The New Year is almost upon us, but before it hits we'd like to take a look back at the jam-packed year that was 2007. The past 12 months have been absolutely loaded with big video game industry news. And if it was in the news, you can be sure that you read it here on GameDaily BIZ.

Here are the stories that we believe packed the biggest punch in 2007:

20. Atari's Woes Continue, CEO Resigns

2007 has not been kind to Infogrames' struggling U.S. division. Net losses piled up, the company had trouble securing much needed financing, and ultimately in November it decided to exit video game production completely to focus on distribution. At the same time, CEO David Pierce stepped down.

Earlier this month, Atari got some good news finally in that it settled its license dispute over Dragon Ball Z and was able to increase it credit line with BlueBay from $10 million to $14 million. Nevertheless, Atari is by no means out of the woods yet.

19. David Jaffe Goes Indie and Cory Barlog Leaves SCEA

Because of the blockbuster success of God of War and his outspoken nature, David Jaffe has become a popular industry figure in recent years. However, when word broke that he was leaving SCEA to form his own studio and that was soon followed up by news of God of War II game director Cory Barlog's departure, one had to wonder about the future of the popular Sony franchise. Sony is not worried, however: "Moving forward, we are confident in the God of War team, as they are an extremely talented group of people that are passionate about the franchise and dedicated to creating even more epic content with God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP and God of War III for PS3."

Furthermore, in a recent interview with GameDaily BIZ, Jaffe revealed that the team has his notes (his "master plan") for what direction he would have taken Kratos – now it's up to them to use his ideas.

18. Silicon Knights Sues Epic Games Over Unreal Engine

Lawsuits in the video game industry aren't that uncommon, but the one dispute that made the biggest splash this year was that of Silicon Knights (SK) vs. Epic Games. The creators of the upcoming Xbox 360 trilogy Too Human claimed that they were provided with Unreal Engine 3 far too late and that what they were given was "inadequate" because Epic was holding onto key components of its tech for its own Gears of War. Epic then filed a counterclaim, which accused SK of misappropriating Epic's technology. Most recently, Epic's motion to dismiss the SK suit was denied, so litigation will proceed.

Of course, the outcome of this suit may be hugely important to the industry, as Epic's Unreal middleware is used by many developers on numerous game projects. The legal battle also generated its own high level of interest simply because Epic VP Mark Rein and SK President Denis Dyack are both individuals who like to speak their minds. This will be one to watch in 2008.

17. Take-Two's Eibeler Ousted, New Board Seizes Control

With the "Hot Coffee" scandal, a stock options scandal and numerous other problems, investors in Take-Two Interactive had more than they could stand. Back in March, many of the company's major investors decided to seize control of the company, change the company's board of directors and oust Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler.

New management has already made some progress, streamlining operations, unloading Joytech, and narrowing losses. Some analysts, however, are still skeptical of the turnaround capabilities of Take-Two's new management.

16. Grand Theft Auto IV Pushed into 2008

It was supposed to have been one of the biggest releases of the 2007 holiday season, and then in August Take-Two sprung the news on us that the game would require additional development time. Not only did it take away one of the key titles from the huge fall lineup, perhaps giving Halo 3 even more of the glory, but it also hit Take-Two pretty hard. Take-Two was forced to reduce its revenue guidance for the financial year to a range of $950 million to $1 billion with a net loss in the range of $2.10 a share to $2.20 a share. Prior to moving GTA IV, the company had forecast revenue in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.25 billion and roughly break even on earnings.

The company's cash reserves also fell to $61.62 million by the end of July, down from $138.15 million at the end of January, and the Fall release of the game was something investors had been counting on to boost the bottom line. Luckily for Take-Two, BioShock was a blockbuster success, softening the blow of the GTA IV delay somewhat, as 2K Boston's masterpiece shipped over two million units since its release in August.