The sophomore outing of Guinness' game-only records book, Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2009 is 200+ pages of gamer chic meets trivia geek.

Spanning a century of video game related facts -- a "mechanical computer" was playing chess as early as 1912; the first chess-game software was written in 1948 though there was no computer capable of running it.

No mere second-edition reprint with the few updates to the first edition, Gamer's Edition 2009 contains mostly original content; a new tome with a goodly number of timelines and historical charts, fresh or matured statistics of the modern age, plus tons of tallies of 2008, which was unusually rife with all sorts of record setting feats and accomplishments.

Grand Theft Auto IV, for example, became the highest grossing game in a single day, generating some $310 million in its first 24 hours at retail. Activision's Guitar Hero franchise, meanwhile, became the fastest game series to make $1 billion (26 months). And Troy Whelan of the USA set a new record for the fastest knockout in Wii Sports - Boxing at just 14 seconds, shaving a remarkable 35 seconds off the previous world record of 49 seconds.

It's all very telling, an eye-opening gaggle of game and gamer particulars that reveals expansively what an illustrious, lucrative, and sometimes notorious industry video gaming has become.
 

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