Note: Keep it civil, have fun, and try to have a nice discussion.  And don't forget to post your 2009 year in review.

For my year in review I have to say things slowed down since last year, which is understandable since 2008 WAS the biggest year in history for the game industry.  As for the big three they all still have had a really solid year.  I'm going to make a list of big points of what each company did right and did wrong and their overall wins/losses.

Early 2009:

Wii was still pure gold, selling out hardware and software, just a great time for Nintendo even in face of global recession.  The Japanese market was hurt badly by the economy, I think that is a big factor in the reason why the handhelds are a safe haven, cheaper price, ease of use, great for day to day gaming, good game selection, and the games are cheaper.  Japan is a big issue overall but DS is dominating there and doesn't seem to be letting up, PS3 has started to make headway so some HD titles can finally beat Wii game numbers (FFXIII will be one for sure) but between the Wii still selling nicely and DS domination Japan is still Nintendo country for this year.

Overall Early 2009: Nintendo, Wii and DS dominating the world!

Summer/E3 2009:

Summer was when the Wii as a console started to show it wasn't going to sell out every week now, and it became more obvious a price cut was needed, Sony was in the same boat, PS3 sells were less than flattering, games like Killzone 2 and inFamous were nice games for fans early that year but didn't quite push the console or game sales quite to the point Sony needed, they had to drop the price but that wouldn't come till the start of fall.  360 stayed stable, but their RRoD issues were starting to come back and bite them, many news articles discussing overall reliability issues hurt the image of the 360 that will take MS a little work to repair. 

E3 itself if I had to go by who had the best show, MS won that one, that went up they entertained, and they showed off some new games with some surprises, if I had to go by new games that were announced alone Nintendo won since they announced 2 main series Mario games, a new Metroid with a new team and a different formula, the new Zelda was finally talked about in more detail, and then you had Golden Sun 3 (fuck yeah!).  I know some people will debate Sony had the best show, but it was a dud to me for the following, many of their games were already announced, nothing really new and exciting, the "leaks" killed a lot of buzz going into the show, the biggest announcements they had were a rockstar game (no footage), a new Resident Evil on the PSP (no footage), and Final Fantasy XIV which was killed by the ending tag "Online" and many people already pan FFXI.  Though Sony did have one of my favorite games of the show The Last Guardian.

Overall Summer/E3: Microsoft with their stable flow of games, excellent show, and consistant console sales.

Fall/Winter 2009:

This is where a lot of moving and shaking has happened.  Sony price has their price drops, the console comes into a reasonable range, the 360 was having some negative press with reliability issues before so it was a great time for PS3 to move into 360's market share.  And so far it has worked wonders for Sony, with a steady stream of good games to back it up, between the HD consoles Sony hit its mark.  On the other end Wii also had a price drop, with a nice increase in sales to stablize things, nice increases from previous weeks so far in the holidays but coming up short of last year which is understandable, since selling out completely is hard to top. 

Overall Fall/Winter 2009: Sony with the great exclusives (that they've been talking about for 2 years lol) coming out and having the biggest move up.

Handhelds:

Not wanting to leave this out, though it is a bit redundant, DS has only increased hardware sales (amazing), software has been non stop, and there is no end in sight, 2010 is just going to be chock full of games as well.  Thats not to say PSP hasn't had one of its best years as well, since they've had a lot of solid titles to come out this year, but they just didn't achive the steady flow of units or software like they needed.  This one is a bit clear but Nintendo has just made all the right moves with the DS and third parties have backed them up the past couple of years, which is very contrasting to the DS's slow first couple of years when third parties were put off by the interface and lack of power from the system, but it has proven to be a great handheld great for all types of gamers, and cheaper for third parties to develop on and has helped them out with the economic issues we've had.

Overall: duh... DS :P

Business of 2009:

Flat out, I'm going ahead and saying it, Nintendo wins this, but there's a lot of reasons why that is, though I will point out the issues.  Coming off a not so stellar fall 2008 Nintendo lacked the software, third parties did not adopt the Wii like they had hoped, they pushed out a lot of amazing titles really fast to appease fans, and it was all in hopes to make sure the Wii wouldn't fail, they did not expect the Wii to sell out though, and not for as long as it did even with production increases. That was probably their biggest mistake all generation, they could have easily held Smash Bros back till fall 2008 and not have been ragged on so hard by the gaming community as that excitement could carry them until E3 where all the new software was announced that could have gotten hype if presented the right way until NSMB Wii and into the releases Q1 2010.

Despite the mistakes Nintendo has made, they're still damn near flawless with the DS, Wii is still outselling the other consoles, and they're selling mounds of software.  They are doing great as far as business end goes but they'll need to get some steam in those hype trains for their 2010 lineup and try to take back the gaming community. 

Sony is still feeling it from their big mistakes made from the start of this gen, they've lost all the money they made with the PS2 and have basically blown through most if not all their PS1 profits as well, the PS3 REALLY needs to start making profit next year, I know a lot of fans will think Sony will keep giving them what they want despite the losses, but they are a business, they will try to straighten out the mess they've made, and you don't have to worry about them leaving, but next gen they'll adopt the views of Nintendo and to a point MS where they'll make their consoles less costly to produce, and easier for third parties to develop on, how this will effect the specs and what the next console will do? We may not know for a while.

MS has had a fair year just clouded with the reliability issues hurting their image pretty badly in the public opinion.  They're  still going strong, they're making profits despite losing a ton fixing consoles, and despite the bumps along the way they've kept their goals the same and it's been working to their advantage.  They too will be taking note next gen though, making sure not to skimp on the hardware testing for reliability, and know better than green light anything without this sort of testing. 

Overall Business: Nintendo

Since this year has been such a mixed bag I think it goes to both Nintendo AND Sony for different reasons.  Sony has fought and fought and finally has caught a break and trying their best to take advantage of it all the while they're probably the best company for the "core" gamer this year.  Nintendo still retains the lead on both fronts, it really can't be called a loss, and they've had some really good software offerings as well for the niche gamers like myself (madworld, Muramasa, and a lot of smaller titles) as well as their mass software like Wii Fit Plus, WSR, and New Super Mario Bros Wii.  MS should be mentioned that they've just been the steady runner this year so there really hasn't been a "loser" this year.

Overall grade for the year: A

I also give my biased vote to the PS3 - I think that the games line-up was exciting this year will Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, inFAMOUS and Ratchet and Clank.

With regards to the E3 showing, I think that Wii was outperformed by the HD consoles, with both sporting great shows.

Well of course the winner is Nintendo, one look at the sales charts is all you need to know that

I think Nintendo is the winner as far as a company goes, I think the PS3 had the best games this year, but I think Natal is the biggest known gaming thing on the horizon....besides Zelda.

All I know is Q1/Q2 of 2010....is gaming godliness.

Nintendo will always make the most profit and the best games. If only they made about 5x as many games as they actually do, then the Wii would be my favorite console, like the DS is my favorite handheld. If the Wii was HD and got all the PS360 multiplats, it would render the PS360 moot.

Sales:

Nintendo Wii: What can I said that wasn't already said? The Wii owned everything again. It wasn't even funny. Although I was a little disappointed to see that the price drop didn't have as large as an effect as I would have liked. It was still a great year for Nintendo.

Overall Grade: A+

Microsoft Xbox 360: The 360 kept a stable pulse for the whole year, despite the PS3's price drop which is impressive in itself. Microsoft may have came in 3rd this year for overall consoles sold, but that doesn't mean we have to ignore the 8 months of solid sales.

Overall Grade: B

Sony Playstation 3: It lost a lot of momentum coming into the year with only a few bright spots. However, with the Slim and a nice price drop Sony turned all of that dread into success. The sales have been amazing and its only getting trounced by the Wii. Hopefully we see it sustain itself in 2010.

Overall Grade: A

Games:

Wii: This year wasn't as big for me when it came to the software lineup for the Wii. Really I had expected better from Nintendo when they faced the anger of a lot of fans in 2008. However, it seems 2010 will rectify this. 2009 was a mediocre at best year for the Wii, with The Conduit, Muramasa, Mad World and Crystal Bearers the only things that stuck out in my mind. Hopefully Zelda turns this from mediocre to great next year.

Overall Grade: C+

Xbox 360: This year paled when compared to MS' previous years. I had really expected to be blown away with a nice choice of games for the Winter season like 2008. But alas everything got pushed back to 2010. MS did provide some good games but nothing standout. L4D2, Halo Wars, Halo ODST, are the only things that stand out exclusive wise.

However, Microsoft's Multiplat offering were top tier and shouldn't be overlooked. ACII, MW2, Batman AA and countless others made this year a solid year for MS.

Overall Grade: B-

Sony: Wow, Sales were down but the games kept pouring out. Sony first hit us with 3 awesome games at the start of the year with inFamous, Killzone 2 and MLB 09: The Show. They were tied over the summer with Multiplat offerings but the later half of the year proved to us why Sony should never be counted out. Demons Souls, Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank, Ninja Gaiden Sigma and not to mention the Japan-only games. Final Fantasy XIII, Yakuza 3, Rorona and 3D-Dot Heroes. Sony Had hands down the best offering among its competitor.

Overall Grade: A+

I give big respect to Sony for their excellent hardware redesign and their new ad campaign, which is the best they've had this generation. The PS3 is looking a lot stronger now than when the year started, and they've certainly earned it.

On the flip side, the PSP is not doing a very impressive job right now. Hardware sales are steady, but software sales are DOA. Only one PSP title charts in the top 50 sellers of '09, three titles in the top 100, and I doubt that online sales are taking up much of that slack. The Go seems to be an experiment with little appeal to the market.

Microsoft has stirred up a lot of excitement with Natal. They've been marketing the technology aggressively to developers and enthusiasts, but concrete demonstrations seem a little thin. I'm not convinced that it's going to deliver on the promises it has made, and we've seen few other notable moves from MS this year. Right now, MS is more sizzle than steak and this is reflected in its recent unit sales.

Nintendo has lost some ground. The Wii is no longer the invincible juggernaut of '07 and '08. Chinks are visible in the armor thanks to a poor release schedule and perhaps some market saturation. Even though its market share is being eroded, Nintendo is still firmly in the lead, and this page shows it all:

http://www.vgchartz.com/yearly.php

Over half of the unit sales of hardware and software are still Nintendo, and Nintendo still dwarfs all other software publishers in the world in the console and handheld markets.

Sony is making some valiant inroads, but Nintendo just hasn't made enough mistakes to cost them the 2009 crown.

This year felt like 2 years :

At the beginning the 360 was my sure favorite to win, It started strong coming from a great holiday season.
The Wii is the Wii, but was coming off a weak holiday seasons game wise, but with Wiifit, Mario Kart Wii and Wiisports, those were were enough to sustain just the incredible sale this console has been able to put up.
The PS3 was dead, articles, threads, the internet , It was dead.

But Sony kept the games coming early on and they were at high quality.

E3 came, MS had a very strong showing, Nintendo pleased its fans and Sony showed games.

Then September came, this was the event that made 2009 so great, Not ever have I seen a console expected to fail so many times brought back to life in such an amazing fashion, Let's analyze it.

Once the Slim was announced, it really wasn't seen as such a big deal, well at first even PS3 fans thought it was ugly and cheap looking. I remember some members telling us how they'd rather stick to the fat PS3. Oh,yeah, it was missing so much like Linux.

Then we started to predict how much will this cheap, ugly looking, fewer features.
The most famous I can remember was 600k for September and that was as high as it can get.

The Slim was released in The US by some retailers early, but the 360 still beat it that week, STRIKE ONE, the week of the Japanese release, it was predicted maybe 70k to 80k at most.

It sold 150k in JAPAN and close to 600k the first official week. Big victory, right, no

150k was a fluke according to a lot of people, it was obviously current PS3 owners buying back the new toy, the PS3 will be back to selling 10k back in a matter of weeks.

The PS3 slim hasn't sold under 200k since then, it has consistently sold 30k over in JAPAN since September and the REASON along with UNCHARTED that Sony has defiantly made the biggest impact this year after facing so much adversity.

Yeah even with ALL of that, that I posted, I forgot this point.  Sony E3 while being there, it was more or less by the numbers, and they had like what? 3 LONG montages of games played to Queen that seemed more like a small company presenation to their employees than a gaming company talking to the press and fans. 

MS pleased their fans and media.

Nintendo pleased the fans.

Sony was just kinda there, it was odd for me since that's not their style. :\

The thing about Sony's E3 was the fact we knew mostly everything they were going to show us or seen them. I was so pissed when they showed the same Guardian video we saw before although in better quality.

i will have to give the year to sony, yes from a financial standpoint nintendo wins, and microsoft comes in second, but sony really gave it their all this winter.

sony has gained some serious market share this season and is showing that they are not down and out just yet. I still have not been able to play all the AAA games that have come out because there is not enough time for them lol....i cant wait for next year

nice read btw