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Apple App Store, iPhone 4, Angry Birds earn Guinness World Records

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Apple’s App Store, the iPhone 4 and a few iOS games, have been awarded Guinness world records, including the iPhone 4 being named the fastest-selling portable gaming system.

‘The release of the iPhone has not just changed the mobile industry, but the video game world too,’Gaz Deaves, Guinness World Records’ gaming editor, said in a statement. ‘With the never-ending App Store selection and an intuitive device, Apple has created a gigantic new space for itself in the casual games genre that literally brings entertainment to users wherever they may be.’

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The iPhone 4 was named the fastest-selling portable gaming system by Guinness after selling an estimated 1.5 million handsets on the first day it was released on June 24, 2010.

‘For comparison, the PSP shifted 200,000 units on its launch date in 2005, and the DS took a week to move 500,000 consoles in November 2004,’ Guinness said in a statement announcing the records.

The PSP, from Sony, and the DS, from Nintendo, are both portable video game systems, but neither is also a smart phone.

Guinness also said Apple’s App Store is the most popular application marketplace.

‘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,’ the world-record-tracking organization said.

About 259,470 apps were available for purchase or free download as of September 2010, while about 50,000 other apps that were once available in the App Store have been discontinued, Guinness said.

‘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,’ the organization said.

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The App Store is also the largest downloadable video game store, with about 37,362 games available for download as of last September, Guinness said.

‘By comparison, PC games download service Steam offers around 1,110 titles, the Xbox Live Indie Arcade has slightly more at 1,300 and the Japanese Virtual Console store for Wii offers 576 titles covering a good chunk of the back catalogues of both Sega and Nintendo,’ the group said.

The App Store was also given a world record for the largest launch lineup of any gaming system with more than 145 games available on July 10, 2008.

Angry Birds was recognized at the top paid-for App Store game in most countries, having sold more than 6.5 million downloads of the iOS version of the game since it was first released in December 2009.

Plants vs. Zombies, ‘with more than 300,000 paid downloads in its first nine days on sale in February 2010’ was noted as the world’s fastest-selling iPhone/iPod strategy game. The game is also the world’s highest-grossing strategy game launch in the history of Apple’s App Store, Guinness said, generating about $1 million for developer PopCap in just over a week.

The Tap Tap Revenge game series, from game developer Tapulous, was cited as the most popular game series in App Store history, ‘having been downloaded more than 15 million times since the first game in the series was released in July 2008,’ Guinness said. ‘Market research firm ComScore reports that the games have been installed by 32% of all iPhone/iPad users.’

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles
Twitter.com/nateog

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