Well on Game Dev.net I assure you that none of the populer companies are on there because they found an easy going source which saved them time and money.
The people on GameDev.NET use their own made tools and open source engines (or the ready made ones which are also free there) Its a good site to start up a game career on your own.
I was coming to that later but I still need atleast 3-4 people discussing it here.
PS: This is the independent game developer. You can check out their site, its pretty interesting.
Outside The Box Software - Computer and Online Games