Just curious...why does Metacritic list publisher names on the main games page and the search page, rather than the developer names? The latter seems much more informative.

Ah, finally. I was going to post a topic just like this. Except I didn't know the difference between the Publisher and the Developer. I think the Publishers feed money to the Developers and by giving them money they also lend full support of the of the game. Developers are the ones that actually make the game. I still don't know who's more important and who I should be giving credit to.

Good questions. Clearly both the publisher and developer are important. I would say it's analagous to the Distributor/Production Company relationship in the film world. The deveoper makes the game, but they wouldn't be able to fund the project without cash from the publisher, as well as the distribution channels and promotion aparatus that the publisher provides. We definitely identify the developer in the left column of each game's main page. The only reason I include the publisher's name in the search result is that there are often muliple games with very similar names, and the publisher name is generally better known and therfore easier to use as a way to distinguish the two titles.

So, in the case of "Halo 2", yes, Bungie, the developer, is the team that made the game, but Microsoft is just as important as it's the company that funds Bungie and promotes the game.

Speaking of Halo 2, how do you like that metascore??? (99 so far)

What about games like Metal Gear Solid:Twin Snakes? I guess it was developed by Konami but who published it? Plus since it's a port a new guy was thrown into the mix; Silicon Knights. I'm guessing they did all the dirty work and coded the game from PS1 to Gamecube? Am I right?