Quote:Let’s get one thing straight from the start: this is not simply a list of the highest arcade scores for Pac-Man or Q*Bert, nor is it a collection of the fastest speed runs on Halo or Doom. While such records are interesting, this list is more a celebration of the types of records which show what a cultural phenomenon gaming has become and one that celebrates the diverse characters that make up the global gaming community, with some historical landmarks, sales and technological feats, and a little bit of the bizarre thrown in for good measure.

If you’re not a fan of the words first, largest, highest or longest then this may not be the feature for you. On the other hand, if you’re keen to find out the length of the longest prison sentence handed out for playing a videogame, how big the largest collection of owned, playable gaming systems is, or just how much money the world’s top professional gamers earn, then you’ve come to the right place.

This list has been published with the approval of Guinness World Records, which compiled masses of gaming records and stats for its recently released Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2008 annual. All records were correct at the time of the book’s writing, so where wee’ve noticed something a little out of date wee’ve updated it.

Largest collection of playable gaming systems

German born journalist René Meyer has a collection of 274 playable gaming systems – the largest collection of its kind. The collection, which was exhibited at Telespiele 1972-2007 during the GC Art section of the Games Convention, in Leipzig, Germany, on 23 August 2007, includes consoles, handhelds, home computers, LCD games and educational computers.

Largest upright arcade machine

An arcade machine measuring 4.11 m (13 ft 6 in) tall, 2.84 m (9 ft 4 in) deep and 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in wide) was created by G4’s Attack of the Show! and Cinnabar and unveiled in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 9 November 2007. It weighs 680 kg (1,500 lb) and can play 150 different games on a screen measuring 1.82 m (6 ft). The man and woman in this picture are not giants - they’re standing on step ladders!

World’s first console

Wee may be in the seventh generation of gaming hardware, and things have certainly changed a little over the last 36 years, but the first generation is considered to have begun with the release of the Magnavox Odyssey back in 1972. It was a simple beast that worked through a television set and was powered by batteries. It was the world’s first console and, despite selling poorly, it started the computer and videogame revolution. By 1975 it was being distributed by Japan in Nintendo.

First PC

The original PC dates back to 1981 and was known simply as the IBM Personal Computer (Model 5150). It had a maximum memory of just 256K and used a cassette drive as storage, with a floppy drive as an optional extra. It included the first video card – the Monochrome Display Adaptor, which could only display text.

Largest handheld console party

On 12 October 2007, 381 people gathered together at a mall in Parramatta, Sydney, Australia… each one brandishing their own Nintendo DS. Switching on and powering up their favorite games, they set the record for the largest handheld console party, featuring most DS players gathered together in one location at the same time.

First console to go mobile

When the PSOne was first released in Japan in 2000, Sony released a cable allowing users to connect specific models of mobile phone for data exchange and download. Although this completely failed to take off, it was one of the first examples of online networking and data exchange using a standard home videogame console.

First console in a nuclear weapons conspiracy

In December 2000, it was reported that the FBI and US Customs were investigating the shipment of up to 4,000 PlayStation 2 console to Iraq. As they were designated videogame systems, rather than hardware, it was rumored that this allowed Saddam Hussein to avoid UN sanctions prohibiting the sale of computer hardware to Iraq. It was speculated that the consoles could be adapted for use as guidance systems for long-range missiles. The system’s come in many variations over time, but wee’ve included an older picture of one of the more chunky PS2s that early adopters, and Saddam, may have picked up.

Most powerful computing network

In March 2007 Stanford University and Sony announced that the PlayStation 3 was to join the Folding@home project. The program allows users to contribute the power of their consoles to the study of protein folding and associated diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington's, cystic fibrosis and certain forms of cancer. As of February 2008, more than one million PS3 users had registered to participate, creating the largest and most powerful distributed computing project for a games console.

Most guest stars in a videogame series

The Grand Theft Auto franchise boasts the largest cast of celebrity voice actors in a videogame series. Among those featured are Samuel L Jackson, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Madsen, Kyle MacLachlan, Ray Liotta, Chris Penn, Ice T, Axl Rose, Dennis Hopper, Robert Loggia and Burt Reynolds. GTA: San Andreas also includes the largest voice cast in a videogame, with a credited voice cast of 339 voice actors, more than any other game.

First fighting game to use combos

Street Fighter II was the first-ever fighting game to introduce the concept of the combo. This term describes a series of deadly moves that can be triggered by a combination of button techniques. The arcade version of the game also set two other fighting game records - the cabinet was the first to feature an eight-way joystick and six button controls, and the first game to offer a choice of eight different playable characters.

First female head of a games studio

Mie Kumagai, head of research and development at Sega’s Amusement Software labs, is the first female head of a computer games design studio. She was responsible for the development of the Crazy Taxi, Virtual On and Virtua Tennis series, plus the racing game Initial D Arcade Stage.

The world’s youngest professional gamer

Born on 6 May 1998, Victor De Leon III – aka LiL Poison – started gaming at the age of two, playing NBA 2K on the Dreamcast, and took part in his first competition at the age of four. Major League Gaming recruiters signed him as a Pro Gamer when he was just six, making LiL Poison the world’s youngest signed professional gamer. The kid has taken the world by storm, appearing in countless magazines and newspaper interviews, as well as a handful of television shows. A full-length documentary about his life is due for theatrical release in 2008.

Best-selling gaming platform

While the Wii may still be selling like hotcakes almost a year and a half after its release, it has a long way to go before catching up with Sony’s PlayStation 2. On 26 November 2007, seven years after the PS2 had been released in America, Sony confirmed that it was the best-selling gaming platform, with over 120 million units sold worldwide.

Largest console

Measuring 320 x 100 x 260mm, with a mass of 3.86 kg, the Xbox was heavier than the PlayStation 2, the Sega Dreamcast and the Nintendo GameCube. This was mainly due to the bulk of the internal hard drive and the large DVD-ROM drive. A section in the manual warned that a falling Xbox could cause injury! The Xbox was also the first console to provide an Ethernet port (for online play) as standard. Although the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 supported online play, they both required additional hardware to connect to a modem or router. The rest is online gaming history – Xbox Live now has over 10 million Gold subscribers.

Most computer sales

Even with minimal upgrading, approximately 30 million Commodore 64 desktop computers were sold between its release date in 1982 and its commercial decline in 1993. In March 2007, Commodore announced a return to the PC market with the release of a high specification gaming machine that features a quad core intel processor and two NVIDIA 8800 GTX 768MB graphics cards.

Highest-rated game of all time

Ocarina of Time, the fifth game in the Zelda series, is the highest-rated game of all time. The website GameRankings gives it a combined score of 97.7 percent, while on Metacritic it has a near-perfect 99 percent. Both Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker earned 40/40 from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, the only series to achieve two perfect scores. Ocarina of Time is the best-selling game in the Zelda series having shifted 7.6 million copies since being released in 1998. It was also named the best game of all time by Edge.

Highest-grossing videogame movie

The first Tomb Raider (USA, 2001) movie grossed $274,703,340 at cinemas worldwide, making it the most successful film based on a videogame. That was followed with five million video and DVD sales, a figure dwarfed by the 32 million units the Tomb Raider game series has shifted to date. The 2003 Tomb Raider movie sequel was less successful, grossing $156,505,388. Lara Croft is also, it almost goes without saying, the most recognizable female videogame character.

Lowest-grossing game-based movie

The 2005 Alone in the Dark movie, directed by Uwe Boll, is the lowest-grossing internationally released film based on a game. Although it cost around $20 million to make, the film, which starred Christian Slater, earned just $5,178,569 during its US theatrical run.

First human female videogame star

When players completed 1986’s Metroid for the Famicom within a certain time, it was revealed that Samus Aran, the armored hero they had been playing, was actually a woman. At the time of its release it was extremely unusual to feature a woman in a lead videogame role. Prior to the release of Metroid, the most high-profile female game character was Ms Pac-Man. Samus and Metroid have appeared in 18 other Nintendo games, while Metroid was the only leading Nintendo series not to appear on the Nintendo 64 console.

First Second Life millionaire

Anshe Chung (real name Ailin Graef), is an entrepreneur within Second Life. Her character was “born” on 26 March 2004 and is best known for being a virtual real estate broker. In November 2006 it was announced that she was the first person to achieve a net worth exceeding $1 million, a fact celebrated on the May 2006 cover of BusinessWeek magazine. It also earned her the moniker the Rockefeller of Second Life.

Largest free LAN party

QuakeCon takes place every year in Dallas, Texas, USA. The first was held in 1996 and attended by around 100 people including a surprise appearance by the id Software development team. It wasn't until the following year, however, that id Software took an active role in the organization of the event. The most recent event, QuakeCon 07, was attended by over 7,000 gamers, took up 6,500 m squared (70,000 ft squared) and featured two tournaments each with a cash prize of $50,000.

The first example of machinima animation

Diary of a Camper was created in 1996 by United Ranger Films, using id Software’s Quake. Machinima is a term coined in 1998 to describe the use of game engines to create animated films. Diary of a Camper tells a rather simple story, by the standards of current machinima, in which a team of marines engages in battle with a lone sniper – who turns out to be Quake co-creator John Romero.

First gaming clan to legally bind their name to a clan

On 1 February 2003 the Swedish clan SK Gaming issued contracts to several Counter-Strike players. SK Gaming was also the first western electronic sports club to receive a fee for a player, when on 18 May 2004 rival clan –Team NoA – bought Ola elemeNt Moum (born Krivopalov Evgeniy, 17 January 1986) out of his contract.

Most successful game mod ever

Counter-Strike was originally a modification of Valve’s Half-Life game. It was unveiled as a public beta on 18 June 1999 and went on to sell over 9 million retail copies worldwide on two different platforms (PC and Xbox). A game mod is a modification to an original game made by members of the public.

Highest-grossing game (one day)

On 25 September 2007 the release of Halo 3 generated $170 million worth of first-day sales in the US alone – nearly triple the $60 million Spider-Man 3 made on its first day of release. Even in its opening weekend, Spidey-3 failed to beat Halo 3, achieving “just” $151 million! The “Midnight Madness” launch at 10,000 stores made the Halo threequel the most successful entertainment launch in history.

Longest Xbox Live ban

An anonymous US gamer using the gamertag Scar managed to unwittingly download Halo 3 Epsilon, a version of the shooter used by Bungie and Microsoft to test and refine the gameplay. Scar played the game with his console connected to Xbox Live and quickly came to the attention of Microsoft. In September 2007 his gamertag and console account was eXx1l3d until 31 December 9999.

Longest game title

The longest game title was for a Japanese-only PS2 game released in 2005. It’s called White Princess the Second – Yappari Itto ni Ittemo Soujyanakutemo Ok-na Gotsugou Shugi Gakuen Renai Adventure, or in English, White Princess the Second – Love Adventure in the School That Follows the Principle of Convenience, Where It’s Okay to Stray From the Path or Stay on the Path.

First videogame to log high scores

Released in 1976, Midway’s Sea Wolf was an arcade game that simulated a submarine naval battle. Players viewed the action through a periscope mounted on the machine and fired torpedoes at enemy targets. The high-score appeared on the screen, below the current player’s score. The game was followed by Sea Wolf II in 1978.

Best-selling videogame of all time (including bundle sales)

In 1985, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. on the NES. It’s large, complex scrolling levels changed 2D platformers forever, and it remains the best-selling videogame of all time, with over 40.2 million copies sold worldwide. That’s ten million more than the second best-selling game of all time, the Game Boy version of Tetris.

Best-selling videogame of all time (excluding bundle sales)

First released in Japan in 1998, Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best-selling videogame of all time that has never been bundled with console hardware, having sold over 17.2 million copies. The fastest Super Mario Bros. 3 completion time is 11 min 03 sec, set by Freddy Anderssom on 2 July 2007.

Best-selling videogame series of all time

Total sales for the Super Mario platform games series have exceeded 145 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling videogame series of all time. Seven of the top 20 best-selling console titles of all time are Super Mario games. Every one of those seven has sold over ten million copies.

Most prolific videogame character

The character who has appeared in the largest number of videogames is Mario, created by Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, in Kyoto, Japan, in 1982. Mario has appeared in 116 distinct titles (not including remakes or re-releases). He featured in 13 new games in 2005 alone. Mario has been voiced, since 1995’s Mario’s Game Gallery, by the actor Charles Martinet, who also provides the voices of Luigi, Wario, Baby Mario and Baby Luigi.

First videogame concert

Video Games Live might be all the rage these days but it all had to start somewhere. The first live concert featuring tunes from videogames was the “Family Classic Concert” performed by the Tokyo String Music Combination Playing Group on 20 August 1987 at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The show, which was a big success, was arranged and conducted by Koichi Sugiyama, the official composer for the Dragon Quest series, and the music was taken from the soundtracks to the first two Dragon Quest games. To his many admirers, Sugiyama is affectionately known as the “Big Boss of videogame music”.

First gaming series theme park

Pokémon was the first gaming series to get its own theme park. The PokéPark was opened on 18 March 2005 in Nagoya, Japan. Attractions included the Pichu Brothers’ Rascal Railway. It closed on 25 September 2005.

Highest production budget

The game with the highest budget was Sega’s Shenmue, which cost $70,000,000 to create. It took seven years to complete and first appeared on the Sega Dreamcast in December 1999. However, it may soon be beaten by the Silicon Knights game Too Human for Xbox 360, which sources claim has already cost over $80,000,000.

Largest number of games in a single series

The largest videogame series – not including spin-offs in other genres – is the Capcom platform game series Mega Man, starring the character designed by Keiji Inafune. There are 17 games in the “classic” series starring the original character. There are also eleven Mega Man X games, four Mega Man Zero games, two Mega Man ZX games, three Mega Man Legends games, six Mega Man Battle Network games plus three Mega Man Star Force games making a total of 46.

Shortest game release

The shortest period of release for a videogame was one week, for the 1987 platform game Great Giana Sisters. Publisher Rainbow Arts was forced to withdraw it from sale pending legal action from Nintendo, because the game was a very thinly disguised copy of Super Mario Bros. (the Commodore 64 version of the game even included the tag line “the brothers are history” on the front cover). The game spread by illegal pirate copies but originals remain rare.

Largest income in professional gaming

Lim Yo-Hwan’s income is the largest in professional gaming, exceeding $390,000 in a year, including $90,000 in sponsorship. He also has the largest fan club in professional gaming, reaching some 500,000 fans. His income is likely to have dropped during 2007, however, as he was drafted into the Korean military for two-and-a-half years mandatory military service.

Most videogame accolades

Sid Meier, founder of Microprose and creator of Civilization, has won more game awards than anyone else. He was also the second person (of eleven) to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. Civilization III was named the Game of the Year for 2001 by over twelve gaming critics, with Civilization and Civilization II picking up similar accolades in their respective time-frames. Civilization IV has continued this trend, picking up Strategy Game of the Year from IGN, AIAS, Gamespy, GameSpot, 1UP and others. More awards are expected for the 2008 release Civilization Revolution.

Longest running actor in a videogame series

Joe Kucan has played the part of Kane, the villainous mastermind of the Command & Conquer series, for 14 years, from the very first game, Command & Conquer, to the latest game, Kane’s Wrath, which is based entirely around his character. He has only been absent from two of the twelve games in the series; Command & Conquer: Generals and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (for which he directed the cutscenes). By good fortune, his appearance has hardly changed over the years, making him a truly versatile character actor.

Most ported videogame

Tetris, created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Russian computer scientist at the Soviet Academy of Science, has been translated (or “ported”) to more than 55 different computer game platforms, including mobile phones. Fewer than ten copies of the Sega Megadrive version of Tetris are currently known to exist, making it one of the most sought-after videogames of all time. One complete example was recently sold to a private bidder for $8,130. The Megadrive version of Tetris is so scarce because the original release was quickly withdrawn after the game became involved in a legal battle in which the rights were eventually awarded to Nintendo.

Longest prison sentence for playing a videogame

In September 2002, the UK’s Faiz Chopdat was jailed for four months for playing Tetris on his mobile phone while on a flight home, “endangering the safety of an aircraft”. Cabin staff warned Chopdat twice to turn off the game and he was arrested on touching down in Manchester, UK.

Most actions per minute

Players of Starcraft and similar games have developed several different programs to track in-game statistics. Key to success in these games is the number of actions per minute a player can manage. A new player of Starcraft, after about a week’s play, can manage perhaps 20 actions-per-minute (APM). A pro-gamer will be looking to maintain around 180 APM, though they can reach peaks of over 1,000 APM during battles in-game. This is the equivalent of clicking a mouse or pushing a button up to 17 times every second.

Most broken bones by a sim game

Three players broke their arms on the arcade simulator Arm Sprint while testing their strength against the game’s mechanized arm. The game’s distributor, Atlus, recalled all 150 units for inspection in August 2007 as a precautionary measure. They stated: “Wee think that sometimes players get overexcited and twist their arms in an unnatural way.”

Most calories burned using a videogame

Most Dance Dance Revolution games feature a Workout Mode, which calculates the number of calories you burn as you play. According to GetUpMove.com, a person weighing about 68 kg (150 lb) will use an average of 16 calories per song, or 640 calories per hour – compared with 501 calories burned during an hour of jogging. Playing a videogame sitting down burns around 100 calories per hour, while playing Wii Sports uses up approximately 560 calories per hour. That makes DDR the most effective game for burning calories.

Longest single Metal Gear cutscene

The Metal Gear series is famous for its lengthy animated story sequences, or cutscenes. The longest single cutscene in the series lasts for 15 mins 17 secs and comes at the end of Metal Gear Solid, as Snake destroys Metal Gear Rex.

First integrated commentary system

Command & Conquer 3 on the PC has the first built-in-game commentary system. Called Battlecast, it’s designed to make it one of the pre-eminent competitive games in the modern world. Not only does it allow players to broadcast their games either live or as replays, but it also has its own show, “Battlecast Primetime”, broadcast in high-definition at commandandconquertv.com. Moreover, selected viewers can provide commentary on the match for thousands of other players and draw on the map using simple tools inspired by MS Paint and sports commentary.

Largest audience for a game competition

A total of 120,000 fans turned out to watch the final of the SKY Proleague season 2005 in an arena in Busan, South Korea. In terms of TV audiences, the South Korean OnGamerNet TV channel regularly attracts 3-4 million viewers in its peak viewing period of 6-10 pm. This places it in the top 20 Korean television shows.

First seamless 3D world in a console game

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was the first console game to present the player with a single, unbroken 3D world. Thanks to Naughty Dog’s advanced streaming technology, the game world could be explored without any loading time for areas. Even Grand Theft Auto III, released two months before Jak and Daxter, featured loading times between Liberty City’s islands. With combined sales of 7.1 million copies, the Jak and Daxter series - The Precursor Legacy, Jak II and Jak 3 - is the most successful platform game series not to be ported onto another platform.

Youngest supermarket consultant

On April 15 2000, supermarket chain Tesco announced that it had procured the services of seven-year-old Laurie Sleator from Hertfordshire, UK, to advise senior executives on the Pokémon craze sweeping the globe. His advice contributed to Tesco selling over £1 million ($1.55 million) worth of Pokémon goods over the Easter weekend. Laurie was paid in the form of Pokémon products.