Guinness World Records 2010 Gamers Edition

LONDON (19 February 2009) - The globally-recognised authority on record-breaking achievements, Guinness World Records, is celebrating the third successful year of its Gamer’s Edition series by today giving the videogame playing public the opportunity to vote for their favourite videogame record of all time on their website www.guinnessworldreocrds.com/gamers

It has been three years since Guinness World Records introduced Gamer’s Edition, a title dedicated to the highest achievement in the videogames community. In that time they have revealed some incredible gaming records; from the truly absurd to the downright astonishing. Fascinating individuals have been highlighted and casual gamers have been provided with an insight into the mind of a hardcore gamer.

Guinness World Records Gaming Editor, Gaz Deaves, said: “We’ve drawn up a shortlist of the most popular gaming records, and now ask you to choose your favourite one. The shortlist reflects all that’s wonderful and fun about record breaking gaming; a showcase of inspiring dedication, skill, imagination, eccentricity and innovation. Oh, and there’s a few crazy ones in there too!

Here’s the shortlist:

First up is the fastest perfect completion of PAC-MAN. In January of this year Rick Fothergill (Canada) completed one of the most recognised videogames in the world in a breathtaking 3:35:43 seconds.

Next up is the legendry effort of American, Billy Mitchell, who set the highest ever recorded score on Donkey Kong (original arcade). In July 2007 Billy scored 1,050,200 points in a game that lasted 2 hours and 39 minutes.

Also in the running is 21 year old Brit, Lisa Courtney, who captured the public imagination when she revealed her astonishing collection of Pokémon memorabilia. In the last 13 years Lisa has visited Japan 5 times and amassed a collection of 12,113 items, making her the world record holder for the largest collection of Pokémon memorabilia in the world.

Fellow eccentric Brit’ Edd China also makes the shortlist with his wildly popular invention, the mobile gaming rig. He achieved the record for the fastest mobile gaming rig when it reached 57 mph (92 km/h) driving along London’s busy A40 in February 2009. He had three passengers on board at the time playing home consoles.

Choose to vote for what is literally the hottest videogame of all time. Dance Dance Immolation blasts you with flames 1,200ºC (2,192ºF) in temperature every time you make the wrong dance move. The game is the brainchild of performance art group Interpretive Arson, and debuted at The Crucible's Fire Arts Festival in Oakland, California, USA.

Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition is full of records that will leave the reader dumbfounded, but none more so than Sara Lhadi (Netherlands) who holds the record for the longest time spent playing a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Between November 2004 and October 2009 Sara spent 16,799 hours playing ‘RuneScape’. That averages out to 9 hours 20 minutes of play every single day since she started!

And now for something completely different, The House of the Dead: Overkill. The SEGA videogame holds the dubious honour of having swore its way into ‘the record book’. The House of the Dead: Overkill is the most profane video game in history. The extremely limited dialogue in its 3-hour campaign features an impressive 189 uses of the f-word, which equates to just over one per minute and means the f-word accounts for 3% of all words spoken in the game.

Arguably a more respectable record is held by the Super Mario series which is recognised as the best-selling gaming franchise in history with over 201 million copies sold.

Gaming’s first child prodigy, Victor De Leon III, aka "Lil Poison", has to be included. Victor holds the Guinness World Record for being the youngest professional gamer ever. The young American signed a contract with Major League Gaming at the age of six.

Another American on the list is Danny Johnson who recorded the highest score ever achieved on Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. 985,206 on 'Through the Fire and Flames' at Book Expo America in New York on 30 May 2009.

Finally there’s a record that most of us have attempted, but very few would have come close to; the longest survival on a 6-star wanted level on Grand Theft Auto IV. Defying police, federal agents and even a helicopter gunship complete with Gatling gun and sharpshooters, Henrik Lindholm managed to survive GTA IV’s 6-star wanted level for an incredible 16 min 16 sec. Lindholm achieved the feat at the Copenhagen E-Sports Challenge, Copenhagen, Denmark, on 13 April 2009.

To cast your vote please visit www.guinnessworldrecords.com/gamers

The people’s favourite videogame record will be revealed in the next Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition.

Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2010 is out now

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FOR MORE INFORMATION AND/OR ARTWORK PLEASE CONTACT:

International: Damian Field: +44 (0)20 7891 4518 press@guinnessworldrecords.com

US: Philip Robertson: 718 513 7268 philip.robertson@guinnessworldrecords.com

About Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records is the universally recognized authority on record-breaking achievement. First published in 1955, the annual Guinness World Records book is published in more than 100 countries and 25 languages and is one of the highest-selling books under copyright of all time with more than 3 million copies sold annually across the globe. Guinness World Records celebrated its 50th anniversary edition in 2004, a year after the sale of its 100 millionth copy. Guinness World Records also annually publishes the Gamer’s Edition; a records book devoted solely to the world of computer gaming and high score record achievements.