2007: The Year in Games

Join us as we take a look back at all the big stories that made 2007 one of the most exciting yet for games.

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September

With the summer behind them, many game publishers got stuck into the job of releasing games in September, and there was no bigger release than Halo 3. Supported by heavy advertising across all media and glowing reviews that praised its multiplayer modes, Halo 3 all Xbox 360 owners could think of for one week in September.

The plan worked. Halo 3 sold 3 million copies around the world in its first week, giving it what Microsoft called the biggest opening in entertainment history. Even when there were isolated problems with scratched discs inside the collector's edition of the game, Microsoft responded quickly, promising replacements as fast as possible.

Continuing the good news, Microsoft said in September that the Xbox 360 had reached another milestone, selling more than 12 million units since it was first put on sale in November 2005.

Sony, meanwhile, was concentrating on the Tokyo Game Show, which would provide not only a platform to show off some of the new games in the offing for the console but also a venue to introduce (or re-introduce) a new accessory. After putting it legal tussle with Immersion behind it earlier in the year, Sony confirmed the existence of the Dual Shock 3, which gained rumble and kept the tilt-sensing features of the Sixaxis.

Not everyone was pleased by the rest of the announcement, though, which revealed that the Dual Shock 3 would be coming to Japan only in 2007, with the US and Europe having to wait until the new year.

For some developers, the PlayStation 3 just wasn't coming along quickly enough. This year saw several publishers rethink their unwavering support of the console, instead deciding to release their games on the Xbox 360 too. Tecmo, on the other hand, went the other way, saying that its next Ninja Gaiden game, revealed in September, would be released only on the Xbox 360.

For Nintendo, the casual market was proving to be a lucrative one, but there was support for its hardcore followers too. A melding of the two came in a new Zelda game that Nintendo said would be bundled with the Wii Zapper, a new gun-like accessory for the Wii designed to simplify aiming.

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