Developers can sometimes have very good years. The NWR Award for Developer of the Year goes to the group that put out the best game (or games) during 2006 for play on a Nintendo console (or consoles). Such an award should not be seen as the pinnacle of a game developer's history, but rather a sign saying to keep it up!

This may seem like a cop-out. I mean, we are a Nintendo-only website. But no, time and time again Nintendo seems to create quality game releases, no matter the platform or situation. That's not to say that Nintendo doesn't come out with their fair share of disappointments (because they do), but the good stuff makes up for it, especially this year. Besides, how can we not honor Nintendo's development teams for Zelda: Twilight Princess? Eiji Aonuma, Koji Kondo, Shigeru Miyamoto and the rest of Team Twilight very much deserve to be declared the best development team of 2006.

Runner-up: iNiS

The vote wasn't a runaway, actually. Team Ouendan was leading until Link came to the rescue late in the game. Keiichi Yano and the iNiS boys sure know how to put together a music game. They know how to improve upon one too, as Elite Beat Agents has some very good improvements over its Japanese descendant. Being second-best behind Nintendo isn't so bad, so iNiS should take heart in the fact that we consider them the second-best developer of the year—or better said, the winner of the Best Developer That Didn't Develop Zelda Award. Way to go!