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2009 has been a great year for video games, and while sales have overall decreased and Modern Warfare 2 has pretty much been everywhere these last few months, here’s a look back at the top 10 most surprising things that happened in the video game world in 2009.

10: Duke Nukem Forever, 3D Realms bids farewell

Many will not count this as a surprise, but given that nothing was ever official, and that the game was in and out of development for 10 years, nobody knew how it would end. And yet, nobody expected that 3D Realms, once one of the most recognized developers in the world, would file for bankruptcy, can the project, get sued by 2K Games, counter sue 2K Games, and so on.

The outcome of this battle between 3D Realms — now only a company which manages Duke Nukem IP — and 2K Games might take years to conclude.

9: No Half Life 2: Episode 3

At this year’s E3, everyone was expecting Valve to unveil the third and final episode of Half Life 2, after all, it’s been two years since the Episode 2, and it was only a year between EP 1 and EP 2. But sure enough, there was no Episode 3 for 2009, instead, quite surprisingly, Valve announced and released Left 4 Dead 2 — a move which sparked outrage from the Left 4 Dead community, a game which was released only a year ago.

Left 4 Dead 2 didn’t bring any drastically new features compared to its predecessor, and overall it’s been a disappointing year for Valve (aside from a lot of sweet Team Fortress 2 updates).

8: PSP Go. Revealed. Released. Disappointed.

Sony finally unveiled something that was supposed to catch up to the DS, both in terms of functionality and features, and at first sight, it looked great: better screen, smaller form factor, no UMD — lots of on board storage. However, reality has been different for Sony’s new portable console, making it anything but a “best seller”. The main reason? Its price. $250. For $50 more, you can get a PlayStation 3, which features a Blu-ray player.

Gamers clearly spoke with their wallets.

7: 1UP sold, EGM shut down

Publisher Ziff Davis has struggled for the past few years, and in the beginning of 2009, it sold game portal 1UP to Hearst’s UGO Entertainment division, and, even more surprisingly, shut down Electronic Gaming Monthly, once the go-to magazine for gamers and all things game related.

The magazine was in print for 20 years, and the final issue was released in January 2009. All 30 employees from EGM were let go with the closure.

6: Wii price cut to $199

“We’re fine”, Nintendo kept insisting throughout most of 2009, but when Microsoft lowered the price on the Xbox 360, then upped the features and storage, and when Sony finally revealed a PS3 slim for only $299, Nintendo suddenly had a tough time convincing gamers to shed $250 for a Wii, which was far too underpowered, featured no multimedia capabilities, and has far less storage than its competitors.

Nintendo finally lowered the price to $199 in the second half of 2009.

5: Modern Warfare 2 PC is a pure console port

File this under “a total slap in the face for PC gamers”. Not only did Infinity Ward shock many by revealing that Modern Warfare 2 would not feature dedicated servers, it would also feature all the limitation found on the consoles. Like the 18-player limit for online multiplayer. 18. What is it, 1992? 32 players have been standard on the PC for a long time, most games even support 64 — Modern Warfare 1 supported 48.

The PC version of Modern Warfare 2 was nothing but a port from the console counterparts. A good port, one might argue, but still, 18 players? Come on…

4: Pandemic studios shut down

One of the most iconic developer studios in the world, Pandemic, was shut down by EA earlier this year, only 2 years after the company acquired Pandemic. The noted developers from Star Wars Battlefront, Mercenaries and The Saboteur were let go because EA cited that employees cost three times as much in California as in Canada, for instance.

We can understand the business side of it, but still, a sad entry to 2009.

3: Lots of studios go belly up

It wasn’t just Pandemic that was shut down in 2009, a ton of game developers had to go belly up during this troubled year. Among them, 3D Realms, Atomic Games, Midway Newcastle and San Diego, Factor 5, Empire Interactive, Deadline Games, GRIN, among others.

The bad news was topped by EA Games, which cut over 1,000 jobs, 10% of its workforce, this year. In total, analysts estimate that 12% of the workforce in the video game developer industry in North America were let go, some 6,300 jobs.

2: StarCraft 2 features no LAN support

When Blizzard revealed that StarCraft 2 would not have a LAN multiplayer feature, gamers were angry. Korean gamers were pissed. Instead of LAN, SC2 will use Battle.net, meaning the end is in sight for LAN parties. Whether the removal of LAN is a measure against piracy, or just a way of pissing off professional Korean StarCraft players, remains to be seen. No matter what, it’s a huge disappointment.

Meanwhile, the petition to add LAN to StarCraft 2 has reached almost 250,000 signatures.

1: PlayStation 3 Slim

The news was rumoring for a while, but no firm evidence was ever presented, and Sony always denied the existence of the PS3 slim. Until they confirmed it. And boy was it sweet news. The PS3 slim, not only smaller, lighter and more power efficient than the previous console, it also retailed at an all new, low price of $299.

The introduction of the PS3 slim, coupled with its price tag, officially kicked off the second leg of the current-gen console wars, and as a result, Sony is finally back in the game.