This is Desert Bus for Hope, raising money for Child's Play. Right now, a livestream is showing a man in a hat shaped like a wedge of cheese playing Desert Bus while those watching donate money to prolong the length of the play session.
For those who don't know, Desert Bus is one of the most boring games in the world. The player takes the role of a bus driver making the journey from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in real time, which takes about the same amount of time as a full day in the office and is much less interesting. The bus in the game drifts to the right, so you have to constantly correct for that and can't let your attention stray.
That's why people are willing to send in money to extend how long people have to play the game. There's a group of players, and people switch in and out (the current guy has been playing for 1.5 hours), but there's something strangely satisfying in the idea of forcing people to keep a game running for days and days. Currently, the team is due to play for 137 hours, but that number will go up as they receive more donations.
Child's Play is a charity that provides hospitalised children with games and toys to improve their quality of life while they undergo treatment. It also recently started helping children in domestic violence shelters. You can head to the website if you want to donate. There are even prize draws to encourage people.
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
