PETALING JAYA, May 19 — Hamako Mori has officially been recognised as the world’s oldest video game YouTuber by the Guinness World Records.
Mori, who goes by Gamer Grandma online, currently has over 256,000 subscribers on her channel where she shares playthroughs of popular video games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV), and the Resident Evil 3 and Final Fantasy 7 remakes.
The 90-year-old video game enthusiast was born on February 18, 1930, and currently resides in the Chiba prefecture of Japan.
A solid gamer for 39 years and counting, Mori began her hobby back in 1981 after seeing children around her get into video games.
“It looked like so much fun and I thought it’s not fair if only children got to play it.
“I thought life would be more fun if I knew how to play it. So I started playing, at first while no one was watching,” she said in an interview on the Guinness World Records website.
The first gaming equipment she owned was the Cassette Vision and she has kept most of the consoles and video games she had bought over the years as tokens of nostalgia.
She usually games for between seven to eight hours a day, though she could clock even longer hours in her younger years.
Her favourite console is currently the Playstation 4 with GTAV being her go-to title at the moment.
“(Playing GTAV is) like watching a film. I like it the best because it has age restrictions, so children can’t play it!” said the cheeky nonagenarian.
One of the earliest videos on Mori’s channel shows her expertly manoeuvring a character who takes flight on a majestic dragon in the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
She said she’s touched by the thoughtful and encouraging comments people have left on her YouTube videos, adding that video games continue to give her motivation in her golden years.
“I receive a lot of comments saying ‘don’t work too hard.’ Everyone is so kind.
“Their comments leave a strong impression on me and they make me want to produce more videos that people enjoy.
“They also say watching my video gives them hope for the future. I feel so happy.
“That’s why I want to create lots and lots of videos. That’s my dream.”
