Guinness World Records 2010 Gamers Edition

**PICTURES & NEWS STORY EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01 THURSDAY 21 JANUARY 2010**

Hi-res images of Lisa Courtney posing with her Pokémon collection to accompany news story are captioned:

“21-year-old Lisa Courtney from Hertfordshire, UK, poses with her record breaking collection of Pokémon memorabilia for the launch of Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer’s Edition. At last count Lisa owned 12,113 different items. The new book is released on 21 January 2010”

21-year-old Lisa Courtney from Hertfordshire today celebrates being officially recognised as the biggest collector of Pokémon memorabilia in the world, having accumulated 12,113 different items over 13 years. Her incredible record-breaking collection, which is still growing in size, has been featured in the brand new edition of Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer’s Edition, published Thursday 21 January 2010.

On being commended for her efforts by Guinness World Records, Lisa said: “To be in the new Gamer’s Edition and to hold a world record for something you feel so passionate about is just an indescribable feeling. My family have been incredibly supportive considering the collection takes up the whole house, including my mother’s room! I’ve even named the room where my main collection resides ‘Pokémon Centre Europe!’””

Pokémon is a hugely successful videogame series published by the video game company Nintendo. Lisa’s dedication to the cause of collecting the memorabilia has seen her visit Japan 5 times, and she has another trip planned for this year.

Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer’s Edition is published Thursday 21 January 2010 and is the third instalment of the successful Gamer’s series devoted to the latest and greatest in video gaming. Guinness World Records is the globally-recognised authority on record-breaking achievements.

Notes to editors:

About Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer’s Edition

The Gamer’s Edition series, praised by critics as a ‘must have for fans of gaming’ (Kotaku.com) and ‘Gamer’s Edition has become an institution’ (The Independent) returns with its third instalment. The new edition promises to be the best yet, with more gaming records, reviews, trivia and features. Records from Gamer’s Edition 2010 include the Biggest Selling Video Game Of All Time (Wii Sports, with lifetime sales of over 46 million copies – eclipsing the previous 20 year record holder, Super Mario Bros’ 40 million copies sold). The Highest Grossing Video Arcade Of All Time (NBA Jam was released in North American arcades in 1993 and earned over $1 billion -£676,269,678- in its first year). The Longest Time Spent Playing An MMORPG (Sara Lhadi spent 16,799 hours playing Runescape between November 2004 and October 2009 – this averages out at 9 hours 20 minutes of play every single day!). The Most Played Video Game Of All Time (Snake, produced by Nokia distributed for free on mobile phone handsets is estimated to have been played by over a billion people). Most Played Online Video Game (Call of Duty 4, which has been played by over 13 million gamers on Xbox Live since its launch in November 2007). Departing from the game-by-game structure of the last two books, the new layout covers the world of gaming by genre and sub-genre, enabling the editors to pick only the strongest and most relevant records in each topic area. As well as records, Gamer’s Edition 2010 is full of interesting features such the as the Top 50 Games Of All Time as voted by our readers on the gamer’s website; Future Gaming; a profile on the doyen of Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto; How to be a Record-Breaker; the Year in Review; and of course the Twin Galaxies high scores charts that allows you to see how you compare with the best in the gaming world.

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.

-ENDS-

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND/OR ARTWORK PLEASE CONTACT:

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

Mark Collins: +44 (0)20 7891 4518 Mark.Collins@guinnessworldrecords.com