If you’re not familiar with Crystal War, the original, here’s the breakdown: Humans and goblins are in direct (and I mean direct) competition over “crystals,” apparently the most critical natural resource in this particular universe. Mining crystal has become an act of war, practically speaking. So what are you going to do? Mine crystal, of course.

There have been a lot of debates and primaries for the Republican candidates President of the United States, and there will be many more. In order to keep up with what Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul are saying and what campaign events they’re holding, Simple Tree has released Presidential Election 2012, a free app that puts all of the information in one easy-to-use app.

Skype has updated both its iPad andiPhone/iPod touch apps today, adding new features such as image stabilization (only when using rear camera), emoticons, support for Bluetooth headsets on the iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and fourth-generation iPod touch, and a fix for a security vulnerability. Unfortunately, the new Skype for iOS update also brings with it advertisements, which haven’t been present until now.

Agendus makes a pretty big promise to its users: total integration of your contacts, calendar and task list on your iPhone. It’s an enticing idea, to say the least. After all, organization helps us to get things done. Unfortunately, as with so many other big promises, Agendus falls short, mainly due to a poor user interface, an ugly design, and its bad habit of crashing.

Social News is an application focused on brining your RSS feeds to your iPhone and making it easy to keep track of those stories you want to read. It comes with a few feeds built in, but users can add the feed of any website they want. Once you have it all set up, Social News could basically be used as your only mobile RSS reader.

This week saw a surprising amount of quality 3D games hit the App Store. Plus, Apple loosened up on the internet browsers, though you likely already have Google’s fake Chrome that they snuck in a while ago. This week: Instant Motivator Free, Burning Tires 3D Lite, Action Bowling Free, Toy Tanks 3D Lite, Edge Browser and Wellness.

It’s Macworld week, possibly one of the worst weeks ever for a developer to try to get an app released during. But, as always, some made it through.

• FaceDouble Celebrity Look Alike Lite
• Cubes Free
• Ski and Snow Reports
• Mancala: FS5 (FREE)
• Jew’s Harp
• Backgrounds
• Pandora

Happy New Year! I think this year I’ll resolve to keep my iPhone’s home screens a little more organized, though, like most New Year resolutions, I doubt it’s really going to happen. And more free apps probably aren’t helping. Here’s my list to feed the habit.

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Wordplay Lite
• Travelo mini – San Francisco ‘09 featuring SOMA
• GW Helmet
• Polarize
• iSteam

We’re coming up on the end of 2008, and what a year it has been. Thanks to the introduction of the App Store, and some amazing developers, I’ve been able to provide a list of noteworthy free apps ever week. For this, I am thankful.

And just like clockwork, here is this weeks list, the last for the year 2008.

Thanks for reading.

This week, I refrained from picking any apps from the overwhelming number of flatulence related apps that all of the sudden burst onto the App Store. You’ll thank me for this later.

• iMacworld
• HP iPrint Photo
• BilliardsLite
• Chase Mobile
• Awkward Silence
• DynoBox
• Google Mobile App