Warning: Your once-impressive gaming achievements are about to become meaningless.
The Guinness World Records 2014: Gamer’s Edition just published, and it proves that gamers kept busy in 2013. From mind-bogglingly quick gameplay to the absolute hardest achievements in gaming, it was a year of impressive virtual feats.
Here are 10 of our favorite gaming records from the past year. Do you think you have what it takes to beat them?
1. Largest Collection of Video Games
Image: Guinness World Records
If you have a buddy who loves to "borrow" your games and never return them, introduce him to Michael Thomasson. The Buffalo, N.Y., native’s game library houses 10,607 titles for 104 different systems.
Thomasson estimates that the million-dollar collection, some of which he admits he hasn’t played yet, cost him less than $5,000.
2. Fastest Call of Duty: Black Ops II Flag Capture
As part of YouTube’s 2013 "Geek Week," gamers Roc “Outconsumer” Massaguer and Alistair “Ali-A” Aiken set a new world record — by capturing the flag in Call of Duty: Black Ops II's overflow map in one minute and 52 seconds.
The most impressive part of the feat? Massaguer did it all blindfolded, with Aiken shouting directions to him.
3. Largest Gaming Tournament
The 2013 FIFA Interactive World Cup holds the record for the largest gaming tournament, drawing in 2.5 million participants, with only 21 finalists advancing to Madrid, Spain to compete for the title.
Last year’s winner was Bruce Grannec from France, earning his second title following a prior victory in 2009.
4. First Official Fan Convention for a Video Game Character
The Summer of Sonic Convention has grown rapidly since its inception in 2008, with the 2012 convention selling all 400 tickets in just three minutes. Fans of the blue hedgehog can attend this year’s convention in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.
5. Longest Marathon With a Dance Video Game
Image: Ryan Schude, Guinness World Records
Here’s something to shame you into keeping that “stay in shape” 2014 resolution: Carrie Swidecki from Bakersfield, Calif., played Just Dance 4 for 49 hours, three minutes and 22 seconds.
In case that didn’t hit you right away, that’s almost 50 straight hours of dancing. As in, more than two whole days. Let’s all take a moment to imagine that cardio workout.
6. Best–Selling Video Game
The best-selling video game of all time isn't the latest COD or GTA — it’s Wii Sports. The family friendly title came bundled with the Wii console and sold over 81 million copies as of August 2013.
Wii also holds the best-selling sports game title (excluding bundled titles such as Wii Sports) with Wii Fit, which has sold 22.75 million copies.
7. Most People Playing Angry Birds
Sure, a lot of people enjoy the mobile game, but do you like it enough to travel to Malaysia to play one level? That's what 2,030 people did. The event, organized by Malaysia’s Nokia branch, saw 10 hours of continuous gameplay, with each participant playing one level only.
8. Fastest Completion of Batman: Arkham City
Image: Ryan Schude/Guinness World Records
Gamelengths.com lists the average game time for the latest installment in the Batman series as 23 hours.
But Sean “DarthKnight” Grayson doesn't consider himself an average player. His fastest play-through of the game was a mere two hours, three minutes and 19 seconds.
9. First Video Game in Space
The Russians beat us to this one, too. The first game in space was the Game Boy version of Tetris, packed by Cosmonaut Aleksander A. Sererbrov for his trip to the MIR Space Station. Serebov’s copy of the game sold for $1,220 in 2011.
10. Rarest Achievement in Portal 2
PC users had an extra challenge with Portal 2's “Talent Show” achievement, which has been labeled as the most difficult achievement to gain in the beloved puzzle game. Co-op players must complete the sixth chamber of the Mobility Gels co-op course without dropping a single cube.
Only 1.5% of Portal 2 PC gamers had accomplished the feat as of June 2013.
Image: Flickr, joo0ey