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Denial, downsizing, cost-cutting, and realignment. No big surprise there.

2K Games revealed its wishes to see BioShock flourish as a franchise, with the brand's global president Christoph Hartmann comparing the series to Star Wars, hinting at the possibility of as many as five more sequels.

In early January, everyone was shocked to learn that as part of the Hearst Corporation's acquisition of 1UP.com and it's associated brands, Ziff Davis Media would be closing venerable video games magazine EGM. Later in the month EA also announced the Wii version of Dead Space in the shape of Dead Space Extraction, while Sony told us that God of War 3 was confirmed as a 2009 release. For GamePro's look at the very best games of the year, check out our awards feature here.

JANUARY

Nintendo kicked off the year with the news that Wii Sports had become the best selling game of all time. The same week we learned that Guitar Hero 3 had become the highest grossing game in history, and a gamer in China had attempted suicide by eating saw blades due to his frustrations with World of Warcraft and Starcraft.

Microsoft told us in January that there's "no new Xbox coming any time soon" while Wedbush Morgan industry analyst Michael Pachter was the first to jump on the PlayStation 3 price drop bandwagon, stating that Sony would drop the price to $299 by April. Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot slipped up during an earnings call and confirmed Red Steel 2, while voice actor Ken Lally let the world know that he was working on a new Call of Duty.

FEBRUARY

February kicked off with the news that Nintendo would be releasing both Punch Out!! and Wii Sports Resort in the first half of 2009. Foreman ... How wrong he was. While there was lots to be positive about in 2009, these were the pervasive trends that you'll see as we look back through the news stories of the past year. As you read through this two-page retrospective you'll no doubt see some of the same comments coming up again, and again, and again - particularly with regard to Sony and the need for some movement on the price of the PlayStation 3. This was soon followed by Electronic Arts announcing both Mass Effect 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Capcom revealing Dead Rising 2. Days later, Sony's Kaz Hirai made a comment that there's "no way" that the Xbox 360 would win this generation, even saying that it was "something that lacks longevity." Microsoft responded almost immediately, calling Sony both "complacent" and "out of touch." A week later, Sony posted a huge $2.9 billion loss, before Sony Europe's David Reeves (always good for a quote) stated that the company had to "suffer a little" before comparing its position to "Ali vs. We saw studios close, and we saw frequent calls to both publishers and platform-holders to be more responsive to the market. I don't say we will land a knockout blow, but we're there and we're fighting."

In the first of a number of industry downsizing moves, Electronic Arts laid off the majority of the staff at its Canadian EA Black Box studio just days before Skate 2 shipped in late January.

The month ended with a couple of accidental product confirmations. Not only were there some fantastic new IPs, like 2K Games' Gearbox-developed Borderlands, but we also finally got a superhero game worth being excited about in the shape of Eidos' Batman: Arkham Asylum, and an incredible sequel in Assassin's Creed 2. How wrong they were. In spite of this though, the most played game of 2008 was Halo 3. This was soon followed by the surprising news that despite all of the activity around the Wii, the DS, and the Xbox 360 (in particular) throughout 2008, it was actually the PlayStation 2 that had been the most played console of 2008. We're still standing, we're still profitable and there's a lot of fight in us. This news was followed later in the year with the news that the original founder of the magazine, Steve Harris, had reacquired the rights to the and would relaunch it in March 2010.

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima kicked off the year setting his sights on Western development in an effort to revamp his Kojima Productions studio, promising that he would "challenge foreign creators and software houses." He also cited Planet of the Apes as a major influence on his work, in large part due to the franchise's anti-war message.

2K Games revealed its wishes to see BioShock flourish as a franchise, with the brand's global president Christoph Hartmann comparing the series to Star Wars, hinting at the possibility of as many as five more sequels.

As Obama settled into the White House in January, we learned that, like seemingly every other American, he had bought a Wii for his family. We eventually saw this in August, but that was after eight long months of nagging, complaining, and threatening from analysts, consumers, and games publishers.

All told though, it was a very interesting year for gamers and we saw some wonderful games. Sony also went PSP crazy in early February, noting 2009 releases for Assassin's Creed, Rock Band, and a new MotorStorm game.