Mini-Marathon
Description:
Even though
there hasn't been a whole lot of time for a full-fledged Marathon, that
won't stop us from broadcasting! Tune in to our weekly programs (dubbed
Mini-Marathons), as we play through various games... for charity!
All the money raised will go to the World
Food Programme,
a charity devoted to fighting malnutrition and disease.
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What's
a Mini-Marathon?
Mini-Marathons are just like traditional Marathons, albeit a bit
more... well, mini. They entail
selecting a charity and setting a donation goal for
the entire month. Then, every friday
starting at 3:30PM Eastern Time (UTC -4)
for anywhere from 9 to 12 hours,
broadcast a game. We may play one game per week, or if it's longer,
play
the same game for multiple weeks. At the end of the month, the time
spent playing would be comparable to that of a full-length Marathon.
Why Mini-Marathons?
A lot of
time, effort (and love) went into
making ExtraLives.org possible. Who wants to see the site be dormant
for months until there's time for another Marathon?
What
games will you play?
As of now, there's no official schedule. Tune in and find out!
Will
the whole team be there?
I can assure you it won't be just me (Tim) broadcasting all of the
Mini-Marathons. However, everybody has different schedules so I can't
go into specifics.
There
are a lot of unplanned details, aren't there?
There certainly are. The whole idea is still experimental
and untested,
so some elements of the
broadcasts haven't been set in stone quite yet.
I
want to watch, but I'll be away. What
do I do?!
This time,
provided there are no unforeseen
technical issues, we'll be recording all
of the Mini-Marathons
so you can re-watch
it whenever you'd like!
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Broadcasts:
We played a whole slew
of different
games
during the Minithons. Here's a breakdown of the each Minithons:
October
2nd,
2009 (The
Oregon
Trail, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)
I started off playing The Oregon Trail,
everyone's favorite
semi-"educational" game. There were a couple of reasons for this
choice. First off, who doesn't like to drink contaminated water until
they die of dysentery? Second, I was testing out the idea of
potentially having a full-fledged Oregon Trail Marathon. Considering
that people began to ask to start playing a new game within a few
hours, I think it's safe to say that'll never actually happen.
So, we
decided to pick a new game (which ended
up being Majora's Mask). I never actually completed the game (finished
Great Bay Temple and called it a night), and I wouldn't until the Legend of Zelda Marathon--
nearly 3 months later.
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October
9th,
2009 (Banjo-Kazooie)
After realizing
the first Minithon could have been planned a little bit better (one can
only contract dysentery so many times before the novelty wears off), we
organized a split-screen Banjo-Kazooie
race. This marked a return to
the two-screened format that was only previously used for our first Marathon
(and would show up in later
Marathons as well).
Needless to say, American Steve is our resident Banjo-Kazooie expert
and had not only beaten the game, but also got 100% completion before I
was even 80% of the way through. Even after his N64 froze, Steve still
found ways to beat me. Well, I never said I was necessarily good at the
game!
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October
16th,
2009 (The
Legend
of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
Hey, turns out
the Legend of Zelda Marathon was actually not the first time we had a
split-screen Zelda race! Actually, the only reason we ever had a
Zeldathon was due to the Minithons. Every time we played Ocarina of
Time, we'd end up on the
front page of Ustream and have 300+
viewers
(compared to the regular 100 to 150 or so).
We never did finish Zelda on October 16th because I became rather sick.
I had been feeling pretty terrible all day, and while a big cup of
coffee and some Excedrin helped for a few hours (hence why I felt
alright in the beginning), it just didn't last. About 80% through
Ocarina of Time, I felt so awful that I had to call it quits. About 24
hours later, I'd end up in the emergency room with a 104.2 degree
fever. That can really put a damper on your plans, believe me.
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October
23rd,
2009 (Pikmin,
The
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)
Luckily, I was
feeling better by the next Minithon, so we had another two-screened
race.
Peter stepped in for Steve here and we played some Pikmin.
Surprisingly,
I won this one, proving that I can indeed
play video games without falling
deathly ill after all.
Ah, but we couldn't just forget about Ocarina of Time
(the game
that nearly killed me). I couldn't just let the game win like that!
Peter continued where Steve left off and we finished up the game. It
was a tight race, right up until the end. It was so close, in fact,
that it's difficult to declare a winner! Look at the two pictures below
and decide who you think actually won.
Peter
lays the last hit into
Ganon...
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...but
I finish the ending
dialogue and credits first.
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Did Peter win because he defeated the final boss first? Or did I win
because I can tap the A button slightly faster and got to the official
"The End" screen first?
(Okay, okay, I realize Peter probably won-- you can't fault me for
trying, though...).
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October
30th,
2009 (Shaq-Fu,
E.T. the
Extra-Terrestrial, Superman 64, and Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing)
Considering it was almost Halloween, what better way to celebrate by
playing some TERRIFYING... -ly bad games! These are some of the worst
games ever made. In fact, they were so bad, everyone else was too
mortified to play them, leaving me to go through them on my own.
Shaq-Fu
was... pretty awful. The storyline was incomprehensible. If I
recall, Shaq was off to a charity basketball game when some Chinese
shop owner threw him into another dimension where he's supposed to
rescue this kid. You end up fighting a bunch of random and clichéd
characters to do so, including the missing boy's own father (who wants
to test if you're worthy enough to save his son...? I don't get it
either). It doesn't help that every other character is much more
powerful than you are. I literally beat the game just by using the same
attack over and over (a roundhouse kick to the face).
E.T.
is a
cherished film. E.T. is also a terrible, terrible game. When you're not
falling down holes, you're... actually, no. You're always falling down
holes. That's all there is to this game. Then you die.
Superman 64...
where do I begin? The controls are broken, causing Superman to fly all
over the place for no real reason. The levels are bland and offensive
to all the senses. The missions are pretty bad as well. Superman flies
through rings, picks up the occasional car, blows some tornadoes away
and saves some people running around aimlessly atop a skyscraper. Why
does Superman do this? Well, if he doesn't, you get to see the screen
above. Lex wins. A lot. Get used to it.
Plus, the
storyline is totally pointless. Lex Luther sucks you and your friends
into a virtual word. An evil
virtual
world. Then
again, this game
was made in 1999... maybe it reflects the anxiety regarding the Y2K
bug? Yes, that must be it! Perhaps we should praise Superman 64 for
effectively reflecting the mindset of a nation. The stark, bleak
virtual worlds depicted in this game are representative of the
collective fear that computers shall be the downfall of us all at the
turn of the century. This game is not garbage-- it's a valuable
historical record! It's art!
...Yes. That is
what we should assume.
People praise
the Grand Theft Auto series for its large, open-world environments.
Still, nothing compares to Big Rigs:
Over the Road Racing, a game
where
you can literally go anywhere-- even right off the edge of the map! The
game is completely unfinished, and how the developer (Stellar
Stone)
managed to sell it in stores just boggles my mind. Let's take a look at
some of its flaws, shall we?
Barring the fact you can drive off the edge of the levels, you can also
drive through houses, trees, signposts and bridges. The brake lights
have a tendency to detatch from the truck and float freely. Your truck
can scale vertical walls with no impact on its speed, steering or
traction. All of the trucks have a top speed of about 80 miles per
hour. That is, if you're going forward.
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Throw the truck
in reverse,
and it never
stops accelerating. I kid you not. I managed to get up to FIVE
TRILLION MILES PER HOUR (no
exaggeration) going in
reverse. It's hard to see because it's dark, but the numbers are literally overflowing out
of the
speedometer. Oh, and need I mention the instant you take your finger
off
the reverse button, the truck stops instantly? Please explain to me why
going in reverse at five trillion miles per hour and stopping is
instantaneous, but getting a truck to stop while it is going forward at
80 miles per hour takes a few seconds.
And you know what? Those aren't the only flaws.
The
game's packaging advertises that the big rigs are hauling illegal cargo
across the country and it's up to you
to evade the police. Well, there aren't any police in the game (and my
truck didn't have a trailer, so I doubt it's carrying much of
anything). The only other vehicle on the track is another big rig
that's supposed
to be your
opponent and you're supposed to
race it to the end of the course. However, there's a problem. It never moves from the
starting line.
You always win and are presented with a lovely trophy and a message
proclaiming
"YOU'RE WINNER!"
If you're really desperate, pressing tab lets you switch between
controlling the two trucks. Doing this periodically might actually give
the impression that you're actually racing. ...Or at least it would if
the game didn't crash
whenever you tried to switch back!
Don't play this game. Please. I'm begging you.
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Conclusion:
Thanks for your
support everyone!
We not only met our $500 goal for the World
Food Programme, but exceeded it,
ultimately raising $600.
That's equal to 2,400 meals
for starving people
worldwide!
The
broadcasts ran every Friday night in October, making for a total of five Mini-Marathons.
During those 53
hours and 25 minutes, we
featured on the Ustream homepage twice
(so whenever someone would
visit Ustream, our program would play automatically). We received 27,712 views,
a new
record for us (surpassed only
by the Legend of Zelda Marathon), over the course
of these broadcasts. The total time viewers spent watching us was over 157 days!
Thanks again!
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