Well, the year has come and gone, and with it, our 365 — or in this case, 366 — days of posting. We’ve seen some pretty amazing stuff, gotten to play with a stack of awesome gear, and watched the site grow by leaps and bounds (we just had our biggest day ever in October). We thought we’d cap the year off with a look back at the posts that got the most heat. One thing that’s clear? People really love (or hate) Apple. Check out the top 20 of the year below, and be sure to truck over to Engadget Mobile and Engadget HD for their year-end round-ups!

Top 20 most trafficked posts of 2008 (in order)

1. Steve Jobs keynote live from WWDC 2008
2. Live from Apple’s “spotlight turns to notebooks” event
3. Live from Apple’s ‘Let’s Rock’ event in San Francisco
4. Live from Macworld 2008: Steve Jobs keynote
5. Live from Apple’s iPhone SDK press conference
6. iPhone 3G is finally official, starts at $199, available July 11th
7. The second-gen iPhone: 3G, GPS, only slightly thicker
8. iPhone 3G review
9. BlackBerry Storm review
10. Meet the T-Mobile G1
11. Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X1 QWERTY with Windows Mobile and HSUPA
12. Woman files $54m lawsuit against Best Buy for losing laptop
13. The HTC Touch Pro
14. MacBook Air review
15. Dell E and E Slim revealed, taking on Eee and Air in one fell swoop
16. Worst parents in the world punk kid into thinking he got an Xbox 360
17. T-Mobile G1 review
18. T-Mobile G1 first hands-on (updated)
19. iPhone firmware 2.0 hands-on
20. The Simpsons mocks (m)Apple

Top 20 most trafficked posts during 2008 (in order; non-2008 posts in bold)

1. Steve Jobs keynote live from WWDC 2008
2. Live from Apple’s “spotlight turns to notebooks” event
3. Live from Apple’s ‘Let’s Rock’ event in San Francisco
4. Live from Macworld 2008: Steve Jobs keynote
5. Live from Apple’s iPhone SDK press conference
6. iPhone 3G is finally official, starts at $199, available July 11th
7. The second-gen iPhone: 3G, GPS, only slightly thicker
8. HOW-TO: Get music OFF your iPod
9. iPhone 3G review
10. BlackBerry Storm review
11. Meet the T-Mobile G1
12. Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X1 QWERTY with Windows Mobile and HSUPA
13. Turn your PC into a Mac
14. HOW-TO: Get videos and DVDs onto your Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) for free
15. Woman files $54m lawsuit against Best Buy for losing laptop
16. The HTC Touch Pro
17. iPhone unlocked: AT&T loses iPhone exclusivity, August 24, 2007, 12:00PM EDT
18. MacBook Air review
19. Dell E and E Slim revealed, taking on Eee and Air in one fell swoop
20. Blu-ray vs HD DVD: State of the Division

Top 15 most trafficked posts of the year, sans Apple-only posts (in order)

1. BlackBerry Storm review
2. Meet the T-Mobile G1
3. Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X1 QWERTY with Windows Mobile and HSUPA
4. Woman files $54m lawsuit against Best Buy for losing laptop
5. The HTC Touch Pro
6. Dell E and E Slim revealed, taking on Eee and Air in one fell swoop
7. Worst parents in the world punk kid into thinking he got an Xbox 360
8. T-Mobile G1 review
9. T-Mobile G1 first hands-on (updated)
10. Little old lady suing Sony, Samsung, Nokia and everyone else for infringing on her laser patents
11. Sony gets official with PSP-3000
12. The PS3 Laptop: from Ben Heck to Engadget with love
13. Holiday Gift Guide: $1001+
14. Best Buy offers HD DVD owners $10 million in gift cards, trade in, shoulder to cry on
15. HP’s UMPC 2133 revealed

A few other interesting numbers for you:

Total posts on Engadget in 2008: 11,878
Total number of comments: 697,672 (and counting)
Average comments per post: 58.7

Combined Engadget classic, HD, and Mobile stats:

Posts: 21,880
Comments: 853,044
Average comments per post: 39.0

Filed under: Meta

Engadget’s top posts, 2008 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Fan stuff

With the last moments of 2008 quickly approaching, we wonder: Is there anything we need to promise to ourselves? You know, gaming-wise. Are there any games we know we should be playing that we never got around to? Are there games we play too much we need to get out of? So many questions surround the New Year!

Here’s one from me, I’ve never finished Half-Life 2: Episode 2. There. I said it and now it’s out there. Plan on doing it thought in 2009! What are your gaming resolutions in the New Year?

It has been a big last few days around the X3F Offices. Make sure to check out all our Game of the Year content. Starting with our individual picks (Richard, Xav, Dustin) as well as your picks for 2008.

What are your New Years gaming resolutions? originally appeared on Xbox 360 Fanboy on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever since the Dev-Team kinda sorta promised that they would have a neatly packaged iPhone 3G unlock ready for release by the year’s end, we’ve all been waiting on pins and needles, counting down the moments until freedom was in hand yet again. Now, a cryptic message on the crew’s blog has been followed up with a not-at-all secretive image (shown above), which shows that whatever magic they’ve got going on will work with the latest (v2.2) iPhone 3G firmware. According to a related writeup at yellowsn0w, we’re clearly told that the unlock tool will be made available by midnight PST at the latest, though we’re hoping those guys have their AM / PM mixed up — otherwise, you might be waiting until noontime tomorrow. At any rate, now you’ve more than a day off and black eyed peas to look forward to tomorrow, right?

[Via MobileCrunch]

Filed under: Cellphones

Dev-Team teases v2.2-compatible iPhone 3G unlock for the New Year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Contests and Giveaways

xxx Create Post - Time Stamp: Dec. 31 - 9:01pm xxx
Our dear old friends at Joystiq (contractually obligated to say that) are filthy, filthy regifters! Someone lovingly put thought into buying something for them and here they are just giving it away! What is it today, let’s check … oh, the Halo Interactive Strategy Game? Seriously? Someone actually bought that?! Oh, of course they’d give that away… why would anyone want… wait, I have to change this post.

xxx Edit Post - Time Stamp: Dec. 31 - 9:07pm xxx
Our awesome pals at Joystiq, who are never wrong when giving away quality merchandise, are giving readers one helluva chance to win an amazing prize. Check out Joystiq if you’d like to score this Halo Interactive Strategy Game! How awesome is it? Soooo awesome.

Joystiq regifts the Halo Interactive Strategy Game originally appeared on Xbox 360 Fanboy on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new report from Fudzilla claims that Microsoft is getting ready to lay off 15,000 employees, or about 17% of its worldwide staff. The axe will apparently fall on January 15th, exactly one week before its second quarter earnings report, and they expect MSN division to be hit hardest, while the successful Xbox crew will probably make it out relatively unscathed. Meanwhile, an anonymous blogger who goes by the name Mini-Microsoft and claims to be an employee well-versed in the goings-on inside the company has been fielding questions from other purported Microsoft workers on recent cutback concerns. This past Monday he posted a handful of anonymous comments saying that the rumored layoffs aren’t happening — at least not in January — although a re-organization might be in the cards. Both reports should be taken with a grain of salt, but one thing’s for certain — Windows 7 is gonna rule.

[Via Joystiq]

Read - Fudzilla report
Read - Mini-Microsoft

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Microsoft preparing for new layoffs? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Etc., Hatchbacks

There are few concoctions in the automotive industry as bonkers as the mid-engine hatchback. The concept takes the most exotic layout and wraps it in the bodywork of the most mundane and commonplace, creating a paradoxical sub-segment that makes you wonder what their designers were smoking. (Turns out it was rubber, incidentally.) And while incarnations of the mid-engined hatch are a bit of a rarity, the years have produced a considerable number of these most insane of auto types. We’re celebrating the holidays with our ten favorites, and invite you to come along in our gallery by clicking on the image below.

Top 10 Mid-Engined Hatchbacks originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: MMO, World of Warcraft

In the “dumb crook news” department comes this story over at the Middleton Town Journal web site where an Ohio teenager was arrested by police. That’s not news of course; many teens find out the hard way about “the man”. However, it becomes news to us gamers when the teen threatened to kill himself while speaking to a Blizzard phone support rep.

The unnamed teen said over the phone that “he was suicidal and that the game is the only thing he has to live for” to the Blizzard rep (the name of the Blizzard game is unnamed in the story but it’s most likely World of Warcraft). That phone rep then called the teen’s 911 number. When police got to the teen’s home the teen then said he was just trying “to get what he wanted for the game.”

That was apparently the wrong answer as the police then arrested the teen for “inducing panic” The charge is considered a first-degree misdemeanor. We are also betting his game privileges have been pulled.

[Via GamePolitics]

Teen arrested for faking suicide threats to Blizzard phone support originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News

Another PlayStation exclusive has made the jump to the Xbox 360! Don’t get too excited it’s Way of the Samurai. After selling just over 80,000 units in Japan on the PlayStation 3 in November, publisher Spike has seen fit to try its hand at an Xbox 360 release. Way of the Samurai 3 (Samurai Dou 3) is slated to release on the Xbox 360 in Japan on February 26, 2009. Developer Acquire and publisher Spike promise the Xbox version will include new elements and offer some kind of downloadable content.

[via Kotaku]

Way of the Samurai ninja-rolls to the Xbox 360 originally appeared on Xbox 360 Fanboy on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And… after a lengthy hiatus, we’re back. New Year’s Eve marks the return of Knight Rider. It’s the 9th episode, there are nine episodes left, and in a few hours we all ring in 2009. Huzzah.

Knight Rider’s New Year’s resolution is to not suck as much, so starting with next week’s episode, they’re going to try and make the show better. As if. My New Year’s resolution is to watch less Knight Rider, which NBC should make easy for me when it throws dirt on KITT after the February 25th episode.

Tonight’s episode (synopsis via Knight Rider Online):

KNIGHT FEVER: KITT may have met his match when he falls victim to a computer virus — Mike must stop the spread of a computer virus that threatens a total global meltdown. The job gets much harder when KITT is infected. Meanwhile, Mike’s jealousy begins to show when Sarah reconnects with an old flame, who may be the key to solving the latest mission.

That ticking sound you hear is the slow, steady countdown to cancellation. Go grab a beverage and meet me after the jump at 8PM Eastern.

Continue reading Knight Rider: The Liveblog - Season 1, Episode 9

Knight Rider: The Liveblog - Season 1, Episode 9 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Culture, Joyswag

Just like you, we get all sorts of gifts around the holidays here at Joystiq HQ. Probably unlike you, we don’t keep any of them (even the good ones!). With that in mind, we’ve got five days of regift giveaways planned, where you get some free stuff (and we get some of our HQ real estate back).

Today, we’re offering up this copy of the Halo Interactive Strategy Board Game. Get this, it’s a board game, based on a video game, with DVD video functionality. What will they think of next?

Here’s how you win:

• Leave a comment with your favorite Halo-inspired pick-up line (sample: “If we stick together long enough I’ll explode.”)
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)
• Limit 1 entry per person
• This entry period ends at 8:30 pm ET on Thursday, January 1st. We’ll randomly select 1 winner at that time to receive the Halo Interactive Strategy Board Game ($50). Please check your e-mail!
• For a list of complete rules, click here

Joyswag regift giveaway: Halo Interactive Strategy Board Game originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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