Writing a review of Guinness World Records 2013: Gamer’s Edition would be a little unfair, and perhaps disingenuous. Guinness is the finest collection of world records in print today. They have made world records a serious business, but with their Gamer’s Edition, they have proven that they know how to have some fun too.
So rather than post a “review” of the book, we will give our impressions. Here are our thoughts on everyone’s favorite records book, done gamer style.
Did you know it was possible to beat Skyrim in a little over 2 hours? Or did you know that in South Korea, it’s illegal to offer virtual items for sale in-game? These and other trivia tidbits are peppered throughout Guinness World Records 2013: Gamer’s Edition. For a gamer, GWR:GE is a perfect coffee table piece.
Loaded with records, fun facts, bios, news, sales breakdowns, statistics, polls, and history lessons. GWR:GE is more than simply the latest high scores, it’s an homage to gaming from it’s inception to the present day.
I enjoy the writing style used for GWR:GE. It’s at times campy, but mostly just light-hearted and fun. The editors have a sense of humor and seem to have a complete understanding of the nuances of what gamers would find humorous, while still keeping it clean.
Guinness partnered with Twin Galaxies to ensure that GWR:GE included accurate historical data of gaming high scores throughout the years.
The page layouts are well constructed and the included pictures are interesting. GWR:GE is designed to be family friendly, so it’s ready for easy perusal by children and grandmothers alike.
Guinness World Records Limited decided to go with a grainy paper stock for the internal pages, presumably to save money. This unfortunately leads to an overall reduction in the resolution of both images and text. It’s never a strain to read the text or determine the subject of an image, but a glossy paper would have made the appearance more classy, though surely at a higher cost to the consumer.
Still, Guinness World Records 2013: Gamer’s Edition will satisfy the gamer-geek thoroughly and will make an excellent gift or personal indulgence. And if you start practicing now, you just might make the Guinness World Records 2014: Gamer’s Edition.
Pick up your copy at Amazon here: