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A lot has happened in the space of a single decade of gaming.

The Y2K bug fizzled into nothing as the PS2 raised itself like a mighty behemoth above the cowering Dreamcast, roaring life into the DVD age and bringing an air of maturity to the Playstation generation. The PC market floundered and Microsoft struggled to become a force in home console gaming, while Nintendo reversed its fortunes to once again rule the roost.

Out of everything that has happened over the last decade, of all the business changes, development breakthroughs and, most importantly of them all, the games, what has been the most important year for gaming since the turn of the century?

You'd be hard pressed to deny that this was the machine on top when the decade began.

2008 was certainly a great year for gaming, even if did end on a bittersweet note, with many a ruined Christmas thanks to the ruination wrought by Moneygeddon. With so many 2009 releases dropping like flies at the moment, we might not have another year like 2008 for a while, but at least we have it to thank for the massive growth of downloadable content and games, the continued rise of casual gaming's importance and the 360's New Xbox Experience, the first time a console has received a massive software and firmware retrofit.

It was also a fantastic year for sequels, with so many high profile follow-ups storming the charts; Devil May Cry 4 brought Dante to the next-gen and Ninja Gaiden II redefined the meaning of 'difficult'. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots ended the Solid Snake era, while Gears of War 2 took the fight against the Locust to a new level, Fable II gave gamers more moral choices than ever before and Saints Row 2 provided a much cheerier alternative to the grim, broken American dream of Grand Theft Auto IV.

If any year from the past decade has promised so much but delivered far less, it has to be 2003. Following the rampant, unrelenting success of the GameBoy Advance, Nintendo continued its march into handheld saturation with the SP, a clamshell-style reinvention of the GBA. Despite its much maligned front-lit lighting system and the lack of a normal headphone jack, its design and success would end up paving the way for the DS, which would finally seal the fate of the GBA and the GameBoy name. Does anyone even remember the GameBoy Micro?

From humble lightless original to the Micro, the Gameboy Advance reinforced Nintendo's dominance in the hand-held world

The Xbox was frought with problems from day one, from an overpriced launch, an oversized, unpopular controller and eventually some fire-hazard power cords, but Microsoft never gave up on its (almost literally) bulletproof black and green box. Xbox Live finally made its first strides in 2003, courting controversy over Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War having its downloadable content allegedly on the disc, rather than downloadable. The service was also very slow in adopting subscribers to its broadband-only, monthly charge system. It didn't help that 2003 was a lean year for Xbox exclusives, with Panzer Dragoon Orta, Project Gotham Racing 2 and Amped 2 being the only real must-haves.

The GameCube had its last true hurrah in 2003, as the future for the mini multiplayer purple cube was sadly grim once 2004 set in. 2003 was its finest year, with two notable big name titles attracting people: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the controversial-but-brilliant cel-shaded adventure for Link, and multiplayer mainstay Mario Kart: Double Dash. The little 'cube flourished, but its perception as a kid's console, lack of online features and dwindling numbers of games sealed its fate through the following year.