10 years later: GamesBeat’s most memorable games of 2005

Ten years ago, the game industry was going through the launch of the seventh generation of console hardware with the debut of Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Nintendo received its first serious competitor on the handheld front with the release of Sony’s PlayStation Portable. Politicians teamed up with the mainstream media to, once again, warn the masses about the corrupting influence games presented — all over a little “Hot Coffee” leak in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

I won’t try to sell you that 2005 was a “grand year of change for the game industry.” If you’ve been here long enough, you’ll realize that’s every year when discussing an industry whose only constant is change. Yet it’s still good to take a moment and reflect on where we’ve been while we’re busy trying to predict where we’re going.