Animal Crossing: Wild World

Many videogames are designed with conflict in mind, and thus revolve around intimidating, sometimes even frightening, the player. The survival horror genre has been crammed full of horrific monstrosities designed entirely to terrify their audience. Developers are so good at creating scary monsters and super freaks, however, that it seems they can't help themselves. In short, even when games try to be cute or otherwise non-threatening, they often end up even spookier.

In this column, we take a look at some of the scariest videogames characters that were never designed to be scary. Their creators wanted something adorable, or amiable, or at least vaguely likable, but instead gave birth to hideous, misshapen, nightmarish beasts that will break your spirit and claim your dreams. Read on only if you have nothing left to fear...

Real-life shopping. Unless you enjoy shambling about like an extra in a Romero flick, it's a mostly soul-destroying activity that ranks somewhere between 'watching The X Factor' and 'tasting vomit' on our list of Things We'd Rather Not Do If We Can Help It. So it's testament to the subversive qualities of games that they can make shopping not suck. How do games do it - what makes shopping in games so much more enjoyable than shopping in

Pac-Man and Mario owned the 1980s. Sonic, Lara and Snake took over for the 1990s. Their games are considered classics. Their names are timeless and iconic. Their images are burned into the memory of every gamer, even those who were born after the characters themselves.

Now we have another ten years worth of heroes, villains, sidekicks and love interests to occupy our imagination. Which, however, will remain there?

Whoa, hang a second. The DS has been around for five years? Strange as it sounds, it’s true – the DS launched in the US on November 21, 2004 to almost immediate success, and is well on its way to outselling every other major gaming platform in history. Current numbers put the DS (and its various incarnations) at nearly 115 million units sold worldwide, a runaway lead over Sony’s estimated 60 million PSPs

Anyone who listens to TalkRadar knows I’m something of an Animal Crossing fan. Been playing since the first week it was released in the US some six years ago. Always found it a nice relaxing break from all the head-shotting, eff-bombing Mature games that dominate the market. Nothing wrong with ‘em, no sir, just need a goddam vacation once in a while.

You know that phrase people use when something "stays with you long after it's over?" Nothing fits that statement better than video games, and here we've collected the seven best examples of games that leap out of the screen and infect, impede or enhance your daily existence. In other words, you're still playing these reality-altering games even when the power's off.

It's everyone's favorite time of the year again, when thousands of overcaffeinated journalists descend upon E3 with their live-blogged, 2000-word diatribes on the most minor of details. The objects of their unending speculation? The biggest games of the show, which, oddly enough, have been known to the gaming press for months and will surprise literally no one.

That's why we're interested in games that haven't been seen, announced or

1) Rock mushrooms

Customise your Rock Band drum kit with these colourful mushroom pads. Shame you won’t be able to customise the Wii version of the game by downloading new tracks, but this is surely the next best thing. Check eBay to see when the next set is up for sale.

2) KK noise

tinyurl.com/6lr4eoEvery Saturday night you can treat your ears to the soothing tones of KK Slider. Long-time Animal Crossing residents