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Via Waxy, I read about a comedy troupe from Victoria, BC undertaking a rather unusual telethon. They’re playing Desert Bus, a hilarious anti-game that’s part of Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors, an unreleased video game from the mid-nineties. From Wikipedia:

The objective of the game is to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in real time at a maximum speed of 45mph, a feat that would take the player 8 hours of continuous play to complete, as the game cannot be paused.

The bus contains no passengers, and there is no scenery or other cars on the road. The bus veers to the right slightly; as a result, it is impossible to tape down a button to go do something else and have the game end properly. If the bus veers off the road it will stall and be towed back to Tucson, also in real time.

Thus far, they’ve raised nearly US $15,000 for Child’s Play, a charity started by gamers that raises money for “toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world”. I sent them $10 just for their tenacity.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 5:45 am and is filed under Games, The Long View. Tag Testing Project: charity, comedy, desert bus, telethon, victoria. Photo by . You can skip to the end and leave a response, or trackback from your own site. If you don't see your comment within a day or so, drop me an email. Sometimes my comment spam filter gets overly zealous.