It's that time of year again. The time for sleep deprived self-torture for the benefit of ill children. I'm speaking of course, of the fifth annual
Desert Bus for Hope. For those of you who don't know, it's a charity drive where a few crazy people raise money for children's hospitals by playing the worst video game ever made,
Desert Bus.
The Game:Forget Superman 64 and ET for Atari, Desert Bus is unquestionably the worst game ever made. It is a mini game that was part of the Sega-CD game "Penn and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors," which was never released. In it, you drive a public bus through the desert from Tuscon, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada, in real time (it takes 8 hours). There are no passengers, no other cars on the road, no stops, no scenery, and no pause button. Also, the bus drifts to the right slightly, so you can't just tape the accelerator down and leave it. If you run off the road, the bus stalls and you get towed back to Tuscon. If you do manage to make it to Las Vegas, you get exactly one point, and then make the return trip to Tuscon, repeating the process in an endless loop.
The Event:LoadingReadyRun is a internet sketch comedy group based in British Columbia. Every year in late November they host "Desert Bus for Hope," in which they play Desert Bus live and non-stop to raise money for the
Child's Play charity. Child's Play is a charity founded and run by
Penny Arcade, which buys toys and games for children's hospitals. The more donations that Desert Bus for Hope receives, the longer they will play the game. Last year, they raised over $200,000 and played for for 6 days straight. Since just watching them play Desert Bus would be exceedingly boring, they keep it fun with celebrity guest callers, live and silent auctions, and most importantly, "challenges." While streaming, the LRR crew will accept requests to do silly things for specific donation amounts. These challenges are pretty much anything within reason, such as singing Disney songs, having everyone perform "
CaramellDansen," or forcing one of their members watch the newest Twilight movie in theaters six times.
The Ponies:Hopefully when you saw "give money to charity, idiots sing songs live on the internet" you were thinking what I was thinking. Regardless, I am definitely not the only one, as some
Bronies on The Escapist are pooling their money to get LRR to sing pony songs sometime during the event. I know from the LRR podcast that at least one of their members is a Brony, so it should be interesting. I am also willing to bet that someone is going to donate some custom pony merch for their auctions.
I watch this thing every year, and it's always hilarious. It starts at 6 pm PST on November 18th (Friday). It won't stop for at least six days, so be sure to find some time to check it out!