Listosaurus Rex

I came across a funny site the other day: Peter’s Site on Multiply.com. This portion of his site is dedicated to finding and discussing the ugliest cars in the world. So far nine have been nominated.

Here is my rank of his nine nominees. I’ve linked to pictures of the cars. The order is from least ugly to most ugly. This only includes the cars nominated on Peter’s Site.

1. Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren
   What’s the deal with this nomination? Sure, the bumper’s jumbo Mercedes logo is a bit obtrusive and annoying, but this car is still pretty nice, in my opinion.
   
2. Lesux SC340
   I suppose the nomination here comes from the curved rear of the car. It admittedly doesn’t look that great from behind. But there are uglier cars.
   
3. Ferrari Enzo
   It’s certainly obnoxious and over the top with its sportiness. But it’s still pretty sleek. Not a beauty by a long shot, but it still has a nice, if strong, luxurious flavor to it.
   
4. Pontiac Aztek
   The Aztek is not a pretty car. It can’t quite decide if it’s going to be sporty in a suburban sort of way or rugged in a pickup truck sort of way. The end result is a sort of boxy mishmash that just doesn’t do much for the eyes.
   
5. AMC Pacer
   Station wagons are almost inherently tacky. But the Pacer’s obnoxious dome-style windows on its rears don’t help its case.
   
6. Honda Element (seen above)
   Ugly from the front, ugly from the rear, ugly from the side, ugly from any isometric perspective — yep, the Honda Element is one heck of an ugly car.
7. AMC Gremlin
   I’ve seen pictures of Gremlins that aren’t terrible. With the right paint job on the right model from the right angle, it’s got a certain muscle car feel that’s almost classy. But nearly every picture you see will confirm that the Gremlin is in fact a very ugly car.
8. BMW Isetta
   It doesn’t even look like a car. It looks like an especially cramped go-kart with a closed top, or something. The door opening in the front is just weird. If BMW wanted to do something cool with their car, they should have thought Delorean. Anything other than that ridiculous door in the front would have worked.
   
9. Fiat Multipla
   Even someone good with Photoshop couldn’t distort a picture car to make it uglier than a Multipla. It’s just hideous and obnoxious. That weird hunk of car that sits sort of in the center of the design — why is it there? Did someone actually think it would be a good idea to put it there? Was it the result of some sort of freak car factory accident?

Discuss: What is the ugliest car on this list? Can you think of any ugly cars that weren’t included in the discussion?

Including games that have come bundled with systems, here is a list of the top fifteen bestselling video games of all time, as of March 2008:

1. Super Mario Bros. - NES - 40 million copies *
2. Tetris - Game Boy - 33 million copies *
3. Pokemon Red/Blue - Game Boy - 20.08 million copies
4. Super Mario World - SNES - 20 million copies *
5. Super Mario Bros. 3 - NES - 18 million copies
6. Wii Sports - Wii - 17.85 million copies *
7. Nintendogs -DS - 17.79 million copies
8. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - PS2 - 15 million copies
9. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec - PS2 - 14.87 million copies
10. Pokemon Gold/Silver - Game Boy - 14.51 million copies
11. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - DS - 14.17 million opies
12. Super Mario Land - Game Boy - 14 million copies
13. New Super Mario Bros. - DS - 13.14 million copies
14. Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire - GBA - 13 million copies
15. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - PS2 - 12 million copies

* - game included with a system as a bundle

Nabbing all of the top seven spots are games from Nintendo consoles, including Wii Sports at #6 from the current generation, which is sure to jump at least to #3 by the time Nintendo releases its next console.

Topping the list is Super Mario Bros., which gets an enormous amount of help from the fact that it was included with the system, not to mention the fact that it is routinely cited as the best game of all time by web-sites and other publications. However, Super Mario Bros. 3 at #5 shows that you don’t need those things to sell ridiculously well as a Mario game. Also, #12 on this list is a remake of #1, just emphasizing how marketable the game is without the bundling.

At #2 is Tetris, also widely acclaimed as among the greatest and most influential games ever. Have you ever met someone who doesn’t like Tetris? If so, they’re probably a cynic or lying.

Then, at #3 is Pokemon, the greatest video game sensation of them all. I remember well when every kid would be playing it during recess at school, while eating at Burger King, while waiting in the dentist’s office — everywhere, for that matter. It doesn’t surprise me at all that it’s so high on the list.

Standing strong at #4 is another bundled game, Super Mario World, perhaps my favorite game ever. It remained among the most recognized and beloved games of the 16-bit era.

Taking the fifth spot is Super Mario Bros. 3. This one surprised me more than any game out of the top ten. Though I know it is one of the most widely known and loved games of all time, I didn’t know it sold at a volume that almost matched Pokemon. I guess I’ve always underestimated the amount of NES’s that were sold.

At sixth and rising is Wii Sports. The Wii continues to sell out just as shipment is received, and goes for about $150 more than retail on sites like Amazon and ebay, despite the fact that they system has been out for well over a year. There’s no end in sight to the massive demand. It could potentially jump its way to #2 or #1 by the time this console generation is over. If you don’t believe that, think of this: The newest console generation is about a year and a half old, so a little less than a third over. Tripling the number of copies sold by Wii Sports places it firmly at number one. It’s unlikely that the Wii will continue selling at the rate it is for a whole five years, but it’s certainly not an impossibility.

At seventh is the latest cutesy, handheld phenomenon, Nintendogs. Despite rave reviews and massive numbers, I’m not completely impressed with it. Pokemon was a really substantial game, a perfect balance of simplicity and depth, and I’m not sure Nintendogs quite matches it. However, I haven’t had extensive playing time with it, so I’m not sure.

Nabbing eighth and ninth are two classic PS2 games. Vice City was controversial but massively loved and enjoyed. It had very much of a cool factor to it, meaning adults and young adults weren’t hesitant to get their hands on it, unlike Pokemon. Gran Turismo also has a cool, authentic factor to it. It was so detailed with its depiction of sports cars and racing, and earned such rave reviews, that it was snatched up by millions.

At tent, eleventh, and fourteenth are more Pokemon games, a few years removed from the immense cultural machine that was the Pokemon fad when Red and Blue were released. Nonetheless, consumers still seem to come out in droves to pick up any Pokemon-related product. Pokemon games usually receive favorable reviews, which certainly helps.

Nabbing twelfth is a remake of the #1 game on this list, except in hand-held format. The game created quite a buzz when it came out and the Game Boy was the latest big thing in video games. Only Tetris, #2, was bigger at the time.

Taking thirteenth is another Mario game, which gained a lot of consumer recognition because of the title’s similarity to #1 on this list. As you discover more and more about video games, it becomes more and more clear how all-encompassing Mario’s impact on the video game industry and market has been.

Finally, at number fifteen, we have San Andreas, one of the most controversial games of all time with the “Hot Coffee” scandal. However, it is one of the most critically acclaimed games of its generation, earning impeccable review scores from many game publications, including the beloved Platinum Award from the magazine of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the Holy Grail of review awards.

Here is a breakdown by system:

• Game Boy: 4 games (26.7%)
• PS2: 3 games (20%)
• DS: 3 games (20%)
• NES: 2 games (13.3%)
• GBA: 1 game (6.7%)
• Wii: 1 game (6.7%)
• SNES: 1 game (6.7%)

Discuss: Are these the games you expected to see on the list?