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Tom Duncan Reaches 1,000th record
Ty Cobb of Gaming??

Fairfield, Iowa - November 28, 2005 -- On Monday, November 28, 2005, at 8:00 PM EST, Tom Duncan made video game history.

To anyone who believes that video game playing will someday be recognized for its statistical legacy, Tom Duncan may well be remembered as a hero. Possibly, the Ty Cobb of video game playing; the first player to log a career stat that will be envied and challenged by all players to come.

Yes, Tom Duncan has logged his 1,002nd world video game record. Admittedly, some of these titles remain unchallenged, but, still, the feat is testimony to his perseverance and game playing acumen. For Tom Duncan had to play 1,002 different games or sub-tracks and record each one on videotape and then submit this huge volume of tapes to a myriad of Twin Galaxies referees.

So, Tom is a man wiling to expend a great amount of time and money for the fun of playing. But, more than that, he is a man willing to chase video game goals, believing in the future of video game playing as a professional sport.

What does this mean to hold 1,002 titles simultaneously??  Well, most players stick to a certain niche or style of game. Whereas Tom, to cover 1,002 game tracks or titles, had to depart into areas unknown and dabble in lots of styles of games, thereby stretching the envelope of play.

Until now, the most Twin Galaxies records ever held by one person were the 742 records held in 2004 by the legendary Matt Leto (Zyos of Halo 2 fame.) Maybe Matt would have beat Tom Duncan to the 1,000 game mark had he not retired from high-score-based gaming to become the world champion on Halo 2. And, then again, maybe not.

Tom Duncan has set the standard. When all 100,000 games out there have a verified world record in the Twin Galaxies database, there will be a few players out there who may hold 1,000 – 2,000 world records. The other 98,000 records will be split among thousands and thousands of players. And, as gaming stats mature and more categories are documented, the Board of Referees at Twin Galaxies believes that the category for “most titles" held by a single individual will be the Cadillac entry, like Pete Rose’s record of 4,256 career hits or Hank Aaron’s record of 755 homeruns.

As more players recognize the growing popularity of video game statistics, the drive to accumulate video game stats will become competitive, just like in baseball, and many players will try to take down Tom Duncan and be the first to the 2,000 record mark. Or maybe 3,000 records?