The Year That Was 2008

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There's no denying that 2008 has been one of the best years in gaming... well, ever.

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The games have been coming all year and the last few months have seen the busiest Christmas period ever. What better time for the recession, eh? Bah humbug.

Looking back at the past 12 months shows us exactly how we've been spoilt for choice with quantity and quality...

JANUARY

2008 kicked off with a bang as the long awaited Rez HD finally showed up on Live. The port of the Sega classic gleamed with its HD lick of paint and surround sound, wowing old and new audiences. Joining it was Burnout Paradise, a fantastic sequel in the long running series that's still relevant today, thanks to the constant flow of DLC...

FEBRUARY/MARCH

The bigger releases during this traditionally quiet period were Devil May Cry 4 and Condemned 2. Both good, solid and fun games but not massive releases. Most games were cowering in fear from what was coming the following month...

APRIL

This was the big month as Grand Theft Auto IV finally hit the shelves following a six-month delay. Its effect was staggering as not only did it get the first half of the year to itself but other games scarpered, leaving GTAIV uncontested on its own. It left XBLA to another port of a classic shooter to get attention as Ikaruga dazzled a new generation of fans.

MAY

Scared of Grand Theft Auto, this month was spookily quiet. In fact, it was another platform that saw a previous 360 hit get the most attention, as Mass Effect bounded onto PC to the sound of rave reviews and minor controversy over its DRM system, which meant it could only be installed five times in its lifetime. No such worries for 360 owners...

JUNE

The games started picking up again, with Race Driver: GRID, Battlefield: Bad Company and Civilization Revolution all providing a reason to splash out the cash.

JULY

The summer gaming continued with the one-two punch of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 and Soul Calibur IV. Geometry Wars 2 caused a lot of late nights at the OXM office, while Gillen quickly ruined any potential fun in Soul Calibur by mashing out the same move over and over and over and over...

AUGUST

With Microsoft announcing the summer of XBLA, its downloadable service picked up the slack where the retail games left off. Braid and Bionic Commando: Rearmed were the strongest titles out during this period and scooped up a healthy amount of sales during this time.

SEPTEMBER

The last quiet month before the storm ahead, it gave publishers a chance to squeak out games that would have otherwise gotten lost in the shuffle - Pure and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed were the biggest titles out in this month and both were given a timely leg-up by very strong demos.

OCTOBER

Okay then, deep breath... we had Fallout 3 and Fable II providing the RPG kicks, Far Cry 2 providing shooting action, Dead Space scaring everyone, FIFA 09 putting the boot into Pro Evo and Guitar Hero: World Tour rocking out. And on XBLA, if you had any money left over, Portal: Still Alive turned up as well. Phew!

NOVEMBER

Things were quieter in November, as most games respected Gears Of War 2 and kept away from its release. Even so, there was enough room in this month for Rock Band 2 and Left 4 Dead to muscle in.

DECEMBER

The year ended with Ubisoft's platformer Prince of Persia making its Xbox 360 bow while Super Street Fighter II HD Remix provided the XBLA fisticuffs. An exhausting year for such and it'll be a long time before we see a month like October again...

Ryan King