service isn't a sign of success but just curiosity.

VenomUK103d ago

What if Netflix becomes ‘the Netflix of gaming?!’

Alek83103d ago

I downloaded it because I already have a Netflix sub.
I am not going to buy it for $40 or whatever it costs on Google Play.

I tried it out and will be sticking to the PC version, but it's not bad.

Having said that, this is the issues I see vs the PC version:
1. Greatly reduced texture resolution.
2. Massive downgrade ALL lighting quality (this includes water, shadows, etc).
3. Stutter and heat. Prolonged play leads to both.
On the plus side, we have:
4. This thing is like 6GB vs the 12 on Steam.

Great way to try the game, but not the best way to play it.

darthv72105d ago

Perhaps Netflix will make a RDR series now that ST is done with.

Lionsguard104d ago

A Netflix version of RDR?... Oh boy... I can't wait... /s

TheColbertinator104d ago

They should build a production that includes members behind the True Grit remake and Hell on Wheels from AMC. Both were perfect for wild west vibes.

gold_drake104d ago

but i doubt people ACTUALLY played it on smartphone vs tried it out.

120°

Rockstar Says Red Dead Redemption Xbox 360 Upgrade Needs More Time

Rockstar says the free upgrade issue affecting Red Dead Redemption Xbox 360 owners requires more time to resolve, with another update expected within five days.

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twistedvoxel.com
Minute Man 721137d ago

Another free update...good to know but I don't own a series X

Petebloodyonion137d ago

I’m not sure what the exact issue is. I had no trouble getting the free update—you basically get the new game for free if you have the 360 version in your digital library. Maybe the problem is related to owning or not owning the Undead DLC expansion.

Hypertension140137d ago (Edited 137d ago )

Yea I think thats what it is. I also own the game but not the expansion, and im unable to download the update.

110°

Red Dead Redemption Compared on Switch 2, PS4, and PS5 After Free Upgrade

A detailed comparison of Red Dead Redemption on Switch 2, PS4, and PS5 shows stronger settings, better performance, and a major uplift for Nintendo’s new hardware.

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