Games Developers
There are three different types of developers producing products for video games consoles. There are the third-party developers, the second party developers, and finally the first-party ones. Third-party developers are not usually associated a with any particular company or corporation while the second-parties agree to a contract with a console manufacturing company and release platform exclusive games and accessories. The first-party developers are actually a part of the console manufacturing company itself and usually operate under the brand name of the company.
All these types of developing company mean we get games on various games consoles so we have to consider which games and also which games system we want to purchase.
For the Microsoft systems, the main attraction has always been Halo. Halo 1 and 2 on the original Xbox was practically the only reason many people bought one, and for many current Xbox 360, the ability to run Halo is, in a way, the primary reason it's hooked up to the TV. Sure there are other games, but without Halo 3 a lot less Xbox consoles would have been sold. In addition to the Halo franchise, Epic's Gears of War has been an exclusive for Microsoft platforms and is something of a rival to Insomniac's Resistance franchise.
Sony have Insomniac which is a second-party developer that has been with Sony for more than ten years now, and has released a game almost every single year so far. Even today as the company releases games yearly, and sometimes twice yearly it has been a very reliable company, and in a way, I would be proud to own the console they develop on. Currently, Insomniac is know for Resistance(a highly acclaimed first-person shooter) and Ratchet & Clank(a third-person platformer/shooter with roleplaying elements.
It's also worth mentioning that for about a decade, up until recently, every single core Final Fantasy game released was exclusive to Sony platforms. In any case, Square-Enix, the developer of Final Fantasy, continues to dedicate itself to the PS3 with the exclusive game rights.
For the Nintendo Wii console the first party developer games include Wii Sports which has been a very popular game and is exclusive to the Wii. It exploits many of the innovative features present in the Wii remote (or "Wiimote"). Other first party developer games include Excite Truck and Disaster: Day of Crisis. One first party developer for the Wii, Intelligent Systems, was actually founded by former Nintendo Research and Development employees. Intelligent Systems is responsible for such notable games as Metroid, Paper Mario, and Famicon Wars.
Most casual gamers will not care too much but for serious gamers who keep track of where games fit within the first, second, or third party developer hierarchy knowledge like this sets the levels of expectation for the performance of any particular game.
