IYO what game company did you gain the most respect for this year?

my choices:

biggest thumbs up:
capcom
-the release of steel battalion was too kind
-the original res evil remake was a treat, not to mention the release of multiple RE's, including possibly the best RE yet, in zero...
-most of all showing their desire to continue to change the face of game design with the upcoming releases of killer 7, megaman x7 and red dead revolver.

biggest thumbs down:
rockstar
as sweet as vice city was
-the heavy promotion of SOE(maybe not totally rs's fault)
-the handling of rockstar's big gta follow-up (SOE) by a develop who had only develop one other game
-signing gta exclusivity with sony for years down the road...
-sitting on the hands and resting on their laurels (give me my gta 4 online!)

EA, Ubi Soft, Microsoft, and Konami gained the most respect for me.

thumbs up: eeeh, touch choice. ill get back to this one.

thumbs down: Nintendo
-Sunshine was subpar. it should of been better.
-For making Zelda cel-shaded
-This Megaton announcement bullshit. see, i TOLD you guys that Nintendo was evil.

Sony gained respect from me for putting out several good games. Never saw that coming. Go figure.

Yeah, Sony goes on my list too.

sony gained respect from me for lowering their new-release price point...

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Andy
EA, Ubi Soft, Microsoft, and Konami gained the most respect for me.

---

konami? for what?

I second Capcom and Sony.

Retro Studios came out of nowhere too (although they did get help from Nintendo). I'll be watching for their next project for sure.

edit: Konami deserves props for Contra: SS alone.

I think youre being too hard on Rockstar. I think pretty much everybody knows that the next GTA will be online... but that shit takes time. They are almost certainly working on it, maybe theyre not showing it off yet, but thats a good thing right?

Nintendo gained tons of respect from me for Animal Crossing.
Rockstar lost points with me due to them shipping out Vice City as a glitch-filled mess.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Videodrone

konami? for what?

---

Well the past few years, the only game that I've really cared about from them has been the MGS games, but this year they released a lot of impressive stuff to me (Contra, Suikoden 3). Not to say they didn't still release a ton of garbage, but they put out much better than usual.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Rhydant
thumbs up: eeeh, touch choice. ill get back to this one.

thumbs down: Nintendo
-Sunshine was subpar. it should of been better.
-For making Zelda cel-shaded
-This Megaton announcement bullshit. see, i TOLD you guys that Nintendo was evil.

---

Yeah, because it's Nintendo's fault some j-rag decided to make up stories to sell issues.

why? Nintendo only published Animal Crossing. they didnt devlope it.

Thumbs up:
- Z-Axis: Aggressive Inline raised the bar for the action sports genre.
- Neversoft: Every year people doubt them, yet every year they manage to put out a great THPS game.
- Sony: For putting out some great games.
- Rockstar: I really can't say anything that hasn't already been mentioned, except that Craig Conner is a fucking musical god.

Sony, for Mark of Kri, Sly Cooper, and Ratchet and Clank.

(This is a big deal for me, too, since I'm a Saturn/Sega geek, and as a general rule I hate Sony.)

As others have said, both Sony and EA get some surprising props from me. Two companies that, at best, I was indifferent toward. This year, however, I've played some very solid games that they either developed, or had the good sense to publish.

Nintendo lost respect from me for not releasing Fire Emblem in NA! Argh! Bastards! :mad:

The respect they lost was the respect they had gained for releasing Advance Wars here. If they change their mind and FE sees the light of day in NA they can have the respect back.

Quote:

---

why? Nintendo only published Animal Crossing. they didnt devlope it.

---

Yes they did.

Back to the topic, I say Konami gets props this year. After dissappointments like Silent Hill 2 and MGS2 last year, this year they came back with Suikoden III and the mighty Contra SS.

On the flipside...MS I guess, for screwing up Shenmue II.

Sega, for bringing back classics like Shinobi and announcing the new Sega Ages series.

Infogrames gained a lot of my respect with Stuntman. Sega lost a lot of it by being Sega.

I'm going with Retro Studios, they kicked my ass.

Sega and Nintendo are usually awesome so they dont have anything more to prove.

YAY!
Sony - They did well, Wipeout Fusion was better than I thought it would be, Mark of Kri and Sly Cooper was good. Tehy aren't so much a developer as a publisher, but I like them none the less.

EA - Great year on the PC for them, they even made MOHAA fun in multiplayer with thier recent expansion. Toos a few cues from Halo and looked at the MP community to see what needed some balanceing. Less grenade spamming and more serverside options. Realisim is still a bit wonky though. Machine Gun has a range value of 9500 and the Sniper Rifle has only 9000. That makes no sence. In either case, I still thnk they are aces. I really will like to play Sims Online too, even my sister enjoys the original.

Capcom - More of an antispiation of what's to come but I love the new direction of Dino Crisis, and Steel Battalion is amazing. Odds are we won't see anything like it for sometime to come. Then the slew of GC titles coming out that aren't Resident Evil is really out of left-field for Capcom. I'd still appreciate if they transfered thier Dreamcast styled arcade games to Xbox deployment but that likly won't happpen. Thier PS2 games all seem the same to me.

UNCHANGED!
Nintendo: I don't think better or worse of them this year.

Activision: Same as Nintendo, they haven't diappointed me or really suprised me either.

BOO!
Sega: Because of the lofty position that they once held, the orginization has been visably crumbling and the calibur of thier games is exhibit A. HotD3 and TJ&E3 are great, SegaGT2002 is good GunGrave is a short but fun romp, Beach Spikers is one of the best games on GC but is still far shy of what I've come to expect from Sega. UGA did nothing (in the US) this year and even if one were to count SC5(2) I still don't think that it is a worth additon to any library. None of these games have any real magic to them. GunValkyrie is really good and JSRF is in my opinion great but those 2 are the last Sega quality games to come out the them. Panzer Will kick the new year off the same way JSRF did, with a bang, but I don't see much coming down the line at Sega that really impresses me. As a business - they look pretty shakey still and it leaves any fan with the question in thier heads "when will they go out of business?"

ºTracer

I don't get it...u like a bunch of Sega games you liked this year and then say that they suck...

And what does their business performance have anything to do with your enjoyment of their games?

They don't make consoles anymore. You can't accuse them of not "supporting" the games that you bought.

This is too easy

United Gaming Artists. Rez and Space Channel 5 Part 2, moved these guys up from "promising" to "genius". Two releases like that out of nowhere, right in a row. Really drove the message about UGA home

Quote:

---

Originally posted by TracerBullet
UGA did nothing (in the US) this year and even if one were to count SC5(2) I still don't think that it is a worth additon to any library.

---

That's retarded. Have you even played it? One of the best games of the year, easily. It's a whole new level for its genre.

Yea:
Nintendo - Not really specific games per say, but I'm just grooving on the GameCube lately. I think the GB Player is an awesome idea and the platinum Cube looks very cool. I don't see what the big deal is about Metroid Prime yet (only watched it), but I'm glad Retro / Nintendo proved themselves in most peoples' eyes. But most importantly -- the Cube enables my current PSO addiction.

On the nay side, they need to make much more original GBA content. I can't stand GBA SNES ports.

Sony - Some good first-party stuff this year, including what may be the year's best platformer: Sly Cooper.

Nay:
Sega - Their game quality seems pretty iffy this year, particularly after the quality DC onslaught of 2000 / 2001. This is mended somewhat by the release of PSO... but that's just a (really, really good) retread of a 2001 game.

Microsoft - I've liked next to nothing on their machine this year, which makes it two years running. They also squelched the US release of one Xbox title I was looking forward to, Shikigami no Shiro. (Ended up getting the JP release.) And let's not talk about the pain that is Blinx.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Masters
Infogrames gained a lot of my respect with Stuntman.

---

Shit, I forgot about this. Easily one of the most under rated games of the year.

I'll second that vote for Space Channel 5 part 2 as game of the year.

Ehh, I can't downgrade Sega, after Gunvalkyrie (!), Gungrave, Beach Spikers, TJEIII, NBA2k3, and NFL2k3.

Might as well say here, too - I really liked what I played of Blinx.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Frogacuda
This is too easy

United Gaming Artists. Rez and Space Channel 5 Part 2, moved these guys up from "promising" to "genius". Two releases like that out of nowhere, right in a row. Really drove the message about UGA home


That's retarded. Have you even played it? One of the best games of the year, easily. It's a whole new level for its genre.

---

That's what they said about the first and I didn't agree then. No I haven't, but one game doesn't not a year make. Especially not for Sega and Rez was last year. UGA is amazing. Their out put has been modest though so they haven't regeistered with me this year. Get off my back ok?

I like Sega alot, as such, I expect a lot out of them and this year has been thier worst in a while barring the dry period between Saturn and DC. That is of course my opinion... I don't know why I always get attacked for it. It makes good sence if you calm down and not assume I'm smashing Sega in my posts.

ºTracer

Quote:

---

Originally posted by TracerBullet
That's what they said about the first and I didn't agree then. No I haven't, but one game doesn't not a year make.

---

Who the hell said that about the first game? I remember it getting pretty mediocre reviews, and honestly it was a fun, cute game, but nothing extraordinary. The fact that the second was such a huge step up was precisely why I gained so much respect for UGA. SC5-2 is Rez-calibur work.

And I think Rez came out in the US in 2002, no?

Anyway, I wasn't really arguing with you post as a whole, I just found the knock on SC5-2 really misplaced. If you haven't played it, that explains alot.

You really need to play SC5 2 first. It's so much indescribably better than the first one, you can't even think of the 2 being anywher in the same league.

No it didn't actually. Import only. Given that I don't have a PS2 or a good import solution the DC version will have to get the go if I can find it. I don't want used either, if all I can get is used I'll download it.

IGN said it (SC5) was the best thing since sliced bread actually. They were really positive about it, and so was Daily Radar and I belive even Gamefan liked it. I didn't mind the game but it wasn't too terribly impressive. It was the same basic concept of "Simon" that I generally don't like. The charm lasted only so long. You're telling me that "Simon" gameplay has been replaced with something like Rez?

ºTracer

Gained respect:

Arika: For gearing up to bring Dodonpachi Dai-ou-jou to the PlayStation 2. This will more than make up for Street Fighter EX3. :)

Playmore: It was awfully nice of them to bring out KOF2000 on Dreamcast, and then there's KOF2001 coming right up. What a good double header.

Capcom: For bringing out Steel Battalion.

Cave: One word: Ketsui.

Konami: They brought out a real, honest to goodness Contra title this year... not some Appaloosa poseur.

Lost respect:
Acclaim: For the lameass promo stunts they have pulled this year like the "Name your baby Turok" and the speeding ticket thing (which was thankfully cancelled once the controversy kicked in).

Tecmo is becoming one of my favorite 3rd parties with DOA, Monster Rancher,and Rygar. Ninja Gaiden and DOA BVB look really good as well.

I'm surprised at my omission of Microsoft, so I'll add them to my list. Plenty of people don't like them for plenty of reasons (not to be confused with "plenty of good reasons"), but, regardless, I respect the fact that they have seemingly tried to cater to the gamer, and have offered up a solid 1st year of gaming on their fledgling console.

SC5 part 2 is a damn fine piece of work.. No, i don't think it's game of the year, or as good as Rez, but it's improved on the original a LOT, and it's much more fun to play as well, IMO..

you really ought to play it at least a bit before you decide to judge it.

Thumbs up to Retro for Metroid; Konami for DDR Max, Contra, and Suikoden; Capcom for their announcement or all these brand new franchises (viewtiful JOE!!!); Sega for bringing back all the old titles gamers wanted.

Thumbs down to gamers in general. This year we got everything we've been asking for for years (revivals of old school names), got a few suprises in the process (Metroid, Tekki, Sega's goods), and yet we can still find something to be unhappy about.

I'm not so much as jusdgeing it as I am saying that Space Channel 5 (2) cannot be so good as it would reverse my opinion on Sega's performance this year since it the basic facet of the game is still "Simon" ala up, down, left, right, chu! chu! chu!

ºTracer
..and I will try SC5(2). I'll make sure to post my opinions of it here or perhaps in the Reader Review Section.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Prince Planet
I'm surprised at my omission of Microsoft, so I'll add them to my list. Plenty of people don't like them for plenty of reasons (not to be confused with "plenty of good reasons"), but, regardless, I respect the fact that they have seemingly tried to cater to the gamer, and have offered up a solid 1st year of gaming on their fledgling console.

---

One thing they did that I really respected was listen to consumers and make the S-Controller the Xbox pack in. :)

Quote:

---

Thumbs down to gamers in general. This year we got everything we've been asking for for years (revivals of old school names), got a few suprises in the process (Metroid, Tekki, Sega's goods), and yet we can still find something to be unhappy about.

---

especially those cranky gamego guys and anti-everything-that's-popular group who are always bashing things before giving them a chance.

-Metroid? "it's gonna suck cuz it ain't 2d!!!!11"

-Contra? "There are no hand drawn animations, plus the collision detection isn't as sharp" <--ikaruga was polygonal, nobody cared then.

-Celda? "I hate the new look!!! too kiddy which will affect my enjoyment of the game. Go back to the roots of the zelda with CG graphics" <-- despite person claiming they are not a graphics whore, and not realising the original look of zelda was cartoony and therefore bringing the series to its roots of cartoon humour and smooth animation with the latest game.

-Old franchises? "I wish they'd bring back the old classics, todays games have such shallow gameplay to the games of old" <-- and then an announcment is made that some remakes of old classics are being made, yet they complain the gameplay or enjoyment of the game has somehow been lessened just because the graphics have been improved upon: "Either do it properly or don't do it!111 I'm not paying money for enhancements". ....And when a gba port of a classic is made with no enhancments at all?: "Fuuucken heelllll!! why do they keep releasing these old games!?!?! Give me something new!" "I'm not paying money for old games I can just play on my old megadrive and snes! Fuck you nintendo!" You can never win.

-Xbox? "Controller is too big!!11 It is way too massive!!" <-- and then people realise it is by far the most comfortable for fps and other genres as multipurpose controller after having hands-on tests, and not so bad in relation to gc's one which caters only to a few games. Plus the announcment of smaller controller and the announcment of online modes for 2d fighters goes by unnoticed. Yep MS aren't catering to 'real' gamers alright. It's the 3do II of this generation. They are ignorant, the xbox is doomed to repeat the mistakes.

The list goes on. :D But I think this whole board is guilty of complaining. My fave is the castlvania series:

"Give us another castlvevania please konami!! I beg of it! pretty please!" and then after the release of 2 games in the spirit of sotn:

"This game is waay inferiour to SOTN. We need a change. The difficulty is easy, there are no challenging platforming elements like the old games, I can kill bosses easily"... despite SOTN being just as shallow as these past efforts in terms of weak enemy AI.

Talk about having an overly romantic view of how good games actually were back then compared to now. I was just as bored with sotn as I was with HOD. There wasn't a single hard moment in the game that could be overcome with just normal leveling up like in HOD which you get naturally when you wander the huge castle. A problem with hod, is a problem with sotn. (today's gamers are on drugs i tell you. Or it might just be the prettier graphics and animation of sotn and not the actual gameplay that has gotten people to be so bias)

CAVE: Continues to pump out quality goods... We love you.

PLAYMORE: You're good guys. New DC ports and even a couple of re-releases... Thanks.

I think MS deserves a fair shake, not just for Xbox though, they've released a ton of PC games this year.

ºTracer

Nintendo. I'm loving my Gamecube more than ever.

I gotta say Nintendo. I'm a huge fan anyway, but this year was unbelievable. Super Mario Sunshine is by far the best Mario game yet(in the eyes of this diehard Mario fan)and would've been my choice for game of the year but then, Metroid Prime, holy goodness, how could a game be so good. On the same day as Prime we get Fusion, which is the best 2d Metroid ever. Eternal Darkness blew me away earlier this year and could've easily been game of the year if it wasn't for SMS and Prime. Animal Crossing, Tri-Force, the Capcom connection, too many great first party GBA games to mention, dumping Rare(bout time if ya ask me), getting Square, just all kinds of good stuff. I hope they suprise me again next year. As for downers, I can't really think of anyone that really sucked bad this last year. I've been suprised by some of the stuff going on on my PS2 like Ratchet and Clank, Wipeout, Rygar, Contra, etc. This has been a really good year.

Nintendo with out a doubt. Great year! They made some excellent moves. And they really showed me that they really care about quality of their games. And its so nice to see them directly working with their "competition", teaming up with Sega and Namco.
Also for taking chances with games like Animal Crossing. Amd for also taking a chances on new Developing teams like Retro. Prime is the game of the year. Also for just continuing to be Nintendo.

Biggest Dissapointment:
Acclaim. Turok Evolution was a train wreck. BMX XXX is just plain garbage. And their continued poor Ad Campaign ideas. It just makes them look like tools.

I think Nintendo did more than fairly well. It's Nintendo. Games like Eternal Darkness impressed me thoroughly.

Konami dissapointed me a bit with Castlevania:HoD and DDRMAX(USA). I really liked CotM for it's difficulty and music, while HoD seemed like a cheap shell of SotN... without the great music. DDRMAX is so far the best US version of DDR, but that's still not saying much considering the japanese versions were always better.

NINTENDO (+): The GBA and GCN just keep gaining momentum. People call them the "Big N" for a reason. :)

ACCLAIM (-): The release of BMX XXX makes me think that Acclaim's board of directors are all a few pumpkins short of a patch.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Hero

Thumbs down to gamers in general. This year we got everything we've been asking for for years (revivals of old school names), got a few suprises in the process (Metroid, Tekki, Sega's goods), and yet we can still find something to be unhappy about.

---

That's because alot of them don't really want to play new versions of those games, they just want their childhoods back. And when the games come along without the filter of nostalgia, and they can't look at them through the eyes of a child, they get all pissy. "Hey, wait a minute, this isn't like being 10 again!"

My respect goes to every company who brought back those old concepts we've been clamouring for for years. Hopefully the trend will continue.

All the Castlevania games since SOTN has been too easy....they're not true CV games anymore anyways....

Sega (+)
For being the best reason to own all 3 systems this year. Consistently excellent on all formats.

Nintendo (=)
Respect down for trash like Super Mario Sunshine. Respect up for the GameBoy Player and Zelda.

Namco (-)
Tekken 4 is shockingly poor and no new Ridge Racer revealed this year. Shameful.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by johnk_
SC5 part 2 is a damn fine piece of work.. No, i don't think it's game of the year, or as good as Rez, but it's improved on the original a LOT, and it's much more fun to play as well, IMO..

you really ought to play it at least a bit before you decide to judge it.

---

Up, Down, Up, Down, Shoot, Hey, Shoot!

Yep. I got one. Heaps of fun. Love the Vs. Pudding guitar challenge!!


On a different note, Ketsui looks interseting. Like DoDonPachi meets Progear and Twin Cobra. I'm sooooo looking forward to a home release or something...:D

+
Retro: Holy shit. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that a US studio, in their first attempt at a game, would so perfectly capture Metroid in 3D. Sure, they had big daddy N to guide 'em, but it's still mighty impressive.

EA: 007: Nightfire, Medal of Honor, Buffy, actually innovating on their sports games... EA's always been 'meh' to me, but they're finally getting their act together. Bravo.

Sony: 1st party games worth playing? Rare form for them.

-
Microsoft: The Xbox is a great piece of hardware, Xbox Live is smokin', and releasing the S-controller was cool, but all of their 1st party games have sucked this year, and the ones that looked not to suck got pushed back to next year (Crimson Skies, Brute Force). Mission control to MS; games are what people buy consoles for. Why can't they at least port some of their PC games to the 'Box?

I gained the most respect for Rockstar North. I had never played a GTA game until this spring, and I became hooked on GTA3 for several weeks. The fact that they were able to follow that up with an even better game (and 80s music) takes the cake.

I liked QR, Blinx and Rallisport - then thier PC games are great too (except Dungeon Seige) so MS is a damn fine game publisher in my book.

ºTracer

Quote:

---

Originally posted by TracerBullet
IGN said it (SC5) was the best thing since sliced bread actually. They were really positive about it, and so was Daily Radar and I belive even Gamefan liked it. I didn't mind the game but it wasn't too terribly impressive. It was the same basic concept of "Simon" that I generally don't like. The charm lasted only so long. You're telling me that "Simon" gameplay has been replaced with something like Rez?

---

No, the gameplay itself is still simplistic (much like Rez) but the way it interacts with the music, and the way its presented makes it incredibly enjoyable (like Rez). I didn't think the first was all that amazing either (well... except the ending. I loved that ending), but the second really turned me around. Every part was just incredibly memorable and enjoyable.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by TracerBullet
No it didn't actually.

---

Jan 10, 2002. Rez counts for this year I think.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Sidez
[...] no new Ridge Racer revealed this year. Shameful.

---

Well, they did talk about the RR sim. As crappy though it may sound...

Thumbs down to Chris Sawyer in making Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 nothing more than an expansion pack.

Thumbs up to Rockstar for making another great GTA game, Capcom for the quality they are giving us on all systems, and whoever made Mark of Kri gets a nod too.

Oh and a big THANKS to Blizzard for the art that is Warcraft III.

Ubisoft, eversince Rayman i hated there asses, but now with splinter cell they are my favorite ;)

I gained the msot respect for Retro Studios. For a company that one year ago seriously looked like they were having a hard time getting their shit together and delivering a project that almost no one expected to be impressed by, they managed to deliver one of the most satisfying and fun games of the year. Congrats to them.

Didn't really lose respect for anyone.

I gained a lot of respect for Retro and Capcom, lost a lot of respect for Microsoft

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Frogacuda
Jan 10, 2002. Rez counts for this year I think.

---

You were talking about SC5(2). It never came out here. You are right about Rez though, kudos, but keep it straight.

ºTracer