What franchise or developer is on the brink of greatness?

[jomala]

I think we could be in for some truly great games in the next year or two. Not just fantastic or fun, but games that bring to everything together and become undisputed icons. Are you optimistic?

For instance, I think that Far Cry 3 is going to be superb. I think that Far Cry 2 introduce so much good stuff, without crafting the perfect game, but the next one could be equally innovating, but get it right as a game at the same time.

In contrast, Rockstar (who I love) will probably continue to produce great but imperfect games, though it sounds like Red Dead (which I've yet to play) really works for some people.

And the Total War franchise has made some missteps recently, so they are going to have to work hard to make Shogun 2 the greatest of the franchise so far.

Any franchise you think is heading towards making an iconic game?

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

my answer is ArenaNet (the developers of guild wars) ... Guild Wars 1 is still an epic game and Guild Wars 2 (which is even way beter) will probably come out next year

 

[AcacianLeaves]

The great and powerful Oz says Deus Ex: Human Revolution is going to be amazing.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I think the Mass Effect trilogy will end on the highest fucking note known to man.

 

[Pearwood]

To expand on Daystar Clarion, Bioware as a whole. Blizzard as a whole now they've got their head out of the bucket of shit that made Warcraft 1 and 2 and fixed that series. Assassin's Creed, FEAR, Fallout and potentially Portal all look to be pretty good by the end of the year.

Actually I think the game that's really on the brink of greatness is Mirror's Edge. There's a sequel rumoured and I think with combat a little bit more finely tuned or, better, more ways to avoid combat by platforming it would be the closest thing to perfection a game can have.

 

[Ickorus]

Respawn Entertainment, you know, those ex-infinity ward developers.

Now they aren't being smothered by Activision to make yet another MW game they might come up with something awesome.

 

[jomala]

I thought someone would bring up Mass Effect. It's not really appealled to me, but it does appear to be almost perfect for some people, and that's what this is about.

Mirror's Edge is an interesting one. It felt to me like it had a brilliant start and then got weakened but the need to produce a game that would sell, presumably by the producers. Maybe they'll have the confidence to take it further in a sequel, and that could take it to iconic status.

 

[TPiddy]

Gearbox Software. They started out making mods and expansions for Half-Life, developed Brothers in Arms, but had their first major success with Borderlands. Solid DLC efforts, very few glitches and one of the best original IP's to come out in the last 3 years. Hopefully the money they got from Borderlands leads to bigger and better things.

 

[Jezzascmezza]

Avalanche Studios- makers of both Just Cause games.
They have created one of the best engines (Avalanche Engine) for open world games; they deserve to become super popular.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Respawn Entertainment, you know, those ex-infinity ward developers.

Now they aren't being smothered by Activision to make yet another MW game they might come up with something awesome.

Seconded. Without the Ebenezer Scrooge of Activision dictating their every move, these guys and gals are free to come up with some solid gold without any creative constrainsts (and will do, just to shove it in Activision's face).

 

[jomala]

Great to see so many optimists out there.

Strange perhaps that we've had only one brief mention of Portal and Valve. Shouldn't we all have a bit more faith in the people that brought us Portal, HL2 and TF2 to come up with something even more amazing next?

 

[migo]

my answer is ArenaNet (the developers of guild wars) ... Guild Wars 1 is still an epic game and Guild Wars 2 (which is even way beter) will probably come out next year

I think you're right, Guild Wars is going to become awesome with 2, and ArenaNet will become a household name like Blizzard.

Other than that, I'd place bets on Mirror's Edge 2 - ME took a risk, and it was well received so that even though sales weren't high a sequel was guaranteed. That's the mark of a strong franchise if a company like EA green lights the sequel despite poor sales.

 

[IamQ]

I vote for Rocksteady. Arkham Asylum was great but still has alot to improve upon. Arkham City is going to be enormous!

I was going to vote for Naughty Dog, but I believe they've already reached their peak with Jak 2 and Uncharted 2.

 

[crono738]

my answer is ArenaNet (the developers of guild wars) ... Guild Wars 1 is still an epic game and Guild Wars 2 (which is even way beter) will probably come out next year

Going to have to agree with Trigger...Guild Wars 1 was a fantastic game, possibly because it didn't set out to beat WoW. Shame I can't recover my account info

 

[TPiddy]

Great to see so many optimists out there.

Strange perhaps that we've had only one brief mention of Portal and Valve. Shouldn't we all have a bit more faith in the people that brought us Portal, HL2 and TF2 to come up with something even more amazing next?

Kind of defeats the purpose of claiming that a developer who has already achieved greatness status is on the brink of it... that's like saying Bioware's gonna break through any year now!

 

[iwinatlife]

Bioware is gonna make its crown jewel with The Old Republic