Why do certain developers get more love than others?

[Daystar Clarion]

Now I know that not all developers deserve the same amount of praise, that would be ridiculous, but one thing I have noticed, at least here on the escapist is that Rockstar doesn't seem to get as much praise as say, Valve, despite releasing several high quality titles and very little in the way of rubbish ones.

Don't get me wrong, Valve deserves the vast majority of the praise it receives, although some people do sing it's praises a little too... enthusiastically. I'm no massive Rockstar fan by any stretch of the imagination (my fandom lies mostly in the Bioware and Bethesda area of games), but I do recognise that Rockstar have released brilliant games, and unlike Bioware and Bethesda, when it releases DLC for these games they are very good value for money.

Maybe it's because the escapist is populated mainly my PC gamers, and from what I've heard, Rockstar doesn't port their games very well to that format. Is this the case?


Anyway, are there any developers you think deserve more praise? And please, let's try to keep this positive, only share your opinion of developers you think deserve more, not less. (Hopefully a pre-emptive stike on the new Bioware haters that seem to be floating around lately. DA 2 was a good game. Not great by Bioware standards, but still a great game in general).

 

[Wuggy]

I have wondered this myself. I think it's a fanbase thing. Like, Bioware fans are largely huge douches about Bioware games, Valve fans are sort of cultist-fanboyish (with a good reason though), Blizzard forums are populated with baboons but in general Blizzard fans are fairly loyal. The thing with Rockstar, I think, is that it caters to a lot of people who aren't too vocal on forums like The Escapist. Case in point: I mention GTA to any of my non-gamer friends and they immediately know what I mean. I mention Half Life or Mass Effect, they have no idea.

 

[FalloutJack]

What, you mean like how I praise Atlus at every turn? Now I'm all confused.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I have wondered this myself. I think it's a fanbase thing. Like, Bioware fans are largely huge douches about Bioware games, Valve fans are sort of cultist-fanboyish (with a good reason though), Blizzard forums are populated with baboons but in general Blizzard fans are fairly loyal. The thing with Rockstar, I think, is that it caters to a lot of people who aren't too vocal on forums like The Escapist. Case in point: I mention GTA to any of my non-gamer friends and they immediately know what I mean. I mention Half Life or Mass Effect, they have no idea.

Hmm that might be the case. It just surprises me, because these forums tend hold a lot of the 'great' game developers in high regard. Valve, Blizzard, Bioware, Bethesda etc. There are some smaller devs with nice little cult followings too, I just thought Rockstar deserved to mentioned more when it came to devs that consistently make great games.

 

[AlternatePFG]

I'd say Obsidian doesn't get as much praise as they deserve. While their games are buggy as hell sometimes, and they deserve criticism for that, I still think their writing and stories are very, very good.

I say that having played most of Obsidian's games. Haven't played Alpha Protocol. KOTOR II was better written than the first, in my opinion, it's just that due to it being rushed that alot of content was cut out and it was severely unpolished.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

My personal favorites are Bioware (for Mass Effect) Bungie (for Halo) and Ubisoft (for Assassins Creed and Splinter Cell)

By the way... Troll Shield (yes, I just invented a troll shield, and it works because this is the internet and I say so. So no trolling, deal with it)

 

[Wuggy]

I have wondered this myself. I think it's a fanbase thing. Like, Bioware fans are largely huge douches about Bioware games, Valve fans are sort of cultist-fanboyish (with a good reason though), Blizzard forums are populated with baboons but in general Blizzard fans are fairly loyal. The thing with Rockstar, I think, is that it caters to a lot of people who aren't too vocal on forums like The Escapist. Case in point: I mention GTA to any of my non-gamer friends and they immediately know what I mean. I mention Half Life or Mass Effect, they have no idea.

Hmm that might be the case. It just surprises me, because these forums tend hold a lot of the 'great' game developers in high regard. Valve, Blizzard, Bioware, Bethesda etc. There are some smaller devs with nice little cult followings too, I just thought Rockstar deserved to mentioned more when it came to devs that consistently make great games.

Yes, I too think Rockstar should be thought in more high regard, especially after RDR. But I have tingling feeling that this will be the case after LA Noire comes out. Provided it's good, which it probably will be.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Rockstar isn't talked about alot but there games get enough mention. Just look at all the LA Noir threads that are made a day.

The developer I want to give a shout out to is Evolution Studios, they created the Motorstorm Franchise which is one of my favorite racers of all time. Its an arcade racer with unforgiving tracks and other racers can destroy you to. The whole game is chaotic and awsome.

Agreed. I've been quite disappointed lately, because I haven't been able to get my online fix of Motorstorm Apocalypse. Along with the Burnout franchise (ignoring Paradise, that one kind of sucked), there aren't many adrenaline packed arcade racers that I enjoy.

 

[TheSchizoid]

I remember when Square (pre-Enix) was atop the accolades mountain. Now Squeenix seems like the awkward cousin who tries to impress you with their new toy every five minutes.

 

[vato_loco]

Interesting question, really. I think Rockstar deserves a lot of praise for the high quality their games have. BUT, they also tend to release their games with a lot of bugs, which makes me really mad. Yes, pretty much every single developer releases games with lots of bugs nowadays, but that doesn't excuse them.

I guess many people praise other companies more because they release more games and so it tends to look like they don't like Rockstar that much. But I'll tell you: I haven't met a single person in this world who DOESN'T like Rockstar.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I have wondered this myself. I think it's a fanbase thing. Like, Bioware fans are largely huge douches about Bioware games, Valve fans are sort of cultist-fanboyish (with a good reason though), Blizzard forums are populated with baboons but in general Blizzard fans are fairly loyal. The thing with Rockstar, I think, is that it caters to a lot of people who aren't too vocal on forums like The Escapist. Case in point: I mention GTA to any of my non-gamer friends and they immediately know what I mean. I mention Half Life or Mass Effect, they have no idea.

Hmm that might be the case. It just surprises me, because these forums tend hold a lot of the 'great' game developers in high regard. Valve, Blizzard, Bioware, Bethesda etc. There are some smaller devs with nice little cult followings too, I just thought Rockstar deserved to mentioned more when it came to devs that consistently make great games.

Yes, I too think Rockstar should be thought in more high regard, especially after RDR. But I have tingling feeling that this will be the case after LA Noire comes out. Provided it's good, which it probably will be.

I have this weird relationship with Rockstar games. I never get excited for them. I bought GTA and RDR on their release dates, and I'll be picking up L.A. Noire on day one too. Come to think of it, I'm the same way with Valve games as well. I think it's because games like the Elder Scrolls games and Mass Effect really appeal to the character customisation whore that I am. I love being able to craft their worlds around me with my choices and character interaction. Now while Valve and Rockstar games make very brilliant games, I have little choice in the way I make decisions. John Marston, Niko Bellic etc are all preset characters (sure you make some decisions, but they're mostly arbitrary) and I have very little in the way character interaction. I think Rockstar make very good games that feel a little like movies to me.

 

[Shameless]

What I really do not get is the unbelievable amount of love towards Nintendo even though they did great things in the past,now they are merely a shadow of what they were.

Also, devs do get the praise they deserve, With the Rockstar example don't you remember all those Red Dead Redemption threads a year ago ?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Rockstar isn't talked about alot but there games get enough mention. Just look at all the LA Noir threads that are made a day.

The developer I want to give a shout out to is Evolution Studios, they created the Motorstorm Franchise which is one of my favorite racers of all time. Its an arcade racer with unforgiving tracks and other racers can destroy you to. The whole game is chaotic and awsome.

Agreed. I've been quite disappointed lately, because I haven't been able to get my online fix of Motorstorm Apocalypse. Along with the Burnout franchise (ignoring Paradise, that one kind of sucked), there aren't many adrenaline packed arcade racers that I enjoy.

Is Apocalypse out yet? I'll probably pick it up after I get back home and the PSN is back up.

Well it came out here in the UK on the 31st of March, I'm not sure when the American release date is, but yeah, when you get the chance, pick it up. It's awesome, the online multiplayer is great.

 

[Ogargd]

Because some make better games to a larger audience...

 

[Zantos]

There's just not a lot of options for praising things, a lot of threads seem to be based around dislike of a game.

I would like to praise Epic games for their fantastic everything, especially Cliff Blezinski.

 

[baddude1337]

Rockstar isn't talked about alot but there games get enough mention. Just look at all the LA Noir threads that are made a day.

The developer I want to give a shout out to is Evolution Studios, they created the Motorstorm Franchise which is one of my favorite racers of all time. Its an arcade racer with unforgiving tracks and other racers can destroy you to. The whole game is chaotic and awsome.

I remember them more for the awesome WRC ps2 games, especially WRC 4, my all time favorite racing game.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Well it came out here in the UK on the 31st of March, I'm not sure when the American release date is, but yeah, when you get the chance, pick it up. It's awesome, the online multiplayer is great.

Yea I loved Pacific Rift, played until the servers emptied out. I liked the fast that if you sucked they took away Xp. I read a review of the game and it said something about a story mode with the single player and that just seemed dumb. Pacific Rift was good just having a single player tournament.

Yeah the single player story is rather redundant, it just seems like something tacked on. I mean, the cutscenes are animated with really cheesey motion comics, so no, not a great 'story'. But hey, we don't buy those games for the story do we. As long as it's fast and awesome, who cares?

 

[Wuggy]

I have this weird relationship with Rockstar games. I never get excited for them. I bought GTA and RDR on their release dates, and I'll be picking up L.A. Noire on day one too. Come to think of it, I'm the same way with Valve games as well. I think it's because games like the Elder Scrolls games and Mass Effect really appeal to the character customisation whore that I am. I love being able to craft their worlds around me with my choices and character interaction. Now while Valve and Rockstar games make very brilliant games, I have little choice in the way I make decisions. John Marston, Niko Bellic etc are all preset characters (sure you make some decisions, but they're mostly arbitrary) and I have very little in the way character interaction. I think Rockstar make very good games that feel a little like movies to me.

Well, yes, I'm the same way. A huge fan of Bioware (and I do agree with you on the whole DA2 ordeal) for letting me construct my own relationships with the characters in the game. And I'm as well one for customization of my character. The thing that attracts me to Rockstar Games (and I think this applies to most people who like Rockstar games) is namely the freedom with the game world. They do craft some good stories, and great characters (Niko was a truly believable PC, and I pretty much loved every character in RDR), that's not really their main selling point. And the fact is that when people want a good story they will probably end up buying a Bioware game rather than a Rockstar game.