New gamer’s Guinness Book glorifies games from Grand Theft Auto to Metal Gear Solid
Games have grabbed our attention, and our time, ever since the first video game: SpaceWars out of MIT. Students at MIT used to wait for hours (sometimes days) for a chance to play SpaceWars, an interactive game that used up so many resources on the massive mainframe it could only be played in the wee, off hours when it wouldn’t interfere with the school’s daily workings. Gamers everywhere are finally getting recognition for their skills, companies, inventions and more in the new Guinness Book Of World Records: Gamers Edition.
SpaceWars indirectly gave rise to original computer game company, Atari Computers, when one of the regular players and students of its creator used it as inspiration. Games have held our attention and our time ever since, from Atari to the PlayStation 3, home consoles and PC games to full arcades, the world can’t get enough. It shows in the new edition, which hits a hefty 256 pages full of facts and records spanning gaming history.
Some of my favorite memories from my teen years are of playing endless hours in my local arcade, skateboard balanced against the machine as I racked up high scores in Centipede, Joust, Gauntlet and others. To see old favorites like Pole Position by Atari mentioned (first in-game ads) alongside more recent hot titles like Metal Gear Solid (getting a nod for its long cut scenes) made me smile.
The Guinnes Book of World Records: Gamers Edition works on two levels: as a complete history of gaming, and as a list of gaming records. The records themselves aren’t that exciting once you get past the “firsts” categories. It’s fun to see high scores and other stats, but in the end that isn’t why I’d recommend getting your hands on a copy of the book. I’d say this book is a must have for the gamer book shelf because it captures a picture of gaming, from start to finish, all in one place.
The Gamers Edition is getting some flak in the United States for being edited in England. This means that certain lists, like the top seller lists, are slightly different than what sells over here. It also means that some titles are different (for example, in Europe the console we know of as the Sega Genesis is known as the Mega Drive). If you can get past those very minor differences, you have a solid reference book for the gaming junkie.
Play a replica of SpaceWars here.
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26 Responses to “New gamer’s Guinness Book glorifies games from Grand Theft Auto to Metal Gear Solid”
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May 3rd, 2008
GREAT… ill get the cheaper… pirated copy of the book… XD
go on kevin.. tell me how I am no different than a sex slave trader becuase I try to save money…
go on…
May 4th, 2008
dwh,
Mate I agree with you on a lot of things you comment here, but we will differ when it comes to “pirated games”. I do not agree with the high cost of games, particularly when alot of them have a VERY short life. But look at the music industry and how it is being crippled by piracy, do we want that to happen to our beloved gaming industry? Look at crysis, they aren’t doing PC exclusive anymore due to piracy. Piracy does effect gaming.
If they put the price of games down, there may be less inclination of people to pirate or copy games.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I know that piracy is not the answer to the high cost of games. I would hate to see gaming go the way of the music/movie industry right now.
May 4th, 2008
I understand your position Spidey…
if you think that $60 is a little too much to pay for a game.. then imagine how expensive that is to people in third world countries…
$60 is half the monthly salary of an average person…
you can get a small one bedroom apartment with $60…
so you understand why I can only buy only a coupla original games a year… like MGS 4.. Assasins… GTA 4… Uncharted…
I believe… unlike the games industry has a better way of stopping piracy than the music and movie industry… because new consoles come up with new formats… which are harder to copy… and most the console owners need to have a net connection (for the Firmware updates).. so they can easilly use the net to check for pirated softwares…
Its a shame that Crytek isnt going to be PC exclusive… this means that their games are going to look graphically inferior in the console.. while the PC version looks better…
but thiis means that they make more profit.. and thats what they care about most…
and another reason I buy pirated 360 games is because… I dont know which country the shop imported the 360 from… if I wanted to buy original games.. then I would have to buy it from the same country the console was bought from…
and they dont always bring the games from a specific country….
My Assassins is from USA… Uncharted from UK and hopefully my GTA wont be from Australia…
so thats why I only buy original games for the PS3.. because they are not region locked…
ohh well… back to watching Iron Man on DVD
May 4th, 2008
I don’t care how Crytek’s games look on the consoles. As long as they look as good, if not better (not sure thats possible) on the PC, I’m happy.
May 4th, 2008
Console games is Australia range from $79 to $110 au dollars. That’s why alot of us buy imports from asia where its a whole lot cheaper (made possible by the region free of PS3)
May 4th, 2008
how do you import it??
and technically.. Australia is a part of Asia
Thank you Sony… for not being a total tight-ass with region lock…
May 4th, 2008
Australia is apart of oceania. Buy them over the internet with play-asia. Alot of Uk gamers buy from there as well (they were getting DS3 controllers) from there before being available in uk.
May 4th, 2008
Not all 360 games are region locked. Playasia.com tells you what games are and aren’t locked.
May 5th, 2008
@winner
Interesting, I didn’t know that.
May 5th, 2008
I didnt know that either…
thanks winner…
May 5th, 2008
No worries. I purchased Bioshock and Scene It from there (for about half the price you pay here) and they both worked with no problem.
May 5th, 2008
I wish they had brought out Bioshock for PS3. Loved it on PC. Sigh.
May 5th, 2008
Yeah I have played through it twice. The only bad thing about importing games is that EB Games won’t take them when trading in. I tried this with Bioshock and they wouldn’t take it. It doesn’t make sense, it’s not like it doesn’t work on Aus 360s or anything.
May 5th, 2008
How did they know it was an import. Is it packaged different? You were going to trade Bioshock…I am one of those fellas that have an “instant classics” list or keepers. Bioshock would have been one of them The others “non classics” I trade.
I learnt the hard way when I got rid of my “classics” from PS1 (when I got the orig xbox) But now I have re-aquired doom, final doom etc, ps1 games from e-bay as keepers to play on ps3.
May 5th, 2008
dwh – actually, you’re no better than the dog turd i almost stepped in yesterday. the fact you support piracy only underscores that fact.
May 5th, 2008
wow…. thats the best you could do kevin?? really??
where did it say that I support piracy… I explained why I buy pirated games…
you see the thing is… kevin… the whole world doesnt revolve around what you think… and the rest of the world cant hang around to buy games that cost as much as their rent… if there was no piracy… most of the people wouldnt even buy the 360 (thats MS losing “profit”) most of them would opt for the PS3… which has no region lock… I know the 360 has some unlocked games… but why buy a console if you cant play all the games…
so get off your high horse… pull your head out your ass… then maybe youll see that not everyone in the world is the same as you “SUPER AWESOME ULTRA COOL ETHICAL” american (If you are american)
first… handle the rest of the world’s REAL issues.. THEN lecture me about piracy.. till then keep huggin your 360 and keep telling yourself you are never wrong…
May 5th, 2008
I never said i’m never wrong, only that i’m more ethical, more honest, a truer gamer, and overall better person than you. nothing personal, i feel the same about EVERYONE that buys pirated games, movies, music, clothes, etc, etc…. and no; it’s not the “best” i could think of, but certainly the most accurate description of my opinion. the world doesn’t revolve around me, but it does have lines between right and wrong. every culture has them, really, go check. and what you’re doing is wrong. the only ones who think it’s not are the criminals themselves. if you don’t like the margins or pricing on games, find a new hobby.
May 5th, 2008
I never said that I dont think they are wrong…
I know that they are wrong… but I have no choice… I buy original PS3 games dont I??
Its not my fault that the 360 has region lock and has terrible copy protection… (its funny that a SOFWARE company cant make a decent SOFTWARE protection for their games…)
I like my hobby.. I like playing games… I dont like the margins… and yet I DO buy originals (only the REAL good ones)…
but if theres an option for me to buy cheap games… why shouldnt I???
May 5th, 2008
because the “option” is unethical. you have the “option” of walking off with merchandise in a store w/o paying. given your obvious hatred for all things MS, it just doesn’t make sense for you to go such lengths to play games on a console you hate.
May 5th, 2008
I never said I hate the 360.. I hate the fanboys who put it on a pedestal.. who claim act as if its god’s gift to the rest of the world… like most republicans….
I have to continuously keep you at bay from making retarded comments… its fanboy comments like you who bring a great system like the 360 down… and whenever I say something that doesnt praise MS.. you label me as a PS3 fanboy… if I didnt like the 360.. I wouldve thrown it our the last time it RRODed… I wouldnt have paid to get a new motherboard… idiot…
Ill play whatever games I want… Ill make copies of Halo 3 and wipe my ass with it if I care… go on… lets see what you can do…
May 5th, 2008
Yeah it’s a classic, but I doubt I will play it again. The cover looks the same, but when they scanned it their little machine started beeping and the guy told me that they can’t accept this because it’s not the Aussie version. So it seems that I am stuck with it.
What pisses me off is that EB Games and JB Hi Fi have ‘Exclusions’ when they make those ‘Trade in 3 games, get one free’ deals. I’ll never get rid of Gotham 3 and DOA4 unless I want to trade them in for 2 dollars. They don’t even sell well on Ebay.
May 5th, 2008
Ah put is aside and in a couple of years you’ll come across it and go “damn I remember that game, I ‘ll give it another bash. or maybe not
May 6th, 2008
this is classic. first darkwhitehair says he has a 360…BUT it’s a “modded” 360. Now he says it has had a RROD that MS has fixed…on a MODDED 360 that was supposedly returned from ms for being fixed. (i’m sure they didn’t notice the mod chip on the board when they fixed it, apparently). THEN he says he only buys “pirated” 360 games… and where does he buy them? from a “store”, he says. sure, everyone knows you can walk into any retailer and buy a pirate copy of games, right? THEN he babbles on about how screwed the 360 Elite owners are because of their built hd dvd players. there are no hd dvd players in the Elites. anyone else figuring out this kid is full of crap?
May 6th, 2008
ahh kevin.. how you amuse me.. hhw you dont read other peoples post properly and make up some riddiculous defense or interrogation tactic…
Did I say I sent my 360 to MS?? DID I EVER sat that?? I said I sent it to the same shop I bought it from… where they took out the motherboard from another broken 360 and put it inside mine…
I do buy my pirated games from the “store”… hey import original games if you pre-order the game (meaning pay half beforehand).. but they dont always import the games from one country..
For example… my PS3 games (Uncharted and Assassins and Fifa 08 are from three different countries)
And the store I buy them from.. they arent little suspicious stores in an alleyway… they are big stores in big shoppingmalls… why how?? because this country doesnt have a decent piracy law… and people dont see the point in paying their entire yearly worth of salary for Vista or a month’s rent for a game…
But why should you believe me?? you are stupid enough to believe that GTA 4 looks better on the 360 and that Microsoft was never sued.. BOTH PROVED WRONG.. next you’ll say that RROD is a figment of imagination…
see if you actually bothered to visit other places other than that hole in the ground.. or perhaps research it a little bit.. youll see that the rest of the world dont work the same way as your “SUPER AWESOME COOL” country does…
and the HD DVD drive is $50 NOW… what about the people who had paid $199 (or something like that) for the add ons… when the 360 first came out?? did MS reimburse them for their obsolete technology.. you probably dont know.. cus youre still hanging on to your Coleicovision… your VHS.. and your HD DVD…
see I may have lost my credibility for the pirated games I buy.. the stupid comments about Elite HD DVD drive…
but you look so much more like a retard for turning a blind eye towards MS getting sued…. GTA 4 having better graphics in 360 and claiming HD DVD drives (which are USELESS OBSOLETE HARDWARE) and still worth it.. and that you prefer hanging on to them…
Good day retard… maybe you should go back o your padded cell now…
May 6th, 2008
i’m still waiting for the judgement if ms was sued. they weren’t genius. next time don’t just read the headlines of your google searches, okay? hd dvd buyers, like beta max adopters, are out, but early adopters are always a gamble. you stil haven’t shown how dvd or hd dvd is truly dead when dvd is STILL outselling bluray by huuuuuuuge margins with NO move to bluray in the foreseeable future by consumers. heck, even with NO competition, bluray’s victory has done NOTHING for the ps3 or bluray players. the reason why i don’t want you responding to me is becuase you are too young and inexperienced the gaming scene to know anything. it’s like talking politics to a 5 year old. you have the same level of confusion. face it; IF the ps3 was as great as you claim it wouldn’t be being OUTSOLD by the compeition, ESCPECIALLY with “120 million loyal ps2 customers” sony and the fanboys hyped. but it’s not that great and the consumers know this. the gamers have chosen and the ps3 is not it.
May 6th, 2008
dwh – “people dont see the point in paying their entire yearly worth of salary for Vista or a month’s rent for a game…” – but they WILL do it for the ps3? hahahahahahaha… gawd you’re so hypocritical…this is too easy…