2008 was a bumper year for videogame sales in the UK, with British consumers forking out more than 拢4bn (40bn yuan) on games and consoles.

Nintendo dominated the UK market, outstripping their competitors by creating a new market for their family-based gaming systems. Existing game franchises also performed well with titles such as GTA IV and Halo 3 smashing sales records on the days of their release.

So what does 2009 hold for the games industry?

Some of the most influential people in videogame production spoke to the BBC to give their predictions of where gaming might be heading over the next twelve months.

Will Wright, the creator of The Sims and Spore, predicts a merging of game worlds with reality. He can foresee a "mobile game that interacts with a GPS (global positioning system) so that where you physically play the game in the real world will have a direct effect on the game you are playing".

Paul Barnett, the creativedirector on Warhammer Online, said the industry would struggle to find a coherent identity, predicting "a continuing fight between games defining themselves as 'art', 'design' and 'entertainment'".

Some commentators believe that games played communally online by large numbers of people will become more like social-networking than game-playing.

Peter Ryan, the creator of the website which supports the Guitar Hero series of games, says, in the future, the online "community will be as critical to the overall experience of a game as the game itself".

So what do you think? What are your predictions for the future of videogames this year? If you would like to share your ideas with us, email us at chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. The best ideas could be published on the bbcchina.com website.

• release [ri´li:s]   vt&n.释放；放松；赦免   (初中英语单词)
• reality [ri´æliti]   n.现实(性)；真实；逼真   (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə]   n.指导者；....长；导演   (初中英语单词)
• series [´siəri:z]   n.连续；系列；丛书   (初中英语单词)
• influential [,influ´enʃəl]   a.有力的，有影响的   (高中英语单词)
• critical [´kritikəl]   a.批评的；关键性的   (高中英语单词)
• creator [kri:´eitə]   n.创造者；设立者   (英语四级单词)
• foresee [fɔ:´si:]   vt.预见，预知   (英语四级单词)
• physically [´fizikəli]   ad.按照自然规律   (英语四级单词)
• creative [kri:´eitiv]   a.有创造力的；创作的   (英语四级单词)
• identity [ai´dentiti]   n.身份；同一性；一致   (英语六级单词)
• guitar [gi´tɑ:]   n.吉他，六弦琴   (英语六级单词)