(found via American McGee's FB post)

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/07/the-worst-video-game-ever-created.html

It is not a game in itself, but one of the mini games in Penn and Tellers: Smoke and Mirrors. The game itself was actually never officially released.

it is very famous, and it is made to be a bad experience. The description from Wikipedia:

"Desert Bus is a trick minigame in the package, and was a featured part of Electronic Gaming Monthly's preview. The objective of the game is to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in real time at a maximum speed of 45 mph. The feat requires 8 hours of continuous play to complete, since the game cannot be paused.

The bus contains no passengers, there is little scenery (an occasional rock or stop sign will appear at the side of the road), and there is no traffic. The road between Tucson and Las Vegas is completely straight. The bus veers to the right slightly, and thus requires the player's constant attention. If the bus veers off the road it will stall and be towed back to Tucson, also in real time. If the player makes it to Las Vegas, he scores one point. The player then has the option to make the return trip to Tucson for another point (a decision he must make in a few seconds or the game ends). Players may continue to make trips and score points as long as their endurance holds out. Although the scenery never changes, an insect splats on the windscreen about five hours through the first trip, and on the return trip the light fades, with differences at dusk, and later a pitch black road where the player is guided only with headlights"

Game design 101 here :)

I don't know. Until thousands of copies of it are buried in a desert, I don;t think it can lay unchallenged claim to the title.

Why am I getting a Deja-vu feeling ?

The passengers on the bus are playing Gothic IV.

Whoever says that Desert Bus is the worst game ever created is just kidding themselves. Desert Bus is honestly, the greatest, most realistic game in existence!

Awesome.

Reminds me that I want to stage a play called "Plane Ride." The stage would be a cut-out of a cabin, and the actors would just sit there and do normal people-on-planes things. And the audience gets to sit there and watch for two hours. Yeah!

You know, I would not call it "Worst Game Ever Created". Granted that there is a bug (well.... two if you count the insect crashing into the windscreen), which makes the game not turn back to daylight, it does exactly as it is intended to do.

It has a very clear concept, and it follows this concept almost to perfection. It delivers exactly the gaming experience it sets out to deliver.

Wow, slow newsday?