Editor's note: Welcome to the second Mob Rule feature, put together entirely by the Bitmob community. When we came up with the idea for Bitmob, we hoped it would lead to articles like this. Please keep it up! -Demian

I decided to pick up the baton from Andrew Hiscock and the first Mob Rule collaborative article, and asked my fellow Bitmob community members to finish this sentence: 2009 was the year of....

We put these joint projects together via Google Wave -- and while we may not stick with Wave forever, we will continue with these types of articles. If you want in on the fun next time, you can email me at JeffGrubb [at] gmail [dot] com for a Wave invite or ping me on Wave (at JeffGrubb@googlewave.com). As of right now, a new Mob Rule topic has not yet been chosen -- take the initiative and start one!

Enough with the pleasantries, here's the Bitmob community's take on the year 2009:

2009 was the year of...

Jon Cole says:

...the sequel.

At the beginning of the year (well, and for years before that, too!), we all decried sequels and their lack of innovation. And while plenty of franchises like Guitar Hero kept cranking 'em out, other sequels delivered plenty of innovation and refinement. Assassin's Creed 2 took what the first game hinted at and built a great game. Uncharted 2 advanced storytelling in an unprecedented fashion. Street Fighter 4 essentially reinvented the series with a tight, focused, flagship game. Halo 3: ODST took a somewhat tired storyline, reinvented it, and tweaked the gameplay in plenty of ways. Overall, it's clear that sequels don't have to be anathema to new ways of thinking; they can, instead, bridge a gap to make those changes far more painless.

On that subject, Eric Majkut says:

...Bitmob.

Exactly, all the changes on the journalism side of the industry have left a lot of people wondering what to do next. Bitmob came along and raised a banner for the community to rally around. It's not the dream job at EGM that I always wanted, but I'm still getting the chance to write alongside some folks that I've respected for a long time. And as a writer who is still in print but doesn't know how long that's going to last, it's nice to have a stable group of like-minded people to return to if it all goes to hell.

Gerard Delaney says:

...the new rise of co-op gaming.

The sheer amount of cooperative opportunities this year was amazing. Highlights included Borderlands, Resident Evil 5, Left 4 Dead 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, co-op modes in Modern Warfare 2 and ODST, Skate 2's multiplayer, and a whole half of Splosion Man, along with numerous others. Anybody have other examples I'm missing?

I noticed this trend almost immediately, because I rarely enjoy playing any competitive multiplayer games anymore. As a child of Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat, MW2's metagame is beyond me....

Chris Davidson replies to Gerard:

I think this one's a double-edged sword. Despite the increase of co-op in general, we've seen an even greater decrease in local co-op and multiplayer. I enjoy the online features, but it never beats playing in the same room as my friends. Ideally, I want to play with my friend locally in an online game, but fewer and fewer titles support that. It's bullshit, I say!

Gerard Delaney re-replies to Chris:

I don't think it's quite so bleak for local co-op. L4D2, ODST, MW2, Splosion Man, and NSMB all support local play. I agree that local multiplayer in general is disappearing, but my hope is that as we hit the tail end of this generation, developers won't have to spend quite so much time on graphics and can turn their focus to local play.

Dustin Rodgers says:

...layoffs.

How many studios cut back? Harmonix, EA, Pandemic, Grin, and many, many more. Plenty of movement within the games press as well.

Jonathan Cole replies to Dustin:

You could also argue that it's also the year of new beginnings, as many of the layoffs on the journalism side produced new ventures that I'd say are better than what they spawned from.

Daniel Feit says:

...the economic wake-up call.

It turns out the video game industry isn't as "recession-proof" as we once thought. While the resulting layoffs (both on the press and production sides) weren't pleasant, we did have a silver lining: price cuts and sliding release dates. Not only did all three major consoles drop in price, but Q4 2009 felt downright reasonable compared to the insanity of 2008. With lower costs and a more balanced release schedule ahead (Q1 2010 = best holiday season ever?), consumers should come out on top here, provided they're still employed.

Chris Whittington says:

...sweeping change.

The economy forced all forms of media to re-evaluate how they delivered content to the audience; social networking, blogs, and community-created content gained increased prominence. Game publishers turned more and more to DLC as a way to create a profitable long tail for their products. And the iPhone permanently changed portable gaming, like it or not.

Thanks to the accessibility of gaming, everyone games nowadays, whether they consider themselves an enthusiast or not.

And don't forget about the sad end of the Tony Hawk franchise. Oh, how the mighty has fallen.

Jeff Grubb says:

...the hardcore reconciling with the casual.

Hardcore gamers may not have exactly embraced the casual movement, but they at least accepted it. The irrational fear that casual games would destroy gaming has passed, and everyone realized that hardcore games can learn a lot from the casual. The iPhone gaming scene is doing a lot of things right, and has turned into a cash cow -- if not exactly a bastion of great gameplay.

Meanwhile, the release of Batman, Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Modern Warfare 2, and a dozen other hardcore games should convince serious gamers that their fear of a casual-only future wasn't warranted.

Brian Petro-Roy says:

...the cheap bastard.

Ever since I had enough disposable income to purchase my own games, I have been a buying machine, accruing new titles at a frenetic pace that easily outstripped my ability to play through them.

However, due to the economic downturn, I decided that I was finally going to take charge of my finances and started budgeting like crazy. I only bought one new release between March and October (and even that was only a $35 DS game). During that time I whittled down my backlog, replayed old games that I'd never had a chance to finish, and even borrowed games from friends like I'd done in grade school.

Even when I finally lost control in October -- I picked up six new releases with the ferocity of Krusty the Clown licking a nicotine patch -- I still did so in a bargain-hunting fashion, by taking full advantage of the "3 for 2" sales at Toys R' Us and Best Buy. I'm willing to bet I'm not alone, affirming my choice of 2009 as the year of the cheap bastard -- all those drops in game sales had to come from somewhere, right?

Derek Lavigne says:

...the deepening backlog.

2009 was full of successful sequels as well as surprisingly good first efforts. I can't remember a year with so many games that exceeded expectations to the point where I genuinely felt bad about having to miss some of them. I've always been able to throw a few games onto my pile of shame and come to peace with missing most of the rest, but knowing I may never get around to playing highly praised games like Dragon Age: Origins and Demon's Souls actually makes me wish for fewer games in 2010.