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.