For those of you who haven't caught the new October 08 issue of Game Developer Magazine, they recently compiled their sixth annual "Top 20 Publishers" feature. (Not to be confused with their similar Top 50 Developers feature.) Unsurprisingly enough, Nintendo took home the number one spot on the list.

The list was organized, taking data from a number of factors including number of releases, average review scores gathered through Metacritic.com, revenue from August 07 to July 08, and an exhaustive survey conducted by GD's sister website, Gamasutra.com.

The listing was as follows:

1. Nintendo
2. Electronic Arts
3. Activision
4. Ubisoft
5. Sony Computer Entertainment
6. Take Two
7. Sega
8. THQ
9. Microsoft Game Studios
10. Square Enix
11. Konami
12. Vivendi Games
13. Namco Bandai Games
14. Capcom
15. NCSoft
16. Disney Interactive Studios
17. LucasArts
18. Codemasters
19. SCi/Eidos
20. Midway

Say what you will about Nintendo's more "casual" leanings as of late, when you get down to the brass tacks, it's simple: Nintendo rules from a financial standpoint. Besides being the leader in sales in the hardware market, their own game titles are outselling just about everything any other publisher can put out. In terms of just sales, Nintendo titles sold 43% more than the number two publisher on the list, Electronic Arts.

In terms of critical acclaim, Nintendo's games the past year ranked them an overall review score of 74.52%, the sixth highest on the list. (In that department, Microsoft took the top spot with an average review score of 78.46%)

The articles is available in the October 2008 issue of Game Developer Magazine, which is out on newsstands, or a $4 digital download on their web site.