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Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008

Guitar Hero III Record Attempt Details Announced
Now Available in Europe / Coming March 11th to North America

Dust off the old axe and brush up on those hot licks! Guinness World Record's will be holding an international Guitar Hero Relay Marathon between the UK, France, US, Canada, South Africa and Australia to celebrate the release of the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. Any and all Guitar Heroes are welcome to participate, dress as their their favorite Guitar Hero, and shred in this historic record attempt! For more information, or if you'd like to submit a record to break, please visit guinnessworldrecords.com.

Although Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008 hit store shelves last week in Europe, it won't be released in North America until March 11th. Here are a few records to whet your appetite until then:

1. THE MOST VIDEO GAME 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 nine) to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Civilization III was named the game of the year for 2001 by over 12 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, Gamerdad and others. In CGW's 1996 Anniversary Edition, Civilization was chosen the #1 (of 150) Best Game of All Time. More awards are expected for the 2008 release, Civilization Revolution.

2. THE MOST SUCCESSFUL VIDEO GAME DOCUMENTARY
The most successful documentary film about a video game is the 2007 release "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters", which has so far grossed $675,000. Directed by Seth Gordon, the film follows Steve Wiebe's successful attempt to beat Billy Mitchell's Donkey Kong score. However, Mitchell went on to reclaim the record just before the film was released.

3. THE HIGHEST MARGIN OF VICTORY OVER AN AI OPPONENT
Canadian gamer Brian Sulpher played a 12-minute-per-quarter game of the SNES version of Tecmo NBA Basketball (set to the expert difficulty setting and played on normal speed) and secured a victory margin of 331 points on September 18, 2005.

4. THE LARGEST NUMBER OF GAMES IN A SINGLE SERIES
The largest video game series- not including spin-offs in other genres- is the Capcom platform games 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 11 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.

5. THE FIRST VIDEO GAME TO BE PROVEN TO IMPROVE BRAIN FUNCTION AND EFFICIENCY
In 1991, American Richard Haier of the University of California at Irvine's Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior began scanning the brains of Tetris players. Inspired by the buzz that gamers get after long-term Tetris sessions, Haier monitored cerebral glucose metabolic rates (GMR). He discovered that, with first-time players, the GMR levels soared; after daily playing for four to eight weeks, brain functioning and efficiency was significantly improved- and success rates at the game rose sevenfold!