Guinness pours out its Top 50 Games of All Time
We wish we could write off Guinness World Records' newly published list of the all-time top 50 "console" games as a simple case of tapping one too many kegs that night. But then, the business of profiting from others' frivolous "records" was sold by the stout brewers some years ago and is today operated by the Jim Pattison Group, purveyor of the other bizarre events publication, Ripley's Believe It or Not!. Of course, a top 50 games list, while always subjective, doesn't have to be "bizarre" by nature -- this one just is.
While the list (published in full after the break) appears to start off innocently, if not entirely incorrect with "Super Mario Kart," followed by "Tetris," and then "Grand Theft Auto" in third, an adjoining explanation (in the press release) reveals -- with inaccuracy and contradiction -- that the first three selections actually represent franchises, and not single games: "As the best-selling racing game on the N64 (more than 9 million units sold), Super Mario Kart is also the best-selling racer on the SNES (8 million units), the GameCube (nearly 7 million units) and the DS (10 million units) ... In second place, the world's most ported video game, Tetris, is available on at least 59 different gaming platforms ... Third runner up, Grand Theft Auto holds the record for the most controversial series of games." Oddly, GTA is represented two more times on the list by San Andreas (#16) and Vice City (#39).
As for the remainder of the list, we are not given instructions for interpreting entries that could also be representative of entire series or just single titles (Halo, Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, etc.), though, there are plenty of games that are singled out from their respective franchises, as well (Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil 4, Final Fantasy XII, etc.). But, that's the beauty of an annual records book -- there's always room in next year's edition to rewrite the list!
Click here to see the Guinness Top 50 Games
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