So I picked up a copy off The Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008. It's quite an interesting read. Here's a few things I picked out...
The 2007 charts:
Since Halflife2.net is mainly for Half-Life, I'm going to copy out The Orange Box page. I may add others like Halo 3 and BioShock some other time. Enjoy.
This brilliant compilation is a collection of some of the most memorable first-person shooter games in recent years. The Revolutionary Half-Life and its two-part sequel, Half-Life 2, episodes one and two, follow scientist Gordon Freeman from the Black Mesa Research complex to the Orwellian environs of City 17, where he's faced with the nefarious evil of an alien entity called the Combine. All three games are immensely playable and are probably worth the price of entry on their own; however, The Orange Box has more treats. Portal, also included in The Orange Box, allows gamers to open rifts in the space-time continuum to solve mind-bending puzzles. The collection also includes Team Fortress 2, which offers all the tactical multiplayer shooting action anyone could ever want.
Then some records etc which what makes up the Book:
Fastest Half-Life 2 Speed Run
As with many other first-person shooters, Half-Life and Half-Life 2 have been used by dedicated gamers to create "speed runs" - attempts to play through as quickly as possible. The fastest complete-game Half-Life 2 speed run is 1 hr 36 min 57 secs, achieved by the "Half-Life 2 Done Quick" (HL2DQ) team on 8 March 2006.
Best-selling first-person shooter of all time (PC)
Half-Life has sold over 8 million copies since its release in 1998, making it the best-selling first-person shooter on the PC. Together with sequels and spin-offs, the franchise has sold over 16 million copies, and its narrative-inspired design has influenced subsequent generations of shooters ever since.
Largest digital distribution channel for games
Half-Life 2 was one of the most popular games available through Valve's Steam service - a digital distribution and digital rights management platform that opened in 2002. The service is now used by third-party publishers and is available in 18 languages by 13 million active users. As of September 2007, over 200 PC titles were available for purchase and download. Steam also monitors your hardware specification, allowing publishers to target games to specific customers and offer after-sale rewards. The first after-sales offer from Steam was for users with a Radeon graphics card, who were given free copies of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch.
First game to feature a Gravity Gun
In Half-Life 2, players can use the Gravity Gun to pick up virtually anything in the environment before shooting that object as a projectile. This complex functionality demonstrates the versatility and fidelity of the sophisticated Havok engine, which simulates Newtonian physics, taking into account mass, gravity, and so on, of each object in the game.
First PC game to feature developer commentary
An additional level of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast was available for download shortly after release. This level incorporates floating speech bubbles (known as commentary nodes) in the game world. Interacting with these nodes plays an audio commentary in which the developers discuss the creation of that area. The 2007 Orange Box version contains over two-and-a-half hours of commentary activated in this way.
Highest Rated Shooter By PC Gamer Magazine
Half-Life 2 recieved an incredible score of 98% from PC Gamer magazine (US edition), equalling their highest ever score (awarded to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri). In the magazine's August 2007 poll of the Top 100 games of all time, it sits at No. 3. Readers of Computer Gaming World also voted Half-Life 2 as their best game of all time in their 200th edition, and Gamespy.com awarded the game a perfect score in their review ("arguably the best first-person shooter ever"), as did the New York Times (25 November 2004).
Trivia
Best-selling PlayStation 2 video game
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City sold an unprecedented 15 million copies on the PS2. GTA: San Andreas is the third biggist selling, with 14.2 million, and GTA III fourth with 11.6 million. This string of successes also makes Grand Theft Auto the most successful video game series on the PS2.
Biggist-selling game of 2001
GTA III, the first game in the series to feature a third-person view, was the most successful video game of 2001, selling over 6 million copies by mid-2002. It won "Game of the Year" and "Excellence in Game Design" at the annual Game Developers Choice Awards. The biggist-selling game of 2002 was GTA: Vice City, with GTA III taking second place!
Most controversial video game series
Grand Theft Auto has been the most consistently controversial video game series in history. It has been accused of racism, sexism and of glorifying violence, and was publicly criticised by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Senator Hillary Clinton. American lawyer Jack Thompson has tried, unsuccessfully, to connect the games to real life murders, and in September 2006 filed a "wrongful death" lawsuit against Take Two Entertainment, Rockstar's parent company, following a shooting spress by a 16-year-old.
Most guest stars in a video game series
The Grand Theft Auto franchise boasts the largest cast of celebrity voice actors in a video game series. Among those featured are Joe Pantoliano, Michael Madson, Kyle MacLachlan, Ray Liotta, Chris Penn, Ice T, Axl Rose, Dennis Hopper, Robert Loggia and Burt Reynolds. Samuel L. Jackson who voiced Officer Tenpenny in GTA: San Andreas, even won an award for his role.
7 years - prison term given to US parole-violator Tyrone McMillan after a 55-minute, GTA-inspired police chase through New York state in 2006.
Trivia
Grand Theft Auto Speed Runs (PS2)
Most of these you probably already know, but it's still interesting.
The 2007 charts:
- Halo 3
- Super Mario Galaxy
- BioShock
- Project Gotham Racing 4
- Final Fantasy XII
- Pok?mon Diamond/Pearl
- The Orange Box
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
- Mass Effect
- Crackdown
Since Halflife2.net is mainly for Half-Life, I'm going to copy out The Orange Box page. I may add others like Halo 3 and BioShock some other time. Enjoy.
The Orange Box
This brilliant compilation is a collection of some of the most memorable first-person shooter games in recent years. The Revolutionary Half-Life and its two-part sequel, Half-Life 2, episodes one and two, follow scientist Gordon Freeman from the Black Mesa Research complex to the Orwellian environs of City 17, where he's faced with the nefarious evil of an alien entity called the Combine. All three games are immensely playable and are probably worth the price of entry on their own; however, The Orange Box has more treats. Portal, also included in The Orange Box, allows gamers to open rifts in the space-time continuum to solve mind-bending puzzles. The collection also includes Team Fortress 2, which offers all the tactical multiplayer shooting action anyone could ever want.
Then some records etc which what makes up the Book:
Fastest Half-Life 2 Speed Run
As with many other first-person shooters, Half-Life and Half-Life 2 have been used by dedicated gamers to create "speed runs" - attempts to play through as quickly as possible. The fastest complete-game Half-Life 2 speed run is 1 hr 36 min 57 secs, achieved by the "Half-Life 2 Done Quick" (HL2DQ) team on 8 March 2006.
Best-selling first-person shooter of all time (PC)
Half-Life has sold over 8 million copies since its release in 1998, making it the best-selling first-person shooter on the PC. Together with sequels and spin-offs, the franchise has sold over 16 million copies, and its narrative-inspired design has influenced subsequent generations of shooters ever since.
Largest digital distribution channel for games
Half-Life 2 was one of the most popular games available through Valve's Steam service - a digital distribution and digital rights management platform that opened in 2002. The service is now used by third-party publishers and is available in 18 languages by 13 million active users. As of September 2007, over 200 PC titles were available for purchase and download. Steam also monitors your hardware specification, allowing publishers to target games to specific customers and offer after-sale rewards. The first after-sales offer from Steam was for users with a Radeon graphics card, who were given free copies of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch.
First game to feature a Gravity Gun
In Half-Life 2, players can use the Gravity Gun to pick up virtually anything in the environment before shooting that object as a projectile. This complex functionality demonstrates the versatility and fidelity of the sophisticated Havok engine, which simulates Newtonian physics, taking into account mass, gravity, and so on, of each object in the game.
First PC game to feature developer commentary
An additional level of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast was available for download shortly after release. This level incorporates floating speech bubbles (known as commentary nodes) in the game world. Interacting with these nodes plays an audio commentary in which the developers discuss the creation of that area. The 2007 Orange Box version contains over two-and-a-half hours of commentary activated in this way.
Highest Rated Shooter By PC Gamer Magazine
Half-Life 2 recieved an incredible score of 98% from PC Gamer magazine (US edition), equalling their highest ever score (awarded to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri). In the magazine's August 2007 poll of the Top 100 games of all time, it sits at No. 3. Readers of Computer Gaming World also voted Half-Life 2 as their best game of all time in their 200th edition, and Gamespy.com awarded the game a perfect score in their review ("arguably the best first-person shooter ever"), as did the New York Times (25 November 2004).
Trivia
- Half-Life appears in season 1 of TV series Lost. Sayid's friends discuss the effectiveness of Gordon Freeman's crowbar as a weapon. As a nod to this Valve added hidden "Dharma" logos from Lost in Half-Life 2.
- The Black Mesa security office is located in Sector 7G. Coincidentally (or not), Homer Simpson is Safety Inspector for Sector 7G at Springfield's Nuclear Power Plant.
- Half-Life's script was written by Marc Laidlaw, a sci-fi author who has also written several novels. Two of them - The Orchid Eater and The 37th Mandela - can be found in Gordon Freeman's locker.
- 90 - number of awards for the Half-Life series including 51 "PC Game of the Year" ratings for the original game.
Grand Theft Auto
Best-selling PlayStation 2 video game
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City sold an unprecedented 15 million copies on the PS2. GTA: San Andreas is the third biggist selling, with 14.2 million, and GTA III fourth with 11.6 million. This string of successes also makes Grand Theft Auto the most successful video game series on the PS2.
Biggist-selling game of 2001
GTA III, the first game in the series to feature a third-person view, was the most successful video game of 2001, selling over 6 million copies by mid-2002. It won "Game of the Year" and "Excellence in Game Design" at the annual Game Developers Choice Awards. The biggist-selling game of 2002 was GTA: Vice City, with GTA III taking second place!
Most controversial video game series
Grand Theft Auto has been the most consistently controversial video game series in history. It has been accused of racism, sexism and of glorifying violence, and was publicly criticised by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Senator Hillary Clinton. American lawyer Jack Thompson has tried, unsuccessfully, to connect the games to real life murders, and in September 2006 filed a "wrongful death" lawsuit against Take Two Entertainment, Rockstar's parent company, following a shooting spress by a 16-year-old.
Most guest stars in a video game series
The Grand Theft Auto franchise boasts the largest cast of celebrity voice actors in a video game series. Among those featured are Joe Pantoliano, Michael Madson, Kyle MacLachlan, Ray Liotta, Chris Penn, Ice T, Axl Rose, Dennis Hopper, Robert Loggia and Burt Reynolds. Samuel L. Jackson who voiced Officer Tenpenny in GTA: San Andreas, even won an award for his role.
7 years - prison term given to US parole-violator Tyrone McMillan after a 55-minute, GTA-inspired police chase through New York state in 2006.
Trivia
- GTA: Vice City was heavily influenced by the Al Pacino gangster movie Scarface, and even follows the same plot lines (including a dramatic climax in a mansion house). Other gangster movies reference in the series include Carlito's Way, The Godfather and Goodfellas.
- In May 2007, Rockstar Games announced that limited pre-orders were being taken for GTA IV Special Edition. A steal at just $89.99 (69.99 in the UK), you get yourself a metal safe-deposit box filled with a keyring, a duffel bag, artwork from the game, a GTA IV soundtrack CD and a copy of the game for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.
Grand Theft Auto Speed Runs (PS2)
Game
Time
Name
GTA III (US version)1 hr 43 min 44 sec
Mike Morrow
GTA: Vice City (US)3 hr 20 min 58 sec
Shane Aukerman
GTA :San Andreas (US)7 hr 46 min
Andy Nelson
Most of these you probably already know, but it's still interesting.
