Gamers edition of the Guiness Book of World Records

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Photo by Guinness World Records


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Used to be, when I answered my phone at work, I didn't know what toexpect. A college frat boy wanting to build the world's largest beerbong. Ashrita Furman, a guy from Brooklyn planning to break themarathon unicycle-riding record for the greater glory of his spiritualleader, Sri Chinmoy. A woman who had toilet-trained her chameleon. Iwas the associate American editor for the Guinness Book of World Records, and point man in the U.S. for would-be record-breakers.
So, two decades of gaming coverage later, you can imagine myexcitement when I heard that Guinness was publishing the inauguralvolume of Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition. This is asubstantial tome, a large-format, full-color, heavily illustrated256-page bible of electronically powered amusement. If you care aboutgaming, something here is going to fascinate you.
Know who developed the first rumble-equipped controller, or wirelesscontroller? Nintendo (N64, 1996) and Nintendo (GameCube, 2001). Thefirst fighting game to use combos (moves requiring several buttons hitin sequence)? Street Fighter II, from Capcom. The biggest LANparty ever? It was held in Jönköping, Sweden, in November 2004, when9,184 people on 8,521 machines tackled Counter-Strike simultaneously. What's the best-selling game of all time? Super Mario Bros., with more than 40 million sold (it was bundled with the NES in 1985, which boosted the game's total). The longest of Metal Gear's interminable cut scenes? The 15-minute, 17-second sequence in Metal Gear Solid when Snake destroys Metal Gear Rex.
The first game that used motion capture to create accurate movement? Prince of Persia(1989): designer/programmer Jordan Mechner filmed his brotherperforming acrobatic moves and then traced over each frame. Whichconsole is the most energy-efficient? It's the Wii, hands down (18.4watts versus 186.5 for Xbox 360 and 199.7 for PS3). Sonic the Hedgehog's original name? Mr. Needlemouse. The first in-game pizza-delivery system? That honor goes to EverQuest II (2005), which let you connect to the Pizza Hut online ordering system by typing "/pizza."
The "Most Bones Broken by a Sim Game" record listed in the book goes to an arcade machine called Arm Spirit (2007), which apparently resulted in three real-life broken arms. The first arcade machine with in-game ads? Atari's Pole Position, a 1983 racing game. And the record for the highest production budget ever goes to Shenmue("I'm looking for some sailors"), the Dreamcast title that cost areported $70 million in 1999 dollars (when a million was real money).
Of course, it's not all skittles and beer in this first edition. Forstarters, the book was edited in England, which leads to odd namingproblems for American readers (Sega's Genesis console is called by itsEuropean name, the Mega Drive, for example). There's an eight-pagesection called "2007 Chart" which, I'm guessing, is the U.K. saleschart, though it's never specified (I can't imagine that Colin McCrae: Dirtwas the 14th best-selling title in 2007 anywhere else). There are lotsof U.K. records, and references to the BAFTA awards (Britain'sequivalent to the Oscars). Yawn.
Unlike the full-fledged Guinness Book of World Records, theactual records are the least interesting part of the Gamer's Edition.There's a section in the back listing high scores, and several speedrecords for racing through games to completion. These stats don't beginto replicate the gee-whiz appeal of a guy with freakishly longfingernails, a sandwich that weighs two and a half tons, or the fastesttime for a 100-meter barefoot run on ice. The Gamer's Edition is moreinteresting for its cool facts and history than its statistics.
And as a history of gaming, there are some inexplicable holes. Where are the PC text games, the glory days of Infocom andZork?Or Roberta Williams and her groundbreaking Sierra games that broughttext and graphics together for the first time? Why no mention of the3DO system, the highest-powered, highest-priced console of the early’90s, or the unique vector-graphics-based Vectrex console? How aboutthe infamous flop that was the Atari E.T. cartridge? If you're going to devote two pages to Grand Theft Auto,wouldn't it make sense to at least mention the original version of thegame? Scottish developers created this driving shooter with a uniquetop-down aerial view inspired by the helicopter coverage of O.J.Simpson's white Bronco chase.
Sure, it could be better, but Guinness World Records: Gamer's Editionis still a fun, browsable volume well worth the $20. And if you thinkyour personal achievements are just what's needed to take this book tothe next level, the rules and regs for submitting your record are posted online.