Awesome Games Done Quick 2012: Gaming for Charity

It’s that time of the year again for Speed Demos Archive to present Awesome Games Done Quick! It’s true that I’m a little late getting this post up and running, but I believe it’s very much worth sharing. Besides, there is still another 4 days left of the charity marathon!

This time around the money raised will go towards the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and so far they have helped to raise over $28,000. Their goal is to raise $50,000 by the end of the marathon and it’s pretty clear they will smash that goal in the next day or so. Best of all, the best games haven’t even been played yet! Or at least, the games I am most looking forward to.


Over 100 games are being speed run, including Punch-Out, Quake, Half-Life, Halo Reach, Super Meat Boy, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, a slew of Castlevania games, Final Fantasy VII, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Kirby titles, Pokemon, Bomberman 64, Super Monkey Ball, and Shadow of the Colossus. Okay I admit that’s a list of the games I am most looking forward to, but there are a TON more games that they will be playing throughout the marathon. For a full list and schedule, check here!

Awesome Games Done Quick 2012 has what looks to be the largest number of incentives to get people to donate. The main premise is to feel good about donating money to The Prevent Cancer Foundation, but on top of that they have small trinkets and some great prizes that you can win. A $5 donation gets you perlers of characters for certain games, $10 may get you a hand-made hat, and $30 gets you into a drawing for a replica of the Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda series. Pretty cool, right? And I have to mention the PSX and SNES RPG bundles that are being given away during the Final Fantasy VII run!

Oh, and this year there is a t-shirt from theyetee.com that’s taking part in the charity event. For every t-shirt sold, $3 will be donated to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It displays characters from games featured in Awesome Games Done Quick 2012, and the theme is “serious time.” Serious time is when the person speed running a game asks for the room to be quiet so he/she can concentrate without the background chatter. And as many gamers know, certain parts of games require some intense serious time. If you buy the shirt you’ll not only be supporting the charity but you’ll be representing the folks at Speed Demos Archive! But be quick as they will only be available until the end of Saturday, January 7^th.

Here’s a picture of the image on the shirt:

If you love video games and want to help support a great charity, please donate whatever you can! Even the smallest contributions add up to a grand overall donation. So get to it!

-Jared C.

Summer Games Done Quick (For Charity!)

It's not every day that charity and video games come together, but right now something awesome is happening. The Humble Indie Bundle is still going on, and they just announced today that you can get an additional five games making it ten games total. That's just incredible. But now I'm here to help promote something, in my opinion, even better.

Summer Games Done Quick is a large effort charity event put on by the folks over at Speed Demos Archive. At each "games done quick" event a large number of gamers come together to not only complete a run through of a game, but a speed run. That means they play and finish a particular game as fast as possible, utilizing both in-game glitches and hard-earned skill to pull off the job. And by hard-earned skill I mean years of training to compete for a new record time.

This August 4th-6th, 50 games will be played all in the efforts to raise money for the Organization for Autism Research.

What makes this charity event so incredible is the dedication presented by the speed runners themselves. When the event goes live there's a direct feed of the game being played, but there's also video of the gamers doing their thing. Because people come together in one location there's other people and speed runners in the room. The atmosphere is inviting and it lets you feel like you're truly part of the event, sitting in the room with them and enjoying the fun. Not to mention the incredibly tense moments that can happen too.

Throughout the event you can donate what you want, what you can afford. But there are special pulls for donating at least $5 or $10, or whatever is decided. Summer Games Done Quick is offering a special 3DS and Ocarina of Time 3D bundle, plushies, cels, and perlers for those who donate during special times or throughout the weekend. It's so cool to donate money to charity and possibly getting something in return.

Some games will have runners competing against one another in a race, trying to see who's the fastest. Other runs will have donation battles for character naming, choice of game, or how a game will be played and completed. This gives even more reason to donate during your favorite games.

Last time, during the charity event for relief in Japan, I made a point to donate during the Super Meat Boy run. But then I watched the Ocarina of Time run and was so impressed I felt the need to donate again. This time I will be donating during Shadow of the Colossus because it's one of my most cherished games of all time. But let me tell you, I'm looking forward to more runs that move me enough to donate again.

So remember, Summer Games Done Quick starts tomorrow and runs until Saturday! 50 games in just over 50 hours. Please donate for a great cause! Thank you!

For more information check out http://speeddemosarchive.com/marathon/.

For this weekend's schedule, check out http://speeddemosarchive.com/marathon/schedule/. Be aware it may change over the course of the event. Yes, sometimes things don't go as planned! We can blame technical difficulties and unexpected loss of lives for that.

-Jared C.