Ok, in my time here, it may have come to peoples attention that I have this perverse delight in organising my thoughts in the form of a list. Even when not writing lists I have a tendency to give 3-5 examples of the thing I'm talking about.. so with that said here's my next one.

I wanted to talk about developers and what I like about them. With the most recent thread I wrote here, I felt I was being overly negative. So here's my current favourite developers. Remember, developers not publishers...

5. Omega Force -
Ok sure, they do only one thing, but they do it well. Dynasty Warriors 8 and Warriors Orochi 3: Hyper are both fantastic games and I'm genuinely excited for Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends on the Vita. This is a series I love, it's mindless action and abnegation at it's best, with campy and lovable characters so losely based on history that it's almost fiction at this point but with a well enough constructed story that it doesn't feel aimless. The 8th game in the series is a great step forward, addressing literally every problem I had with the 7th, and the Orochi series is a delightful fantasy offshoot. There's loads of games like this, but play the so very disappointing N3: Ninety Nine Nights; a game that copied the DW formulae in every possible way but fell so short and you'll see why I love Omega Force. Dynasty Warriors is the only series I still buy on release day... and I'm still very pleased with it.

4. Rockstar North -
Yeah, when these guys can't even make the top 3; there's some good coming. Rockstar North made GTA 4, Max Payne 3, and Red Dead Redemption. These are some incredible games and I'm looking forward for GTA 5 quite a lot; but I need to tackle a little more of my backlog before I'm allowed to treat myself to more games. While again they have their clear focus in the action sandbox genre, GTA: San Andreas, GTA: The Balad Of Gay Tony, and Red Dead Redemption are the highlights so far and I've yet to see the genre do better than these examples. Seeing Rockstar North on a game is a stamp of quality, and even games like LA Noir which I didn't personally care for, there was still a sense of quality.

3. Naughty Dog -
These guys deserve praise. Crash Bandicoot, Jak & Daxter, Uncharted and now The Last Of Us... and I've not even played through the Uncharted series yet, (I'm just starting the first one now, only a few hours in). This is a long haul developer who had stood the test of time and is one of the names I think of when I think quality games. Moving from straight platformers onto more cinematic third person shooters that rather break the convensions of any one genre, they've pretty much redefined gaming. The influence from the Uncharted series is clear, just look at the remake of Tomb Raider and the cinematic parts of the Dead Space franchise... sure, some devs don't always get it right, see the aforementioned Dead Space franchise, but it's influence is undeniable.

2. Platinum Games -
Oh yes! Bayonetta, Vanquish, Metal Gear Rising: Revengence. This is a developer who loves to make fun, and that's something so many games today lack. Fun. My one gripe is that their first game MadWorld has an art style that triggers my migraines, as does to a much lesser extent The Wonderful 101, as they both look like fantastic games and it's a massive shame that I can't enjoy them. What I have played however makes me delightfully giddy, even the purposely camp spiritual sequel to MadWorld on PS3 called Anarchy Reigns, which thankfully dropped the art-style for something more conventional. I'm looking forward to Bayonetta 2 so much now, and I hope Platinum Games gets more and more success because I've never seen such consistantly great games from such a small development team. I consider Platinum Games to be the closest things to day one purchases there are now in my book... and that's only because I don't have the money for release day prices.

1. Nintendo EAD -
I'm sorry... I know it's predictable and if it's any consolation the SEGA kid inside me is crying now, the thing is; these guys are awesome. Whether it's Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, New Super Mario Bros. U, or their best achievement to date Super Mario 3D World. These guys alone have justified both the 3DS and the Wii U for me and that's an impressive feat for any developer. No other developer can make me buy both a handheld AND a home console based on their games ALONE! That's Nintendo for you. Their games are simply that good, they're that fun. Super Mario 3D Land on the 3DS got me back into platformers in a big way, and World is simply that again, but better in every way. These games mark the most straight, no-nonsense fun I've had with a video game in years. I consider myself a genuine Mario fan at this point, and again the SEGA kid in me is shaking with fury but it's true. They've made me love video games all over again, and that's something special.

Honourable Mentions -
Ninja Theory - Enslaved: Odyssey To The West and Heavenly Sword where decent enough, but their work with DmC has wowed me. If they keep this up, I'll be watching for their future games that's for sure.
Spicy Horse - Their ownly non-mobile game so far is Alice: Madness Returns... based on this alone I love this developer, but I want more than only one game before I declare them to be on my list.

So, those are mine. I'd be interested to hear which developers people here like. Who's names do you look for in video game. I will ask, try to keep it modern. After all, while I'll agree Capcom was a great developer in the age of the NES, today they're a bloated publisher that develops nothing of note itself... though if you're genuinely still playing your classics, who am I to judge?

1. SQEX 1st Production Deveopment- KH, FF
2. Game Freak- Pokemon
3. Kojima Productions- MGS
4. Nintendo EAD Software Development Group No. 3- Zelda
5. Atlus Persona Team- Catherine and Persona

Honourable mentions Omega Force, Naughty Dog, Studio Japan △ox□

edited to please the OP =P

5 Insomniac games

 Loved Spyro the dragon, Fuse( Would of preferred overstrike 9,Ratchet and Clank. Am still yet to play such a humorous shooter than the ratchet and clank Series.

 4 Intelligent Systems

Fire emblem is second only to shining force( R.I.P shinning in the west) in my opinion as far as turn based rpgs go and the war series is also my favourite turn based strategy game manly thanks to multiplayer and campaign in equal portion.

 3 Westwood Studios(R.I.P)

First strategy game i played was C&C similar to Ratchet and Clank the humour in the campaign is really what drew me to series, as well as the overall story and gameplay.

 2 Game Freak

 Second  RPG series I played was Pokémon with the trading and battling I am yet to play a more addictive RPG yet.

 1 Camelot Software Planning

My first RPG series was shinning force up until that point All I had ever played where Platformers so my first real rpg was a  breath of fresh air, The mix of characters world and story made it one of my favourite series of all-time. then  a decade later when I finally picked up Golden Sun on the Gba to my surprise they managed to top it and make another of my favourite RPG series.

Honourable Mention

Naughty Dog Loved crash and Jak & Daxter yet to play uncharted and the last of us

Hal laboratory Kirby is my favourite platformer and smash bro's my favourite brawler.

OK, seriously guys... can we at least pretend we give a shit about each others posts and post a little more than a list of 5 names with nothing added. It's a discussion forum, we can't very well discuss the topic if all anyone posts is:

5. Random Name
4. Random Name
3. Random Name
2. Random Name
1. Random Name

A little bit of effort isn't asking so much is it guys...

1. Valve- They only release a few games, but everything they touch seems to turn to gold (Half-Life, Counterstrike, Left 4 Dead, Portal).

2. Bioware- They've had a shaky couple of titles but there are few who're as good in the WRPG genre and fewer still who can meld the WRPG genre with others (Baldurs Gate, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, SW:KoToR).

3. Bethesda- The other great WRPG dev and one whose games have yet to be replicated in terms of sheer scale (Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3)

4. Naughty Dog- Highly polished titles that are pure quality. Uncharted 1-3 and Last of Us are titles that simply need to be played.

5- Ubisoft Montreal- They produce some crap (out of necessity I guess), but they're an incredibly capable (and large) developer who have made some of the best open-world and platform games ever made (Assassins Creed series, Far Cry 3, Tom Clancy games, Prince of Persia etc.).

Square Enix
Nintendo
Tri-Ace
Piranha Bytes

There are some more but it's kinda lame to worship some developer that only gave me one enjoyable game.

Hey picking a top 5 was hard enough. Seriously I Ive barely played enough games over the 7th and 8th gens to list 10 good devs total. 

Good choices.

I respect Valve but as I have a strong bias against anything first person, their games generally fail to appeal to me. Still they're more pro-consumer than most and their games are of a consistent quality so I can see that.

Bioware and Bethesda used to both be on my list too. I love Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Dragon Age: Origins, and the KOTOR series; but I never had much of a connection to the Elder Scrolls series (though I'll admit they're good production-wise), and handing Fallout over to Obsidian, the kings of unfinished pap left Bethesda uninteresting to me. Bioware did the same with KOTOR (again Obsidian, why?!), they just plain ruined Mass Effect and they turned Dragon Age into "Final Fantasy XIII Western Edition: Revenge Of The 100 Hour Ultra-Linear Shitfest". I look at both with suspicion now which is a shame, but particularly Bioware who I now actively dislike. Still, let's keep it positive. They've made some awesome games, including some of my favourite games of all time... for that at least I have to give them props.

As for Ubisoft Montreal; they're great. I love the Rayman series and Spliter Cell and Prince Of Persia are great series but I never found them to be consistent. They're one of my favourite developers but I never liked Assassin's Creed, I've no interest in Far Cry, and their crappy dancing games are just embarrasing. They make some gold, but they also make some turds so it makes me dubious. I'm looking forward to Watch_Dogs though.

All in all, great choices. Remember my critique is all personal stuff, so don't let my opinion ruin your enjoyment. By all means let's discuss, but we're here to talk positively.

That's good, it should be hard. It means you're thinking about it... all I ask is that you explain what you like about the devs, (a game title by the way is not an explaination). I'm not asking for in depth analysis or anything, but like I did, I gave an idea of who I am, what I like, and I like to think I gave people something to base a response on... they can ask me questions we can discuss what we like or dislike about the games and developers. All to often threads like this are just a tip for people to post their list in. No-one reads the posts, no-one cares, no-one checks back... they just post their obligatory list and move on. I'd rather get to know people and have a fun chat. Now, there's no need to be defensive, if you don't want to take part, that's fine. I just think it's more fun to actually chat on a discussion forum than post what's barely more than spam near each other for us all to emphatically not read.

Lifetime................

1. SEGA AM2/Sonic Team- core reason......... Shenmue/Sonic 3 & Knuckles (and Yu Suzuki is a gaming LEGEND)
2. Capcom- core reason......... Resident Evil 2.
3. Nintendo EAD- core reason..... Super Mario World.
4. Rockstar North- core reason........ Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
5. Konami- core reason........ Caslevania: Portrait of Ruin. (yes, everyone prefers SOTN, but hey, this game not only had its own bosses, it also included a tonne from Dawn of Sorrow, and Yuzo Koshiro's tunes are awesome)

Honourable mentions.....

Team Ninja (Ninja Gaiden 2 XBOX 360 version)
IO Interactive (Hitman 2: Silent assassin)
Bizarre Creations (Metropolis Street Racer)