Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer’s Edition out today

Guinness World Records, the global authority on record-breaking, has announced the release of the new Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer’s Edition.

The oldest gamer to make the book is 85 year-old John Bates from Onalaska, Wisconsin, USA. The retired high school principal hadn’t played a video game until April 2009, but has become a huge fan of Wii Sports Bowling. He went on to achieve the ‘Most Perfect Games’ on Wii Sports Bowling (2,850).

In contrast, 9 year-old Ryota Wada from Tokyo, Japan has been recognised as the ‘Youngest Gamer to Achieve a Perfect ‘AAA’ Score on Dance Dance Revolution’.

Mitsugu Kikai (25) from Tokyo, Japan, is recognised for having the ‘Largest Collection of Super Mario Memorabilia’ (5,400 individual items), while Annie Leung (26) from San Francisco, California, USA, is featured for achieving the ‘Highest Score on Guitar Hero 3 for a Female’ (789,349 points).

Guinness World Records Gaming Editor, Gaz Deaves, said: “It’s been another great year for gaming, with incredible records broken by players from all walks of life. Gaming has become a hugely important part of popular culture and this year’s Gamer’s Edition reflects just that.”

Also revealed are the results of a poll conducted by Guinness World Records to find the Best Videogame Character of All Time. Over 13,000 gaming fans voted, revealing Mario as the winner with over 10 per cent of the vote. In second was Link from Legend of Zelda, followed by Master Chief in third. SEGA mascot Sonic had to settle for tenth place.

Nintendo characters featured eleven times in the Top 50, Sony had six entries and Capcom five.

For interviews with some of the record holders check out this video feature.

Taken as a bit of fun the Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer’s Edition sounds like an interesting coffee table book for the average gamer.