Video Game Development at the University of Michigan

I also think an important factor is that a lot of the succese of these companies lies with the fact that they created extremely strong IPs. Once created, people looked forward to their titles and that gave the companies a strong amount of leeway. Though that fact of having a strong IP alone isn't what I'm getting at. A lot of the games I see up there were delayed numerous times or not simple sequels that were crapped out under a strict schedule. The companies set a bar with their games, and did not release a product until they thought it was good. They figured out initially how to make a good game to commercial success, built a name that people would wait for, and made sure the next game would meet their bar. It's sad when other IPs fail for such lack of planning. Then again, the same process is something Nintendo is infamous for. And I admire that, but it still makes me ask that why in this generation were their games just good and not incredibly good like they had been during the 64 days. Nontheless, I recommend, as long as your not polishing a turd of a project, delay it, and make sure we play a good game in the end. And I liked The Bouncer. : P

I agree with you entirely that these companies do not make the mistake of rushing games out the door and that this builds trust with their consumers. I even thought of including this at one point, but it seems to have slipped my mind. Thanks for adding that.

Also, that you enjoyed the Bouncer is beside the point. What matters is that the critical acclaim and really strong sales weren't there. I'm not saying anything about the quality of the game in that case. I do think, however, that Sim Ant was a very silly concept for a commercial game.

Still liked the bouncer

Well I agree that it is these companies sticking with what they know the best and doing what they do the best that largely contributes to their consisent product quality. As as consumer, I don't mind this at all. You plenty of games across a range of genres at your disposal, but its those well-known companies like Blizzard, Maxis, and Square Enix that you can really depend on when you wanna be pretty much assured to play a quality RTS, Simulation, RPG respectively. As for The Bouncer, I remember renting that game the day it came out. I played the crap outta it for those five days, beating it over and over and over again and experiencing/unlocking just about everything the game had to offer. It was a good fun cinematic beat-em-up. It kinda reminded me of Square's past experiments with cinematic games with the Parasite Eve series. I don't know if the gameplay has not really aged well, or if it was just that I played the game out during the rental. But I remember I decided to wait until the game got real cheap to actually buy it since I'd already played through it multiple times. But when I did buy and play it again, I couldn't stand it enough to finish it once. I still think it was good though because I surely haven't forgotten how much of a blast I had with it the first time.

SimAnt was a damn good game. It certainly doesn't deserve to be lumped in with The Bouncer.