In case you didn't know, the Book of Records or Guinness World Records has a section dedicated to games and in this year's edition the iPhone and the AppStore officially enter history. The editor of the gamer version of Guinness World Records decided to mention some records broken by the iPhone and the AppStore in 2011, but we are not talking about recent things, but about events that have happened since the launch of the iPhone/AppStore until now. Guinness World Records 2011 Gamer's Edition it is called the edition in which you will find these records and below you have the mentions made:
Largest Launch Line-up of Any Gaming System - When the Apple store launched on July 10, 2008, it featured over 500 apps including 145 games. For folks who remember the PS3 launch, there were less than 30 titles. – The largest number of applications available at the launch of an online application store. On July 10, 2008, the AppStore was launched with over 500 applications, 145 of which were games.
Fastest-Selling Portable Gaming System - The iPhone 4 is estimated to have sold 1.5 million units on the first day it was available, compared to 200,000 PSP units sold on launch date. – The best-selling portable gaming system and here we are talking about the iPhone 4 which is considered by them to be such a device. They compare the 1.5 million orders for the iPhone 4 with only 200.000 orders for the PSP.
Largest Downloadable Video Game Store - There are over 37,000 games available in the App Store. There are 1300 Xbox Live Arcade titles and about 600 Wii titles available for download. – The largest game store available for download. Guinness says that there are more than 37.000 games available in the AppStore, comparing the figures with the statistics from Xbox Live Arcade where there are 1300 games plus another 600 for the Wii.
Top Paid-For App Store Game in Most Countries - Angry Birds has been recognized as the top paid-for game in Apple's App Store in 67 territories worldwide and has sold over 6.5 million copies. - The best-selling game in most countries where there is an AppStore and here Angry Birds wins the award because it was on the 1st place in the top of the most bought applications in 67 AppStores and recorded 6.5 million sales.
Fastest-Selling iPhone/iPod Strategy Game – Plants vs. Zombies (PopCap, 2010): With more than 300,000 paid downloads in its first nine days on sale in February 2010, PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies for the iPhone and iPod Touch is the highest-grossing strategy game launch in the history of Apple's App Store. Despite retailing at a pocket-money price of just $2.99, the tower defense title generated a cool $1 million for PopCap in a little more than a week. – The game that sold the fastest, Plants vs Zombies, which registered over 300.000 purchases in just 9 days after publication.
Although their comparisons seem a little forced to me, the iPhone and the AppStore enter the record book. What I have presented to you here represents only some of the most important records, below are the rest.
Most Popular Application Marketplace - Apple App Store: With over 6.5 billion downloads since its launch in July 2008, the Apple App Store is the most popular downloadable app service in the world. As of September 2010 it hosts 259,470 apps for purchase of free download (a further 50,000 apps that were once available through the service have been discontinued). Of the apps currently available, 61 are flatulence simulators, a genre that includes such masterpieces as Fart Machine, Fart Ocarina and iFart – Epic Rip Edition.
Most Popular iPhone Game Series – Tap Tap Revenge (Tapulous, 2008): The Tap Tap Revenge series of music rhythm games is the most popular in App Store history, having been downloaded more than 15 million times since the first game in the series was released in July 2008. Market research firm comScore reports that the games have been installed by 32% of all iPhone/iPad users. Tap Tap Revenge 3, which was released in October 2009, hit #1 in the App Store in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Singapore and the Netherlands.
First Text Adventure Engine for iPhone – Frotz (Craig Smith, 2008): The precursors to modern graphic adventures, text adventures use many of the same gameplay traditions as their more aesthetically appealing progeny. The first app to allow players to experience these gaming relics on the iPhone was Frotz, released to the App Store on August 11, 2008.
First Physics-Based Puzzle Game on iPhone – Enigmo (Pangea Software, 2008): Announced alongside the App Store at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference in 2008, the liquid storage game Enigmo demonstrates how game developers could exploit the iPhone's multitouch screen.
