Off-schedule post today, primarily to raise awareness for #SGDQ2015. It’s streaming live at twitch.tv/gamesdonequick, today through August 1st. The schedule is listed on their website and they have some awesome titles planned. They kicked off with a 100% speedrun of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, a favorite from my childhood and a stunning run to watch. (Forty flutters in one section!)
Games Done Quick, as explained on their website is: “a bi-annual charity gaming marathon. Volunteers play games at incredible speed (“Speedrunning”) for entertainment. The event is streamed live online, non-stop, and all donations go directly to the charity.” They run both summer and winter events, and upload all runs to their Youtube channel post-event so you can always catch up on any you’ve missed. An addition that I appreciate is the running commentary explaining the various techniques and strategies used during each speedrun.
This summer, the charity they are running for is Doctors Without Borders, “an international medical humanitarian organization providing aid in nearly 70 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, exclusion from health care, natural disasters, or malnutrition. MSF provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need. MSF reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocol. In 1999, MSF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work.” (Games Done Quick website)
I only realized GDQ was a thing this past winter, when I posted a brief note about it. Since I first participated in Extra Life, I’ve been super interested in other gaming charity events. I love that gamers can come together to share their passion for gaming, while also contributing to organizations making positive change in the world.
As I mentioned in January, I’ve never been super interested in speedrunning in my own gameplay and hadn’t ever watched a serious speedrun until #AGDQ2015. I not only tend to be an explorer of the “take my time” mentality in first playthroughs, but also in subsequent playthroughs of games. With that said, I was blown away while watching the winter event, and continue to be during this one. I always had a vague respect for the folks who put so much time and effort into a perfect run, but watching it live adds a whole new dimension and appreciation for the technical skill required.
I’d originally planned on being at the event location this year, as it’s within driving distance. As it turns out, that’s not going to be practical with my work schedule, but I’m at least going to be watching it on Twitch this week. I’d definitely recommend at least catching one or two of your favorite games, and considering donating.
Fallout: New Vegas
In unrelated news, I finally got around to downloading Fallout: New Vegas last night. (Picked it up last Steam sale, woot!) It’s the one Fallout game I never did get around to playing, and I want to at least give it a try before Fallout 4 comes out. Depending on how much time I can spend on it, I’ll try to throw some posts out on the topic.
Fallen London Mobile
Fallen London (previously Echo Bazaar) remains not only my favorite browser game, but one of my favorite games period. I mentioned it in my sadly out-of-date Currently Playing section and also touched on it briefly while discussing story and text-based games. A few days ago, Failbetter Games announced on social media that they are looking for folks to playtest their upcoming mobile version. I’ve signed up, and am hoping that being able to play the game on a mobile platform will get me back to playing more often. There are so many deliciously dark levels of story in Fallen London, I do miss spending time in its world.
LFGryph 