Rovio’s focused assault on the casual gaming public continues to pay off big time, as Angry Birds Space surpasses 50 million downloads in 35 days, breaking all previous records and making developers of big-budget console titles feel the need to re-evaluate their careers.
When most of us think of a long session spent playing a single game, we think of spending a day or maybe a weekend immersed in story or competition. Eight or 10 hours, maybe more, spent on the couch or at a PC while the player loses track of time.
If George Leutz hasn’t gone completely Ahab already, I’d advise him to let go of the Q*Bert world record. His latest assault on the mark, whose 33 million score is believed to require more than 70 hours of non-stop gameplay, ended in exhaustion after 57 hours, 40 minutes on a single quarter at the joystick. His final score was 26,721,915.
Say this for George Leutz: that man is determined. Undaunted by the 70 hours of nonstop gameplay it is estimated to take to beat the 28-year-old all-time world record in Q*Bert, Leutz is at this moment 25 hours into his third assault on the record.
The all-time high score of 33 million set 28 years ago on Q*Bert has this year proved to be one of the most unassailable marks in video game history.
It was estimated that George Leutz would have to play Q*Bert for more than 70 hours -nearly three days straight- to break a 28-year-old all-time world record. If you, like me, wondered if there was some way to stick Q*Bert in the corner of the board and grab a nap during the record attempt, evidently there isn’t.
Thirty-six hours into what was expected to be a 70-hour assault on an all-time world record, and with hundreds of lives to spare, someone unplugged a cabinet elsewhere in the arcade, resetting the Q*bert George Leutz was playing.
Congratulations to Microsoft, who took what I thought was going to be a modest hit and making it a giant one. Now let’s get that next wave of games coming! [GuinnessWorldRecords.com]
On the day he was to be enshrined with the inaugural class of the International Video Game Hall of Fame, Billy Mitchell was once again certified as the world record holder in Donkey Kong – and also Donkey Kong Jr.
