Best Year of the Generation? We asked you which year of the current gen was your favorite for games.

December 23, 2008 - Can you believe we're entering the fourth year of this generation? Sure, the Xbox 360's 2005 jumpstart got this generation underway faster than expected, but think on this: the fourth year of a generation is traditionally when we start to hear talk of the next round of hardware. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Regardless of what you think about a particular system -- and all of them have their detractors -- this has been an astounding generation thus far. From the jaw-dropping HD beauty of Gears of War to the innovation of Super Mario Galaxy, the games of this generation have been especially significant. Best generation of games yet? That's a debate well worth having once we're playing PlayStation 4 and Wii 2 (or whatever these inevitable machines are called), but for now, let's just stick to the quality of games that have been released since the November 2005 launch of the Xbox 360.

We asked you which year you considered the best for this generation's games. Over 41,000 of you answered our poll. Here's the breakdown of your votes:

* 2008: 59.8%
* 2007: 30.2%
* 2006: 5.6%
* 2005: 4.2%



The overwhelming winner was this year. 2008 hosted some major releases like Grand Theft Auto IV, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, Animal Crossing: City Folk, and Rock Band 2. These games were flanked by interesting genre-benders, such as Mirror's Edge, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, and Prince of Persia. We'll soon know which games were the year's bestsellers, but there certainly were a number of quality games for both the hardcore and the casual in this calendar year.

If 2008 was the victor, it's unsurprising then that 2007 would come in second. This was the first full year of the Wii and PlayStation 3, and a year that saw such incredible games as Super Mario Galaxy, BioShock, Rock Band, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Halo 3, The Orange Box, Crysis, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Uncharted, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass... wait a second. Why did this year get the silver?

2006 and 2005 were expected to be at the back of the pack. This generation only occupied a little over a month of 2005. The Xbox 360 launched with an impressive number of games, but none that any reasonable gamer would expect to stand up to what would be coming in later years. The launches of the PlayStation 3 and Wii in 2006 were huge events and there were some great games, such as Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Gears of War, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. But that year was quickly eclipsed by 2007.

What year has been your favorite so far -- and which games defined that favorite year for you? Was it a major release or two that put 2008 over the top? Or maybe there is a dark horse game like 2006's Viva Pi?ata that made that year particularly special to you. Hit the comments section and tell us.