I agree with Kitler. This is largely the year that companies themselves work on playing it safe, but those effects will resonate through the next two years, probably.
Everyone seems to have the same idea, more or less. Focus on a smaller number of better games, and also do more Wii/DS games. It's telling of a trend that will probably dominate for the rest of the generation, unless something happens very quickly in their favor (since decisions they make now will pretty much be the ones they have to stick with through 2011, and by then it's time to charge up for the next console run)
Some of the riskier projects that were further along in development were terminated (like Turok 2), but for the most part games this year will be games commissioned in the fat times of 2007, companies will just be more conservative about how they release them.
As for Nintendo: sure, you could rest on your laurels, or you could rake in what you'd be making if you did nothing, and rake in more with new products, which is just what Nintendo is doing. This year is high time for a good number of their dev teams (either in-house, wholly owned, or associate) to reveal projects, as well as the year for Motion Plus and its flagship title.
And finally: i still think that the next generation will come about as scheduled. Unless things go horribly wrong, we should be out of the recession by 2011 (not fully recovered, probably, but we'll be back to growth), so there wouldn't be too much of a problem with it. The hardware release cycle shouldn't be hindered by what's happening unless things get significantly worse, and there's no indication of that either.
Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.
