To wrap up the 2007 Year in Games, and forecast trends for 2008, we sat down with one of the industry’s biggest authorities, Joseph Olin, President of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. He’s been with the AIAS since 2004, and worked with video games and consumer products for 25 years. We asked him about the biggest developments in gaming this year, and some of the things we’ll see in the next 12 months. Here are Five Questions with Joseph Olin:

San Francisco - Publisher CMP Game Group's Game Developer Research division this week released a new census that found there are nearly 600 companies developing and publishing video games in the U.S. and Canada, and more than 39,700 people employed in the development or publishing of games in the U.S.

Agoura Hills, Calif. - Video game publisher THQ announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Finland-based mobile game development studio Universomo.

San Mateo, Calif. - Mobile entertainment publisher Glu Mobile announced on Wednesday a deal with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, for the rights to develop and distribute mobile games and content based on Warner Bros. properties. The deal includes films and cartoon brands like DC Comics and Hanna-Barbera. Separately, Glu said it will distribute Warner Bros. Entertainment mobile games for "Ocean's Thirteen" and "300."

New York - Mobile game developer and publisher Gameloft said on Wednesday that it has signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to publish a mobile game based on "Live Free or Die Hard," the upcoming sequel in the Bruce Willis action film series. The mobile game is slated to launch shortly before the film's theatrical release on June 27.

New York - Mobile game developer and publisher Gameloft announced on Monday an international licensing agreement with DreamWorks Animation, to create a mobile game based on the upcoming film, "Shrek the Third." The game is slated for release across 170 wireless carriers in over 75 countries.

Tokyo - NTT DoCoMo, the largest mobile network in Japan, on Monday introduced a new handset from Mitsubishi that features a motion sensor for use in controlling action in mobile games, Reuters reported. Set to ship next month in Japan, the D904i lets users swing the phone like a sword or tennis racket, similar to the remote for Nintendo's Wii video game console. NTT DoCoMo also introduced two phones from Sharp and Matsushita in its 904i series that use built-in cameras to detect motion.

Karlskrona, Sweden - Mobile entertainment developer and publisher GlobalFun announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the mobile games unit of Italy-based distributor Bryo. Financial terms were not disclosed. Sweden-based GlobalFun said the deal will give it a foothold in what it considers to be a key mobile games market in Europe.

San Francisco - Japanese game publisher Capcom Interactive said on Friday it is developing four new mobile game titles, including versions of "Mega Man II" and "Street Fighter II" for cell phones. In addition, Capcom will publish "Millionaire Music Edition," an all-music edition of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," and "Shade II," a massively multiplayer mobile game slated for release in early 2008. The other titles will become available by June.

San Francisco - Mobile game publisher Hands-On Mobile announced on Monday an agreement with Activision, to bring the popular "Guitar Hero" franchise to mobile devices. The music-based console game was first launched in 2005, and a recently released sequel was the best-selling console and handheld game in dollars for the U.S. during the month of December, according to NPD data.

Los Angeles - Japanese video game publisher Capcom Interactive announced on Thursday an agreement with mobile network operator Virgin Mobile USA, to act as the sole aggregator and manager of WAP game titles on its network. Titles offered on the Games Lite channel include "Shade," "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" and "Dope Warz."

San Jose, Calif. - Japanese mobile game publisher Namco Networks said on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to publish Japanese mobile carrier KDDI's large catalog of mobile game titles from Japanese publishers and developers in North America.

Los Angeles - Electronic Arts on Friday announced the launch of EA Sports Link, a mobile website where fans of the developer's sports games can read gaming and sports news, and connect with one another. Initially available for Cingular subscribers, EA plans to expand with other carriers in coming months. EA will also add the ability for users to trade information and challenge one another to live mobile games.

Hertzliya, Israel - Mobile game developer Vollee (formerly Game Steam) announced on Thursday that it has raised $4 million in its first round of venture capital financing, led by BlueRun Ventures with participation from Benchmark Capital.

San Francisco - Nokia announced on Monday that mobile game publisher Indiagames will supply titles for its forthcoming N-Gage mobile game platform. The platform is set to launch later this year for Nokia's Nseries multimedia computers and other Nokia S60 devices.

San Mateo, Calif. - Mobile game publisher Glu Mobile said on Thursday that it will publish a selection of mobile games and content on Nokia's forthcoming N-Gage mobile games platform. Included in the deal will be original Glu titles such as "Super K.O. Boxing" and "Ancient Empires," as well as mobile versions of titles from Atari, Microsoft, PlayFirst and PopCap Games.

Espoo, Finland - Nokia announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with Finland-based mobile operator Elisa, to conduct a six-month pilot of its new N-Gage mobile gaming service. Elisa, which counts 2.2 million subscribers, will combine its existing mobile gaming platform with the Nokia N-Gage platform and carry out intensive testing and evaluation. The N-Gage mobile gaming platform is expected to launch officially in mid-2007.

Stockholm, Sweden - Wireless network operator T-Mobile's U.K. unit has partnered with Terraplay to operate a mobile gaming service with subscription, rental and pay-per-play billing options. The service will launch with titles from ten publishers, including several multiplayer games, in addition to competitions, tournaments and user loyalty features.