So I was thinking, lets leave games alone for a bit, "best of" 's of games and genres have been done to death already.
My question instead is - who is your favourite developer?
For me personally it's CD Project Red.
They just understand their audience, they do not antagonize them or punish them(as seems to be the norm in the industry as of late). And they happen to make great games as well and after that actually listen to the feedback.
Valve comes in a close second, but I got a few gripes with their system.
I love pre-EA bioware. They had amazing stories and depth to their games. Baldur's gate, neverwinter nights, Mass effect, Knights of the old republic. They were an RPG powerhouse.
Then came EA (I like to call them Evil Asses). I am on a EA strike since they deployed their origin service.
Now I really like Bethesda. Skyrim and fallout are great.
Interplay & TSR are some other defunct great companies that are worth mentioning.
Tripwire, Paradox Interactive, CD Projekt, Square Enix/Eidos Montreal, and probably Creative Assembly. Any smaller time developers that make games and listen to their community.
Creative assembly but that might be because I walk past them to go to collage and they Vought handy down GPU from the because they won't powerfull enough for them.
There are a lot of developers I like for one reason or another.
I used to love Insomniac Games when they were making Ratchet and Resistance, but they really need to go back to the drawing board and play to their strengths.
I haven't played a Naughty Dog game since Crash Bandicoot (want to get TLOU), but I definitely have great respect for their skills and ability to make good games.
I like what CD Projekt Red stands for, but haven't played their games (yet).
I like Valve, because of Portal and (despite having not yet played them), the obviously great Half-Life series, as well as many of the things Gabe Newell has said and done.
Square Enix makes games that look good and tell a good story, but they've had their share of misses.
Eidos Interactive makes/made Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, and Legacy of Kain. Enough said.
It's hard to pick favorites, but I can narrow it down to my top three:
Bioware has and remains an excellent RPG developer, with KOTOR and Mass Effect (I chalk up the bad ending of 3 to the incredible arrogance of one man's total control over the story and bitterness at the fans leaking the script), though their work with TOR leaves much to be desired.
DICE is definitely a favorite with their creation and continued work on the Frostbite Engine, Battlefield, and Mirror's Edge, and since they singlehandedly reversed the death of Battlefront by practically demanding to be allowed to make it, they've made a die-hard fan out of me.
My experiences playing the Warframe beta have made Digital Extremes another favorite developer, as their interactions with the game's supporters and fans have been incredible, and their development livestreams allow us to see what's coming in development and really get to know them - for example, I learned from a recent livestream that they'd watched the same Extra Credits episode as I had, one which specifically mentioned one of Warframe's mechanics.