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

[Bacon McShig]

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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.

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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?

[Yoshi]

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.

[Tracer]

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

[Frogacuda]

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.

[Frogacuda]

Originally posted by TracerBullet
No it didn't actually.

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

[MechDeus]

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...

[Rumpy]

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.

[napalm]

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

[Rick]

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.

[SpoDaddy]

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