So, while some of you may have noticed this, I believe most haven't, and that's why I'm posting this here:
http://bit.ly/aANIUR

The Escapist Magazine has created a contest in which 64 game companies have been chosen to "fight" each other in votings.

There are basically 6 rounds which will decide what is the best game company. They are currently on the fifth round: Valve vs Zynga.

Valve - very well known game producer who created the Half-Life, Team Fortress, Counter-Strike and Left 4 Dead series.
Zynga - I hadn't heard of it before, producer of the web browser Facebook "games" FarmVille, Mafia Wars and Vampire Wars.

Please VOTE! Here's the link for voting:
http://www.escapistmagazine.co ... 7-Zynga-vs-1-Valve?page=1

You can either use your Facebook account to login or create a new Escapist account to vote.

You can also double-vote by following @TheEscapistmag on twitter and tweeting your vote:

Quote :

I voted for @steam_games in Round 5 of The Escapist's March Mayhem: http://bit.ly/aANIUR #escMM.

Please, vote for Valve! FarmVille and Mafia Wars can't win this contest! And besides, Valve is such a wonderful game company with brilliant games and care about their community, and surely deserves to win.

Zynga has already defeated Rockstar North (GTA and Manhunt series), Infinity Ward (COD series), Square Enix (Final Fantasy) and NCSoft (Lineage series)! We must stop that!

Thanks!

Even if Valve advances, there's no way in hell they can beat Blizzard!

Quote from shiny_red_cobra :

Even if Valve advances, there's no way in hell they can beat Blizzard!

Actually, if Valve advances, it won't even fight with Blizzard. Blizzard is losing to BioWare.

Blizzard - 47.7% (7786)
BioWare - 52.3% (8524)

Plus, if Zynga does defeat Valve, it will also defeat BioWare (or Blizzard). Look at how many votes it has received and compare to how many votes Blizzard and BioWare have.

Zynga - 53.1% (20581)
Valve - 46.9% (18205)

If Valve does advance, it will most likely beat both Blizzard and BioWare.

Why Zynga are winning: http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/242/facebookqd.png

Already voted for Valve , Just for the Half life saga

Voted Valve, because Half-Life 2 is freaking epic. All the people voting for Zynga are idiots.

Woah, I guess my thread really made a difference!

Right now
Zynga - 50% (21309)
Valve - 50% (21287)

"Server overload"

DON'T STOP VOTING!

Edit: It seems like it's a server crash?
Fatal error: Database Error: Connection Failed in /sixpack/web_ramdisk/sites/global/classes/class.db.mysql.inc on line 74

Edit2: It's back online now.
"We're sorry but the current forum traffic is overloading the thread display hamsters. Your posts and votes will still be recorded, but may not be immediately visible."

Edit3:
Zynga - 49.9% (21314)
Valve - 50.1% (21381)

Go Valve, go!

Voted for Valve.
Lot of people wh called me nerd for playing computer games now are addicted to those Windows paint shop drawn games...
I don't have anything against Zynga, they actually are developers who have chose their sector in the market. I too play, but only when I don't have my pc with my games, like at work for example (where I am now!)
anyway those for me are stupid games to attract masses and it fills me with rage to see Valve struggling with Zyngar to win.

Guys we are talking about Valve, not a cheap team!
Well I am talking out of rage I better cool down!

Quote from Asphalt Scream :

anyway those for me are stupid games to attract masses and it fills me with rage to see Valve struggling with Zyngar to win.

The whole point of Farmville and games like it is for the social market, spread like a disease. And likely more people have player Farmville than have played the Halflife Series because of the type of market. Does this make the game company better? Who knows, because the quality of the game is an opinion that can change from person to person. But- more casual players, moms, dads, grandparents etc that wouldn't touch 'games' are addicted to things like Farmville. I'm not voting as I don't think it is possible to be the 'best game company' and I'm certainly not sure I believe Valve, Blizzard or Zynga deserve that title...

But because I am curious, what qualities do you guys think are required for a game company to be 'the best'?

For me a social game wouldbe more something like a mmorpg than farmville, because the first actually is a game.

I know, technically both are games because are pieces of software but, for example, would you think that the company who made Gran Turismo or the same LFS is equal to the team who made you cellphone's F1 game?

Apart from that, while playing Half Life 1 or 2 you follow a story, think how to defeat those Marines and their tactics, have fun and in general have a great time. While in restaurant City et similia you only spam your friends mailbox or the game page to invite more people and collect more ingredients. I wont call this social. In a mmorpg at least you form parties, do quests kill mobs, but mmorpg are not considered real games from people who plays Zinga.

Edit: what I'm trying to say is that Valve an Zynga are on different sectors, Zynga shoud fight with the other Facebook sotware developer

DICE > *

This vote thing is crap.

Voting closed.
Zynga - 46.7% (22470)
Valve - 53.3% (25677)

The voting thread has 554 pages and growing. Wow.

The Twitter votes haven't been counted yet; we'll only see the results when they are. But it's pretty much certain Valve will win and compete the next (and last round) with BioWare.

By the way, that thread has produced some great material:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VLkbnp2uAE

Quote :

Valve Died to Zygna on Friday
Valve laid dead that Saturday without a prayer
and Today on the Sabbath, Valve rose again.

It's an Easter Miracle.

The song and the last pic are genuinely epic.

Half-Life 2 was one of the biggest letdowns but of course the juniors never even played HL 1 in the first place.

Looking Glass was the best game house by the way.

Quote from spankmeyer :

Half-Life 2 was one of the biggest letdowns but of course the juniors never even played HL 1 in the first place.

You'd prefer HL2 being a game with a primitive story where all you do is "GTFO of Black Mesa" with no character development.... scratch that... with NO CHARACTERS to speak of and the gameplay varying from "shoot from a pistol" up to "shoot from a machine gun"? Sorry but you fail. HL2 was awesome, and still is. Great story, great characters, proper character development, nice variety in gameplay style, and it even has PUZZLE moments, just to switch the pace from time to time. HL1 was "different" , HL2 - "genious"

Edit : actually the Finals are between Valve and Bioware... that's 2 out of 3 of my fav developers (third being Rockstar)... I don't even know who to vote for, ever since Bioware proved that they can actually make a game that is not re-telling KOTOR story, and since HL2EP3 is still "to be created on the day of the second coming"

squid: I agree. I never played HL1, but I still managed to follow the HL2 storyline perfectly. The game (HL2) was tremendously enjoyable and it is - personally - one of the (if not THE) greatest videogames of all time.

Comments like that ("HL2... was a letdown") make me wonder if you even played the game and its expansion episodes from start to finish.

Quote from squidhead :

You'd prefer HL2 being a game with a primitive story where all you do is "GTFO of Black Mesa" with no character development.... scratch that... with NO CHARACTERS to speak of and the gameplay varying from "shoot from a pistol" up to "shoot from a machine gun"? Sorry but you fail. HL2 was awesome, and still is. Great story, great characters, proper character development, nice variety in gameplay style, and it even has PUZZLE moments, just to switch the pace from time to time. HL1 was "different" , HL2 - "genious"

Edit : actually the Finals are between Valve and Bioware... that's 2 out of 3 of my fav developers (third being Rockstar)... I don't even know who to vote for, ever since Bioware proved that they can actually make a game that is not re-telling KOTOR story, and since HL2EP3 is still "to be created on the day of the second coming"

I'm sorry but HL2 was just as much a linear experience. And worse, none of it made any sense what so ever. In HL1 you were on a mission to get out from a hostile place - that's it. In HL2 you arrived to a city overrun with idiotic, passive, please-Gordon-save-us-allies and enemies that posed NO threat and I'm suppose to care? HL2 was a snooze fest, end of story kiddies.

It had no 'story'. All HL2 told you were random places with either no connection to each other what so ever or stuff dropped from another game. Ravenholm ffs!! And the physics puzzle crap repeated time after time, pointless driving episodes and fighting against same stupid choppers or walkers that - once again - were just a backdrop you walked over. Combine super soldiers that died when you sneezed at them? HL1 had proper AI special forces that hunted and killed you much more easily.

Granted HL1 had no characters. But no characters is better than HL2 versions of stereotypical and flat as paper characters that were either annoying or instantly forgettable.

Quote from gtpsharky :

squid: I agree. I never played HL1, but I still managed to follow the HL2 storyline perfectly. The game (HL2) was tremendously enjoyable and it is - personally - one of the (if not THE) greatest videogames of all time.

Comments like that ("HL2... was a letdown") make me wonder if you even played the game and its expansion episodes from start to finish.

Wonder why HL2 plot was easy to follow?

Pro-tip: It had no plot, just random stuff happening.

If you honestly say HL2 was one of the greatest games of all time you pretty much admit you don't know much about video game history or dramaturgy.

I'm sorry, I'm an expert and your arguments are invalid.

Quote from spankmeyer :

I'm sorry but HL2 was just as much a linear experience. And worse, none of it made any sense what so ever.

Well to be honest, it's not HL2's fault, seriously... at first let's put the fact that HL1 was not exactly "sandbox" either behind us, and focus on HL2 "making no sense". It's either you never even tried to make sense of "wtf is going on" (and it's a beauty of Valve's storytelling of it's own), or you just didn't want to accept a storyline more complex than "bad shit is going down, GTFO RITE NAO". [edit] OR you didn't pay attention at what's going on around you and never listened to the people who were talking on your screen. HL2 requires you to pay attention, not to storm though every single location[/edit]

Quote from spankmeyer :

In HL2 you arrived to a city overrun with idiotic, passive, please-Gordon-save-us-allies and enemies that posed NO threat and I'm suppose to care? HL2 was a snooze fest, end of story kiddies.

It had no 'story'. All HL2 told you were random places with either no connection to each other what so ever or stuff dropped from another game. Ravenholm ffs!!

1. Not really passive... remember Earth surrendered in a matter of 7 hours, I bet that was an enough demonstration of Combine power, thus, making people go by the "Resistance is futile" logic.

2. Maybe you weren't playing on a high enough difficulty setting, OR you just weren't that good at playing FPS games when you played HL1, and you got better by the time HL2 was out.

3. The "Random places with no connection to each other especially Ravenholm" argument is kinda pointless, since it's very well tied in and explained as to "why you go through ravenholm" and "why is the city populated by zombies". You were either not paying attention, or you just don't like a game that has a plot that can't be fit in 1 simple sentence (nothing REALLY wrong with that, but if that's the case, then you can't judge the game objectively)

4. Snooze fest : During the HL2 and the episodes you get to run away from the police in panic, unarmed; run away from the police armed; have a massive jetski chase; go through a zombie infested city; see some industrial district combat; drive a buggy down the shoreline; infiltrate a prison; participate in a full on war in the city; see the citadel from the inside; run around citadel's core that's going critical; shoot zombies in complete darknes; see some street and indoors combat; witness a destruction of the citadel; explore the abandoned mines; explore a bug nest; defend companions from bug infestation; clear out an industrial complex from zombies; drive a Mad Max 3 styled DODGE FREAKING CHARGER; outrun a helicopter; destroy a heli with it's own weapons; crawl through the trenches; survive an ambush in a hotel; see dog kicking striders' ass; DRIVE AROUND THE COUNTRYSIDE in a Mad Max 3 styled DODGE FREAKING CHARGER (don't tell me that car doesn't rock) FRANTICALLY SHOOTING STICKY MINES AT STRIDERS... (and... breathe)... please tell me you're kidding about this whole (mind you nicely coupled together sequence) is boring... because I find it to be a bit more interesting that "run around Black Mesa shooting stuff, occasionally pressing buttons to destroy big stuff that moves"...

Seriously, I don't believe that you are serious on that matter, it's like you're from bizzarroworld or something

Quote from spankmeyer :

Granted HL1 had no characters. But no characters is better than HL2 versions of stereotypical and flat as paper characters that were either annoying or instantly forgettable.

Jar Jar Binks is annoying, that guy from MW2, what's his name, with a skull on his mask is forgettable, the whole Bad Company squad is stereotypical and flat... Each character from HL universe develops through out the series, and is quite good... except for Magnusson, who I hate, but he definetly isn't forgettable.

Quote from spankmeyer :

Wonder why HL2 plot was easy to follow?
Pro-tip: It had no plot, just random stuff happening.
If you honestly say HL2 was one of the greatest games of all time you pretty much admit you don't know much about video game history or dramaturgy.
I'm sorry, I'm an expert and your arguments are invalid.

If you honestly say HL2 is not one of the greatest games of all time, you pretty much admit to ignorance, and that you can't get your head out of the mid 90's when each game was a "breakthrough" simply because there wasn't much available at the time.
I'm sorry, you're no expert, if your argument is "cause I said so" (and I haven't found any better argument, sorry), and it's invalid.

Quote from spankmeyer :

I'm sorry, I'm an expert and your arguments are invalid.

I'm sorry, but I beg to differ from you in every single one of your statements.
In my opinion, Half-Life 2 is the best game ever released. The way Valve managed to connect the Half-Life world in every single game of the series is, at least, astonishing. Plus, the release of Portal, which also takes place in the Half-Life world, and fits so perfectly the story. It amazes me how well everything is linked.

I have finished Half-Life 2 more than 50 times, and I'm not over exaggerating. I'm serious. But that's just Half-Life 2 alone; during the last years I even took my time to finish all HL, HL2, HL2 Ep1 and Ep2, one after the other. And I have done that plenty of times too. Not only that, but I have also finished the whole series online through Synergy with some friends. And every time I played it, I noticed something new I hadn't noticed before. Be it a easter egg, areas of the levels I hadn't been before or new ways to go through the missions, I always found something new. And Half-Life still amazes me today. My friends still call me to go for some rounds on HL2 online (or some of the episodes) when we have some free time. If the game wasn't so awesome, I would never do that. I don't do that with other games as well (most of them I finish 1 time, maybe 2 if I think it's awesome or up to 5 if I really LOVE the game, but with HL series it has been seriously more than 100 times in the last 3 years).

Even after playing so many times, I still cared a lot about all the characters in the game. I feel for them, I feel I am really Gordon Freeman, I really feel I'm in the Half-Life world and I love the storyline, it's simply outstanding. Ravenholm was a very, very scary experience and I loved it.

WARNING
[*SPOILERS*]
When Alyx gets taken down on the beginning of the game, a teardrop fell on my face. I was very sad about it. I kind of love her, she's so "natural" (for the lack of a better word; I need some new words on my vocabulary), she's a character I really care about. Well, I have actually cried when I finished HL2 Ep2. I felt so bad about her and her family, and the whole thing going on. I care a lot about all the characters, and I wasn't expecting for such an ending. That was really, really sad. It made me want to play more and to see what's coming next with Ep3.
[/*SPOILERS*]

By the way, talking about it made me want to play it again. I may start a new singleplayer career on it after I finish FEAR and FEAR 2, which I've been playing lately.

I don't have more time to write anything here as I have to go now, but I guess that pretty much sums it up.

I really can't be bothered to type out the same amopunt of text, but while HL1 was, (and to a *slightly* lesser extent, still is) an incredible game, HL2 pisses all over it, IMHO for the same reasons stated above. Every now and then I play the whole series through from start to finish and always prefer playing the assorted HL2 games.

If you enjoy HL2 it's cool.

However we populate the same world and my personal quality standards say that you shouldn't be drooling and celebrating when an obese dude craps out a turd that was supposed to be a sequel to a legendary game.

Besides, having no Looking Glass in the Top 3 pretty much shows that kids don't know nothing about good games or studios that lead the way.

Quote from spankmeyer :

Besides, having no Looking Glass in the Top 3 pretty much shows that kids don't know nothing about good games or studios that lead the way.

I got it! You just don't pay attention to anything It's "march mayhem 2010" meaning best game developer march 2009 - 2010. And Looking Glass are dead since 2000... (just pointing it out...)
No wonder you can't figure out what is happening in HL2


(still, voted Bioware. No matter how nice L4D was (is), I've beaten ME2 three times... IN A ROW...still love Valve, but Bioware was just better this year)

Quote from spankmeyer :

If you enjoy HL2 it's cool.

However we populate the same world and my personal quality standards say that you shouldn't be drooling and celebrating when an obese dude craps out a turd that was supposed to be a sequel to a legendary game.

Besides, having no Looking Glass in the Top 3 pretty much shows that kids don't know nothing about good games or studios that lead the way.

Note to self: Stop liking the wrong things.