2008 was a bumper¹ year for videogame sales in the UK, with British consumers forking out more than £4bn (40bn yuan) on games and consoles.

Nintendo dominated the UK market, outstripping² their competitors by creating a new market for their family-based gaming systems. Existing game franchises³ 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 influential⁴ people in videogame production spoke⁵ 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 Spore⁶, predicts a merging⁷ of game worlds with reality. He can foresee a "mobile game that interacts with a GPS (global positioning system) so that where you physically⁸ play the game in the real world will have a direct effect on the game you are playing".

Paul Barnett, the creative director 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 commentators⁹ believe that games played communally¹⁰ 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.