Opening a random page to find Phil Fish wearing a Meat Bun T-Shirt by Paul Robertson made me know that this wasn't an average attempt at gaming nostalgia. I also had forgotten he told a Japanese game maker their games just suck now in front of a live audience.
The Guinness World Records 2013 Gamer's Edition just missed my radar for Christmas, a shame because other than being filled with fun facts and trivia to annoy other gamers you also have multi-layered sections sort of like the ancient gaming magazines that are slowing going extinct.
This is less of a boring old fact book and more a trivia book that covers the deep ocean of all gaming. It goes over all the sub-categories of gaming and even explains what the different types of games that are out there. So you have sections on racing to shooters. Funny, SkullGirls even captured the start of the fighting games section, I'm interview the people behind the series as I write this. The guide also has special sections for well known series like Super Mario Bros and Final Fantasy
Did you know Sephiroth's SuperNova attack animation, clocking in at two minutes and 6 seconds, is still the longest in gaming? I didn't know EA was trying to get a satirical comedy film out there about its Madden cover curse, did you? It's little trivia tidbits like these that can strike conversations in real life or debates on-line that make it worth while. You'll also might want to check out past titles after learning something about them.
Even though records are on every page, I found the book being up to date with the current world. The writers and editors chose to talk about games coming out in the future after the release of the book. It was surprise to pick it up and start reading about the new Devil May Cry and even game still in development like a Final Fantasy game that now holds the record for being in development for so long.
It's not really a linear read, you can basically skip through to any section or just tread through it until something grabs your eye. Like I said this is a feast for the eyes as it seems like you cracked open an old issue of EGM or Nintendo Power. Underneath a giant inflatable Super Mario a man clutching stuffed plushes begs me to read why he is in this book.
The editors cleverly divided the sections on different games per seasoned video game writer. So each section has it own take on the series it's covering. It's good to have a little soul when explain the facts than merely listing top scores.
For hardcore gamers there's a whole section of top scores in the back from the well known Twin Galaxies which Guinnes World Records accepts to be the best checkers on all things video game score related. Have you seen King of Kong or any documentaries on Twin Galaxies? They sit and watch video of someone playing to make sure those scores are true.
A contest was held by Guinness on-line to see who made the top 50 villains and the top graphics so if you voted you may finally see who won.
For $10 this a great book to flip through and maybe learn something extra to win a trivia contest.
