What are your favorite years for video games

my favorites are  
2004 (Halo 2, GTA SA,BF:Vietnam,Half Life 2, MGS3) 
2001 (GTA3,Halo 1, MGS2, GT3, RTCW and more) 
2009 (its been an awesome year, H3ODST,Uncharted 2, MW2 coming soon, AC2, L4D2, GTA4 episodes, wolfenstein)

1996-2001. 

I would say from 2001-2005, when I had my Gamecube I think were the best gaming years of my life.

2008 was great for me.

1998, 1999 and 2007 are my favorite years.

2007.

Early to mid 90's.

I'd say 2007 solely because of Call of Duty 4.

90s.

" 2008 was great for me. "

1997 to 2006 were great years imo. when i had my PS1 / PS2. some incredible games.  2009 is a kick ass year, too. 

1998, 2007, 2009.
 
@9mmStudios: Wolfenstein was a very average game IMO. You should have games like Batman Arkham Asylum and inFAMOUS in there not run-of-the-mill FPS's.

2006 to 2008. Some of my all-time favourite games were released during this time span, and were the years that my love of video games really developed.

2004, 2005, 2007

For me, I would say that it was 2002-2004 when I got my GBA and PS2 and started playing a bunch of games. Ratchet and Clank, Golden Sun, Fire Emblem. Good times.

1986-1993.  I'm a sucker for the Commodore 64 and Amiga era. Nothing has beaten Lemmings, or the vast caves in Exile in pure original gameplay.

2007-2008 was pretty crazy, as was most of the early 90's (heck, everything in the early 90's was awesome). Other than that I'd have to say early 2000's where the PC really came into its own with FPS's and MMO's. 

1998.  Ocarina of TIme, Metal Gear Solid, and Half-Life all duked it out for game of the year, while Sega announced the DreamCast. 
2004.  Halo 2, Half-Life 2, San Andreas. 
2007.  The Orange Box, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Metroid Prime 3 Corruption, Mass Effect, BioShock, and Super Mario Galaxy.

1998.  2007 is the only other year that comes close.  
 
Honourable mention to 2000 for Deus Ex and Baldur's Gate 2.

Late 90`s for me...
Games as a whole have gone down hill since Xbox came i feel. 
Dont missunderstand me, games are still good, and technically much more so. 
But the charm, humor and sheer visions of new games are downright depressing compared to what it used to be.
 
I see people mention games like Bioshock ect. ect., and thats fine...BUT thoose games are so shallow compared to say, System shock.

The obligatory 1998
and 2001.

2001-2007
 
You had awesome games like Mario Sunshine, all three Halos, CoD 2 and 4, Metal Gear Solid 2-4, BioShock and loads of other games. Plus my wee Gamecube was around..
 
I miss that guy.