If I had a dime for every time a new ‘Best Games Ever’ list appeared before me, I’d have at least thirty-five bucks. So when Guinness World Records set out to find the 50 greatest game series ever, it decided to take a different approach: rather than ask game critics, developers, and industry folk, it asked gamers. The consumers. The fans.

As it turns out, the fans know jack.

I can live with the Halo series at #1. I mean, I wouldn’t pick it in my top ten, personally – I vastly prefer the Half-Life (#14) games, for example – but I can see why people would pick Halo. It’s highly polished, does what it sets out to achieve well, and the first Halo was a genuinely revelatory game. But there’s also some serious nonsense in this list – Killzone (#33) above Mario Kart (#47)? Skate (#34) above the brilliant Diablo games (#45)?

Debates of taste aside, Guinness readers also seem to struggle with the concept of what a “series” is. For example, quite a few games here (Goldeneye 007, Chrono Trigger) are single games. Honestly, the stupid is making my head hurt. Here’s the sloppy list in its entirety:

1. Halo
2. Call of Duty
3. The Legend of Zelda
4. Guitar Hero
5. Metal Gear
6. Super Mario Bros.
7. World of Warcraft
8. Gears of War
9. Super Smash Bros.
10. Grand Theft Auto
11. Pokémon
12. Resident Evil
13. Fallout
14. Half-Life
15. Sonic the Hedgehog
16. Counter-Strike
17. Runescape
18. FIFA
19. Kingdom Hearts
20. Final Fantasy
21. Pac-Man
22. Madden NFL
23. The Sims
24. Tomb Raider
25. WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW
26. Rock Band
27. LittleBigPlanet
28. Saints Row
29. The Elder Scrolls
30. God of War
31. GoldenEye 007
32. Bioshock
33. KillZone
34. Skate
35. Left 4 Dead
36. Need for Speed
37. Chrono Trigger
38. Gran Turismo
39. StarCraft
40. Ratchet & Clank
41. Pong
42. Tom Clancy’s
43. Star Wars: Battlefront
44. Battlefield
45. Diablo
46. Lego Batman
47. Mario Kart
48. Burnout
49. Crash Bandicoot
50. Pro Evolution Soccer

See also: Batman: Arkham Asylum sets dubious world record

[Via VG247]

Best 50 videogame series, as voted by Guinness World Record readers is a post from: The Inquisitr

In a tragedy that is likely to cause a tear or three with beer drinkers across the globe, the Guinness factory in Dublin has been damaged following a fire.

The fire broke out Monday in an unused section of the factory, and after 3 1/2 hours was contained after 15 units rushed to the scene near central Dublin.

Although two fire fighters are reported to be injured, fortunately production areas of the plant were not affected.

Local police and brewery owner Diego said they were investigating the cause of the fire.

The Humanity! Fire Strikes Guinness Plant In Dublin is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mozilla had only hoped to hit five to seven million to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for most downloads of a single program in one day. Guinness is now reviewing the data, according to Mozilla, and should have a final answer within a few days.

Update: Nine Million Firefox Downloads is a post from: The Inquisitr

Nearly 7.3 million people have downloaded the software so far, with more than two hours still left on the clock. Mozilla had only hoped to hit five to seven million total within this first day.

The U.S. appears to have the most downloads thus far, with about 2.4 million as of noon Eastern time. The tally will keep climbing until 2:16 p.m. Eastern, when the 24 hours will have elapsed.

Engineers report they broke their old first day total for Firefox 2 — 1.6 million downloads — within the first five hours of version 3′s release. Looks like the Guinness Book of World Records has its new entry.

Firefox Hits Finish Line Early is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mozilla now says it’s averaging 14,000 downloads per minute of the new revamped browser, which comes out to 13 gigs a second — whew! Engineers predict a download total in the tens of millions by the end of the first 24 hours.

The hope is to score enough total transfers to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most downloads of a single program in a single day — a task that looked unlikely for a while this morning. The record attempt ends at 2:16 p.m. Eastern Wednesday.

Firefox 3 Averaging 14,000 Downloads Per Minute is a post from: The Inquisitr

The new Firefox 3 will be released for download at 1 p.m. Eastern in what Mozilla has dubbed “Download Day.” Engineers are now busy taking care of all the last minute details — everything from prepping the updated company site to checking the file status on all the mirror servers.

Mozilla is hoping to see the most times a single program has been downloaded in any single day, which would secure its place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Time for Mozilla’s World Record Attempt is a post from: The Inquisitr