Who do you respect the most in the industry ?

" This isnt just about devs, its about anyone and everyone. 
 
I must say that the company that has always amazed me is Nintendo .. their never-ending innovations and inventions for the last 2-3 decades and the way they just keep pushing forward and creating fun stuff and making people explode with pure entertainment, is really fucking super. 
I'm no fanboy. ive never played a Nintendo game or touched a Nintendo platform in my life (and its too late and too expensive to get my nintendo on).. My appreciation comes from seeing footage, hearing what people have to say, and reading articles and other pieces about the company. (oh and, watching AVGN videos ofcourse) 
And so, I salute Nintendo for being an incredible video game giant that dazzles me from afar, without even having to try their products! 
 
                                                                                                                                         How i envy Nintendo nerds... Ya im lookin at you JJOR64  P.S. my favorite developer is Rockstar Games, but Nintendo still takes the cake for ultimate respect.   Do you have anyone special in the industry that you respect the most? or anyone you respect/appreciate for a special reason ? (inb4 Bioware / Valve :P ) "

VALVE

Nate Fox from Sucker Punch seems like a really cool dude.

Journalism: John Davison, Robert Ashley, and Jeremy Parish. 
Developer: Jason Rohrer, Eskil Steenberg, and Warren Spector

Valve, Rockstar, Jeff Gerstmann, and Kevin Butler

Miyamoto. Dude basically shaped the way for all video games.
 
Kojima and Sakaguchi also have my heart. 
 
And the Giantbomb staff of course <3

Marty O'Donnell - Say what you like about the games, but them's some damn good compositions

Miyamoto
his games aren't my favorite but the guy is just awesome

I'm going to go with Kojima or Shigeru Miyamoto

Valve. 
 
Their relationship with us gamers are outstanding, and while I know most developers likes feedback there is something about the way Valve makes it so easy for me as a gamer to write to them - and efven gret an answer - that I really like. Hell, they even alternate their games to what the players want. 

Chris Avellone has some great writing chops and is just an all-around fantastic guy in person.

Valve / Gabe Newell, Naughty Dog, DICE for their responses to community requests, Bioware, and David Jaffe for both his involvement with fans and always being honest about things (Other than lying about Twisted Metal of course) without the need to sugar coat what he really thinks.

Valve / Gabe Newell, Remedy, Tim Schafer, and Peter Molyneux.

I pick Rockstar too. Oh, and Shigeru Miyamoto, of course.

Ubisoft Montreal, Team ICO, Lorne Lanning and Greg Kasavin.

" Kojima and his crew at Kojima Productions. "

Uh, wow, this is a hard question. I'm not sure how to answer this without sounding a little cheesy. But, I guess Adam Sessler, I respect him to some degree. A part of it is just the amount of experience he's had in the industry, in more mediums than just T.V.--he's a fantastic writer as well. I find his story interesting too; coming from being a banker who did a thing in public access who randomly landed a gig at Tech TV to editor-in-chief at G4, kind of a cool story.  
 
Oh, yeah, and Tim Rogers. Well, I don't as much respect as I am fascinated by him. To this date I've read nearly every one of his articles and still am intrigued by what goes on in that guy's mind. He is completely silly string.

Valve. They are my favorite developer and they excel in everything they do.

"

 He's the smarted person in the industry. "

Jeff Gerstmann and Peter Molyneux. 
 
Molyneux for his undying enthusiasm. 
 
And Jeff because he's managed to bring a little integrity to an enthusiast press that seems to think that what they do is nothing but a job, without realising that that is the reason they aren't referred to (at least not sincerely) as journalists. 

Kojima

Bioware now. 
 
Up until Activision bought them, Blizzard.

Hideo Kojima, Team ICO, Patrice Desilet (sp), Shigeru Miyamoto, Suda51... I'm probably forgetting some but those're the people and teams that come to mind :)

" thatgamecompany and fumito ueda. I heavily endorse what they are doing and their innovations "

"

 He's the smarted person in the industry. "

All the Naughty Dog people. They are so good at what they do, yet so so so very humble.
 Unlike that cocky douchebag Cliffy B...

• Blizzard
  
• Rockstar
• Hideo Kojima
• Hideki Kamiya
  
• Naughty Dog
• John Carmack
  
• Bioware
• Sam Lake (and Remedy in general)
• Ted Price
• Bungie

Team ICO, Q, and Delphine Software, for bringing me Another World for the Sega Mega Drive.  Under-appreciated work of art that was at the time.

Rockstar and Valve, because of the hard work they put into their games and their respect for their customers particularly in Valve's case. I also respect Kojima for his crazy visions and ambition for the videogame medium.

Game reviewers who give honest reviews, no matter how much shit they get for it.
 
Also big publishers who give small devs a chance, stuff like Valve hiring the Portal team and EA partners getting Shank+Deathspank out there.

BioWare, Naughty Dog, Kojima, Media Molecule, most of Nintendo, Valve (though not so much now that they seem to be making everything but HL2E3), Kojima, the guys who made Fallout 3, Clover Studios (even though they no longer exist), Suda 51, and of course, SWERY.