(+2 rating, 2 votes) Microsoft’s Major Nelson released Xbox Live statistics for 2008, revealing that Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 were the most played games online, and that Castle Crashers was the top seller on Xbox Live Marketplace. In the top five, Gears of War 2 and GTA IV were the only games published in 2008 that made the list. Full lists after the jump.
(+2 rating, 2 votes) Good Old Games, the DRM-free online source for classic PC games, announced that it has added several of Revolution Software’s adventure games from the popular Broken Sword series. The first games to be available on the site include Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror and Broken Sword 3: The Sleeping Dragon. Also available from GOG and Revolution Software are the classic point-and-click adventure games Beneath a Steel Sky and Lure of the Temptress.
All of these games retail for $5.99 each and are fully compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista. Find out more at gog.com. It’s as good a way to ring in the new year as any, my friends. Now if only they would bring Gothic 2 into the fold..
(+5 rating, 5 votes) 
(Contributors: Victor Lucas - Electric Playground, Adam Oldakowski - Managing Director GOG.com, Hal Halpin - ECA President, Tom Ohle - CD Projekt RED, Rich Carlson - Digital Eel, Eric Holmes - Radical Entertainment, and Game Trust members Evan Narcisse, Gus Mastrapa, David Chapman and James Fudge)
On the eve of 2009, Crispy Gamer is proud to present to you the Top 21 News Stories of 2008. We have chosen what we believe are the top news stories of year, though deciding on which were the very best proved to be an exercise in compromise, because there were so many interesting and powerful choices this year.
We watched the interactive entertainment industry grow - and then later - retract as the global economy wreaked havoc on every kind of business you can imagine; players got their first taste of WiiWare, Home and the New Xbox Experience; we watched as the big three slugged it out for North American supremacy in the latest round of console wars and we saw Blizzard dust off its classic franchises and move million of copies of its Lich King expansion. To quote that Dickens’ classic: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
2008 was not without its fair share of triumphs, disappointments, joys and sorrow. Here are the stories that moved us, made us angry, scared us and made us think about the industry we cover.
We begin at the very bottom of the pile until we climb to the glorious #1 news story of the year. So it opens with Top News Story #21.
(+3 rating, 3 votes) (Contributors: Adam Oldakowski - Managing Director GOG.com, Hal Halpin - ECA President, Tom Ohle - CD Projekt RED, Rich Carlson - Digital Eel, Eric Holmes - Radical Entertainment, and Game Trust members Evan Narcisse, Gus Mastrapa, David Chapman and James Fudge)
Crispy Gamer wraps up its Top 21 News Stories of 2008 with our top 7 news stories. See what stories were the most interesting and had the most impact on the game industry and gamers in 2008. We start with #7 right now. Also be sure to check out #8 - 14 and #15 - 21, if you haven’t already.
(+2 rating, 2 votes) (Contributors: Tom Ohle - CD Projekt RED, Rich Carlson - Digital Eel, Eric Holmes - Radical Entertainment, and Game Trust members Evan Narcisse, Gus Mastrapa, David Chapman and James Fudge)
We continue our countdown of the Top 21 News Stories of 2008, with #14 - #7, starting now. If you missed the first part of our countdown featuring David Chapman, James Fudge and ECA President Hal Halpin, you can check it out right here.
(+5 rating, 5 votes) 
Mightier does something that not too many games have had the courage to do: use connected devices as central components for gameplay. Mightier does this in a way that is almost seamless, so that it doesn’t feel clunky or stupid. In the game ypou play as the Actionaut, a special character that surveys the environment looking for special objects called Datagons. Unfortunately, the little explorer can only jump one level and the only way to get to them is to use an orbital laser to carve out plates that are locked into the planet’s crust.
Using a connected web cam and printer, players interact with the game in the real world. This is accomplished by using your printer to print out a schematic, which you then draw on, and rescan back into the game using a connected web cam. For those that want to experience the game without all the connected device interaction, the game offers an in-game doodle pad, but to play the game that way cheapens the entire experience. You can also draw on gear and other objects you pick up in the game and you can also design your Actionaut’s look.
It’s an interesting concept, and though the gameplay isn’t all that deep, it’s free, tries to be innovative, and is oodles of fun for a little while.
Download Mightier directly from www.ratloop.com. Appropriately, Mightier has been nominated for the 2009 IGF.
(+2 rating, 4 votes) 
All is calm, all is bright. I hope you’re enjoying your vacation time, assuming you are one of those lucky folks that gets it during this time of year. For the rest of us, onward and upward as we slither into 2009…
