Guinness World Records has released its 2011 gamer’s bible of wacky achievements, which include such feats as most swearing in a video game and most recognized character in a game.The new “Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer’s Edition,” published Thursday, features a wide variety of record holders from senior citizens to schoolchildren, demonstrating the extent to which people from all walks of life have embraced video gaming.
“Gaming has become a hugely important part of popular culture and this year's Gamer's Edition reflects just that,” said Guinness World Records Gaming Editor Gaz Deaves.
John Bates from Onalaska, Wisconsin is the oldest gamer to be included in the world records at age 85. The former high school principal became hooked on Nintendo Wii’s Bowling and went on to achieve the Most Perfect Games on Wii Sports Bowling -- 2,850.
Nine-year old Ryota Wada from Tokyo, has been recognized as the Youngest Gamer to achieve a Perfect AAA score on the music videogame Dance Dance Revolution.
Another Tokyo resident, 25-year-old Mitsugu Kikai, is recognized as having the largest collection of memorabilia related to videogame character Super Mario (5,400 items). Annie Leung from San Francisco is recognized for achieving the highest score on Guitar Hero 3 by a female (789,349 points).The book also includes the results of a poll conducted by Guinness to find the best videogame character. More than 13,000 fans of gaming voted and the top pick was Mario, of Super Mario fame. The second most popular character was Link from the popular Legend of Zelda series.
Games of every genre across all platforms are chronicled in the 2011 Gamer’s Edition.
A new addition to the book is Angry Birds, rated the “Top Paid-For Apple App Store Game.” MAG, which allows 256 players on a single game, is another newbie, and was rated “Most Online Players in a Console First Person Shooter.”
“It's been another great year for gaming, with incredible records broken, set, and created by players from all walks of life,” says Gaz Deaves, Guinness World Records Gaming Editor. “Gaming has become a hugely important part of popular culture and this year's Gamer's Edition will amaze and entertain everyone from the ultra casual to the ultra competitive.”
Guinness World Records is recognized as the universal authority on record-breaking achievements. First published in 1955, the annual edition is published in more than 100 countries and in 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 in 2004, a year after it sold its 100 millionth copy. Guinness also publishes the Gamer’s Edition annually since 2008.
Guinness Releases 2011 Gamer's Edition Video
Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer's Edition is available January 20th for a suggested retail price of $14.99.