For me its 2006.

2012 was a good year, it's just that a lot of the bigger ips in gaming ended up having disappointing games. 

2006 only had 6 notable games that I can think of.
Gears of War
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
New Super Mario Bros
Wii Sports
Final Fantasy XII

The only game I was a big fan of was Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Twilight Princess was good too but to me was disappointing.

It was down, but it wasn't bad. Other than The Walking Dead and Journey, and possibly Mass Effect 3 and Xenoblade, we didn't really have many -great- games that people will be talking about for years to come, but we did have some really good releases like Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Halo 4, and Dishonored. Personally, I've also enjoyed Torchlight 2 quite a bit.

Some long-standing franchises that people were really looking forward to didn't deliver critically, though, which is unfortunate.

Eventhough 2012 had Halo 4, it still was a boring and mostly dissapointing year.

2012 is easily the worst year for gaming in the past decade for me.

2010 is the best year yet with; God of War III, Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake, Heavy Rain, Halo Reach, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Bioshock 2 and more.

2013 will be even better with releases; God of War: Ascension, Bioshock Infinite, GTA V, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, Watch Dogs, Beyond Two Souls, Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, Gears of War: Judgment, Oddoworld: New 'n' Tasty, Remember Me and more. Also new consoles will be revealed and possibly released this year which is always exciting.

loved 2012, Far Cry 3, Halo 4, DOA, Mechwarrior online beta access, Mechwarrior tactics

I dunno. What came out in 2005? 2006? 2007?

i'd say Sony all starz, Starhawk, and Halo4 saved 2012, but it was the worse of the 7th gen.

2012 was quite crap tbh. Wii was dead, PS3 had ok games, but nothing like 2009-2011. 3DS had a decent start to 2012, but the holidays was a big letdown. Vita meh... 360 tbf had Halo.

Overall I agree, 2012 was one of the worst years, nothing really stood out for me. 2013 looks decent though, especially for 3DS owners! Wii U will be pushed as well, 360 and PS3 will have their last hurrah with a possibility of new console releases. It's a quite exciting year!

Disagree, 2005 was a good year.

God of War, Resident Evil 4 and Shadow of The Collousus? Or Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on PC + Xbox, Forza Motorsport, Guitar Hero, Burnout Revenge, Half-Life 2 for Xbox, Psychonauts, Gran Turismo 4. 

And stop going on about the sales of 360 vs PS3 exclusives, not only because you have nothing but rough estimates to argue with but it's incredibly tedious and off topic. 

Speak for yourself. I would say mostly for big Halo fans it was a great year. If you do not care for Halo much it was a pretty bad year. 

My favorite 360 not PS3 game was the Witchwr 2, but that was a port.

Yeah worst year holiday in gaming that is for sure.