London Games Fest aims for fancy dress record

Dungarees and moustache should earn you a Mario nod
Dungarees and moustache should earn you a Mario nod

It's not the 100m freestyle or the Olympic marathon, but you could be part of Britain's latest world record attempt.

Organisers of the London Games Festival are aiming to smash the world record for the largest gathering of people dressed up as video game characters to mark the launch of the festival.

Saturday 25 October will witness a motely collection of Guitar Heroes, Marios and Pac Men congregating on the steps of London's ExCel arena in Docklands - and you could be one of them!

Simply dress up as your favourite games characters, following these basic rules. All participants must be wearing costumes representing characters from video games or other media such as films, television, books and comics are acceptable; as long as they featured in video games before any subsequent appearances in other media.

Taking things far too seriously

"For example," says Mark Dennis of the London Games Festival, "Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared in a video game in 1991, prior to subsequent television and comic book appearances; therefore qualifies for the attempt. However, Batman first featured as a comic book character in 1939, prior to his first appearance as a video game character in 1986; therefore does not qualify."

If you think you're up to travelling through London on a busy Saturday morning cross-dressed as Lara Croft, simply turn up at around 12.30 in the afternoon.

The good news is that the current Guinness World of Records achievement for standing around with a bunch of gaming geeks is a mere 80 individuals, so the chance of earning of your place in the history books is high.

The bad news? If they'd just waited a few more days, it would have been Halloween and no one would have felt quiet so stupid wandering through East London dressed as Q*Bert.

Mark Harris is Senior Research Director at Gartner.