GTPlanet

The Guinness World Records releases annual “Gamer’s Edition” books, which rate and document some of the more dramatic feats in the world of video games.  However, Guinness is branching out from the objective realm of records and numbers into the subjective world of opinion and “expert judging panels”.  One of the products of this ideological shift is a ranking of “The Top 50 Console Games of All Time“, and the results are raising a few eyebrows.

The list from the press release is after the jump, but we’ll go ahead and tell you that Gran Turismo scored 19th place.  Yes, it was up against stiff competition like Super Mario Kart (in the top spot), Final Fantasy, and Grand Theft Auto.  They were all impressive sellers, but the games were ranked by their “initial impact and lasting legacy”.  Guinness World Records Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday continues, “We knew this would be a complex task so we invited a crack team of industry experts to form a judging panel – and the result is a ‘top 50′ list of games ranked both on their importance and on how fun they are to play.”

Unfortunately for Kazunori Yamauchi, the panel did not consider achievements outside of the video game industry “important”.  Otherwise, a game which has sold more than 50 million copies, been referred to as the ultimate automotive “brand ambassador” by BusinessWeek magazine, pushed technical boundaries, increased sales of actual vehicles, turned a video gamer into a professional race car driver, and developed real and concept cars would – at the very least – manage into the “top 10″.  But, no, when the competition inspired…other games, such real-world accomplishments just aren’t enough.

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