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[makingmusic476]

I'd say "What's the hate for if they've made one of the best arcade racer of the gen (if not THE best)
Wipeout HD ?"

I'd say "You're confusing Sony London with Sony Liverpool."

 

[BatmanX]

I'd say "You're confusing Sony London with Sony Liverpool."

oops, you're obviously right

 

[Trunchisholm]

Look at Gears of War. It's pretty well known that Microsoft only locked up exclusivity for the first two titles. They have managed to invest millions into the marketing and development of that franchise, as much as any first party release, turning it into a series that sells 5+ million with every iteration. Now with the third title, they have to work out a deal with Epic to keep a 5+ million selling franchise exclusive to 360, rather then Epic going off on their own and making it an 8-10 million selling fully multiplatform (360/ps3/pc) franchise.

They'll probably fork over the cash necessary to keep the franchise exclusive, but you can bet it'll be a lot of cash.

I think you're overlooking quite a few things. Gears wouldn't be the monster it is right now without Microsoft's backing. The advertising campaigns they put out for both games were massive, like Halo massive. When it comes to hyping games, nobody does it better than Microsoft, even though it's a shame they only focus on a few, highly profitable franchises.

If you think that Epic would be selling more copies just by joining the multiplatform bandwagon, you're doing it wrong. One of the series' biggest selling points is the fact that it is exclusive. It would certainly lose part of its consumer appeal if it were to be released as a multiplatform title.

 

[Arhal_Katarn]

Microsoft are restructuring thier first party studios so its not very smart to try and compare them to Sony or Nintendo right now. They shut down some studios and let Bungie go but have opened up 343 who will take Bungies place , they also bought bigpark and opened a xbla team.
I know every one likes to cry about Ensemble but what would they have brought to the 360 that would have been a huge hit? Even Halo Wars didn't sell that great, they where a pc rts studio and rts games don't sell on 360.

 

[Balb]

Microsoft are restructuring thier first party studios so its not very smart to try and compare them to Sony or Nintendo right now. They shut down some studios and let Bungie go but have opened up 343 who will take Bungies place , they also bought bigpark and opened a xbla team.
I know every one likes to cry about Ensemble but what would they have brought to the 360 that would have been a huge hit? Even Halo Wars didn't sell that great, they where a pc rts studio and rts games don't sell on 360.

Halo Wars sold around 3 million units. I'd say that was a success.

 

[Vinci]

Sony's best? Team ICO. If thatgamecompany were 1st party, I'd list them as well. Flower alone shattered my already lofty expectations.

Nintendo's best? Intelligent Systems and EAD Tokyo.

MS's? Don't know, don't care.

I'm not naming worst 'cause... it feels pretty tacky.

 

[Arhal_Katarn]

Halo Wars sold around 3 million units. I'd say that was a success.

Well thats more then i thought, still not that great for a Halo game though. MS clearly thought they had gotten all they could from Ensemble and thats why they shut them down. MS doesn't care about pc gaming anymore, and Ensemble's forte was pc rts.

 

[Effect]

worst: whatever the name is of the team that made wii music.

One can dislike Wii Music all they want. Some don't it and some do. It simply isn't a rhythm music game, which many for some reason thought. However it is still a well done game. Just because one doesnt' like a game a studio made doesn't mean the studio is bad. Wii Music is actually a very well done game. I can see how one could easily not like it though. It's a music creator/manipulator and that point really should have been made clearer by Nintendo.

 

[Vinci]

Well thats more then i thought, still not that great for a Halo game though.

To be honest, it wouldn't have sold half that if it weren't Halo related. Not a judgement of the game's quality - seems good from what I've heard - but lets be real.

 

[leroidys]

Most

Nintendo - EAD Tokyo. Intelligent systems is real close, but they've put out some sub par
games lately, like Fire Emblem DS, Wario Ware Snapped, Super Paper Mario

Sony - Team Ico Sony has an amazing amount of talented developers that have done a lot more than team Ico, but I'm putting quality over quantity here, and their output has been almost flawless.

Microsoft - Ensemble Studios Now defunct, I know, but they made amazing games. Still really hacked at MS about closing down their biggest grossing 1st party dev.

Least

Nintendo - NST Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 was pretty cool, but other than that they have basically done garbage, and garbage ports like Majora's Mask to Gamecube. Also, Metroid Prime Hunters sucks, really bad as a Metroid game, and is still not very good as a quake clone.

Sony - Guerrilla Games Not that I think Killzone is objectively horrible, but... I still think it sucks.

Microsoft - Rare If only for how far they've fallen since GC\SNES days. Really they are still a decent developer, but MS has very few first party now to judge them against.

 

[Trunchisholm]

Microsoft - Rare If only for how far they've fallen since GC\SNES days. Really they are still a decent developer, but MS has very few first party now to judge them against.

Even then, Rare are still the best when it comes to sheer talent, and that's hardly debatable. The only ones coming close are Turn 10 and, then again, many of the tools used by MGS as a whole have been made by Rare. Sure, Lionhead have been more successful with Fable, but, on a purely technical level, they fall short of what Rare accomplished with VP and BK N&B.

I think most people are judging Rare based on the sales performance of their last games. That's just wrong. Talent doesn't equal sales. They've put out fantastic games, just targeted at the wrong audience. They've hardly catered to the 360's hardcore audience. That's as much their problem as Microsoft's. Hopefully, they will have a chance to do better with Natal, but that sounds like wishful thinking.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

This is such a preposterous topic.