Mar 18, 2009 -USA TODAY – Tournament brackets aren’t just for college basketball. Video game site The Escapist seems to have come down with tournament fever, and the only prescription is a game developer showdown.
The bracket is part of a March Mayhem feature, pitting the top 64 video game developers in a tournament-style format to determine the year’s best.
Like the NCAA Tournament, The Escapist breaks down developers into four regions: north, south, east and west. Here’s a peek at the top four seeds from each region, along with their notable games in parentheses:
North Division
1. Turbine (Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online)
2. Valve (Half-Life, Left 4 Dead)
3. Capcom (Resident Evil, Street Fighter)
4. 2K Sports (NBA 2K9, Major League Baseball 2K9)
South Division
1. Ubisoft Montreal (Assassin’s Creed, Tom Clancy franchise)
2. EA Sports (Madden NFL, NHL 09)
3. Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto, Bully)
4. Atlus (Persona, Shin Megami Tensei)
East Division
1. Activision/Blizzard (Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft)
2. Harmonix (Rock Band)
3. Namco Bandai (Soul Calibur, Tekken)
4. Infinity Ward (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare)
West Division
1. Nintendo (Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports)
2. Epic Games (Gears of War, Unreal Tournament)
3. Square Enix ([i]Final Fantasy)
4. Konami ([i]Metal Gear Solid, Dance Dance Revolution)
Voting begins tomorrow, and concludes on April 8. Readers, what would your “Final Four” look like?
By Brett Molina
