Mario Kart DS

Most of us play games to escape reality. For a few moments, the trials of the material world trickle away and your only concern is how many goddamn gold coins you can collect in an hour. Then, out of nowhere, a friggin' Xbox 360 console shows up in the actual game and all your suspended disbelief goes right out the window. It happens more often than you'd think. So often, in fact, we had little trouble amassing a large collection of these sneaky cameos. Here are the best examples, from zombie-blasting Dreamcasts to a DS floating in space.

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

Don’t get us wrong – we’re big time Nintendo fans. But you have to admit, the past year has been rather trying for longtime followers. Last year’s “surprise” reveal of Wii Music at E3 just about made our heads explode, and the continued domination of Wii Play and Wii Fit have us preemptively bracing for the worst possible outcome at next week’s massive trade show in Los Angeles (which we’ll be updating from every six seconds).

Earlier in the week, we published an article showing some 50 versions of Sonic the Hedgehog to see which one is the 'best' to play as. But you can't do one without the other, so here are nearly 70 versions of Mario for your eyes to boggle at.

It’s no surprise Nintendo would alter Mario and Bowser as time wears on, especially when their first appearances are crude sprites that barely convey what they’re supposed to be. If you study the duo’s evolution over the course of 23 years, it’s just plain funny how much Bowser has shifted sizes, from roughly comparable to Mario to Godzilla-sized beast of fury.

If there’s one thing us gamers love to do, it’s sit on our asses. And rarely are we ever tempted away from blowing the crap out of zombies and Nazis to partake in the sportsman-like area of gaming. Hell, anything involving increased blood flow, stretching or rapid movement is a waste of time if there’s no cutscene for our rewards. Even sports games can be our kryptonite (your older brother who buys nothing but Madden and

Nothing's perfect. Stare closely enough at anything - even a masterpiece - and you're bound to find flaws sooner or later. They might be small. They might be insignificant. They might not detract from the overall quality of the piece at all...

Except when they really, really do. With these seven games, in fact, you don't need to stare. Their flaws are so huge, so obvious, so frustrating and so effing obnoxious that you can't help but