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We already touched on ten of the biggest disappointments of 2007, but that doesn’t mean a lot of great things didn’t occur along the way. While there are easily 20 amazing titles that came out this year, each of one being a highlight, we instead are going to take a look at some of the events that happened, rather than what we got out of it. So what great things occurred in 2007?

Companies Tackle Blogs

Yes, most of the blogs out there are PR hogwash, but the few absolutely amazing gems we received this year make it all worthwhile. The one in particular that I’d like to point out is Smash Bros. Dojo. representing the very best in marketing and keeping everyone interested. When Smash Bros. Dojo officially launched, we all groaned at the initial deluge of repeated information. But very quickly the site became a source of addiction, with daily updates usually the majority of which were actually interesting. Beyond that, Nintendo has done a great job with keeping their big title in the daily headlines. Heck, it even gave us something to write about! This is what I’d like to see more of in the future, so for the first game that really has taken full advantage of the internet, Smash Bros. Dojo was a huge highlight of 2007.

Continue on for more of the biggest surprises and highlights from this past year.

Sony’s Excellent GDC

This was really a boring year for gaming expos. E3 outdid itself in its final true year, and unfortunately all the companies overextended themselves revealing everything possibly in the pipe, even titles we probably still won’t see for several more years. Sony has been in a pretty tight spot, but their shining moment as a company, when we all actually got excited for the product was during their GDC conference. Between both Home and Little Big Planet, PS3 soon wound up on my want list. Sony had the only keynote this entire year where I actually left feeling satisfied. Unfortunately, we still won’t see either product until late 2008, so until then I sit back crossing my fingers for more price drops.

Three Red Lights

Yes it wound up on the big disappointment list, but then Microsoft wowed us all when it dropped a cool 1 billion dollars to clean up their mess and fix the problems. The warranty system is far from perfect, and their products still break, but now everyone has at least a solid three years for the Red Lights to kick in and trade up for a more functional product. Spending a huge amount of money instead of continuing to ignore the problems is definitely a highlight. It may have stung Microsoft’s wallets, but it stole our hearts.

G4 Broadcasts Live From E3

It’s about time that those of us not fortunate enough to attend E3 can at least take part in it from home, live no less. Yes, I woke up early to watch the conferences, and whipped my Tivo into shape the entire three days. Nothing wrong with live bloggings, but watching the events instead of hearing a retelling second hand sure made my day.

It wasn’t perfect, and that’s why it also earns a highlight spot. The commercial free broadcasts ended up being riddled with commercial breaks, much to our frustration. The best part of all was when Halo hit the screen and for some reason G4 decided to cut it short for a word from their sponsors. I had quite the good chuckle as thousands of Halo lovers screamed out in pain.

Nintendo Rolls In The Dough

In an unbelievably shaky industry, only one company seems to have emerged from all the crashes unscathed. While so many have fallen to rubble, the little Japanese company has taken down many corporate bad boys. Love them or hate them, Nintendo wanted to set themselves apart, instead of taking place in the technology arms race. Fortunately, they set a standard that innovation can win out sheer tech, and that’s the kind of philosophy we can all get behind. One way or the other Nintendo dominated this year with both their platforms raking in the cash hand over fist.

The company has been in this position before, and were quickly humbled. It remains to be seen how Nintendo will handle their second go, will they remain level headed or let the success get to their heads?

Halo 3 Release

I said I wasn’t going to include any games as highlights, and I’m still not going to. Halo 3 itself may not be the best game this year, but it was definitely the biggest. Without a console launch to get excited about in 2007, millions eagerly awaited the release of Halo 3, and naturally lined up for it. I can speak from experience, one of the best experiences for many in a year is waiting expectantly for their game, and finally celebrating with others at a release party. Halo 3 may not have been your game, but for all of you that waited for that one awesome title to add to your collection, this was undoubtedly a highlight for you.

Mass Acquisitions

These company turnarounds came very suddenly, and included some of the whose who in gaming. Red Octane and Harmonix caused a stir as EA and Activision lapped them up, but EA and Acitivision sure have been having quite the arms race this year. If look up an alphabetical listing of companies, most that fall in the B category have left their publishers or been absorbed. Bioware, Bizarre, Bungie, and Blizzard are the biggest four that have all recently been reshuffled. As long as their new parent companies take good care of them, and mass exoduses don’t occur, gamers shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Who may be concerned? 360 owners have lost support from a lot of companies that put out amazing first party exclusives. We may see many titles go multiplatform in the future that we once exclusives. One thing is for sure, this highlight is going to have the biggest impact in the future. And even though it’s all happened so rapidly, we are going to see a pretty big battle between Activision and EA.