This ain’t your grandmother’s telethon!
The ever-popular Games Done Quick charity show returns to Herndon, VA on January 7th-14th in support of the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Games Done Quick is essentially that: speed-running video games for charity. GDQ hosts two shows a year, one in January (Awesome Games Done Quick, which supports the Prevent Cancer Foundation) and one in July (Summer Games Done Quick, which supports Doctors Without Borders).
Since their conception in 2010, GDQ has raised over 12 million dollars for charity, all with an average donation of around forty bucks. If this is your first time watching a GDQ (and even if it’s not), check out the Silver Soul guide to AGDQ 2018, and don’t forget to watch January 4th-7th on Gamesdonequick.com or on Twitch.
What to Watch:
Check out the full schedule to see if there are some of your favorite games that we missed, and see all the donation incentives (bids). We’ll list the day of the week that the game is being run, but be sure to check to see what’s playing based on your time zone/region.
Skyrim (Main Quest):
Now a modern classic in whichever format or re-release you play it on, Skyrim’s main questline is being run by Wall of Spain in just fifty minutes. Surely a good attention grabber for the first day of AGDQ. Let’s fus-roh-dah the heck out of cancer!
Sonic Block:
For fans of everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog – here’s the block for you. On Monday, Sonic Advance 3, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and Sonic Mania are being run back-to-back. A high-speed event, Sonic games are always fun and lighthearted to watch at any GDQ. The nostalgia factor is also quite high with this one, and it’s ok – sometimes you just can’t help but sing the City Escape song along with the runners.
Castlevania Mini-Block:
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and Symphony of the Night are being run back-to-back by VB__ and Dr4gonBlitz, respectively. Harmony of Dissonance is up first, and is a much more modern game within the franchise, followed by Symphony of the Night, which is much more of an old-school platormer. If gothic and quirky is up your alley, or if you’re a long-time fan of Castlevania games, these are some fun runs to watch.
The Horror Block:
The always-anticipated “horror block” starting Tuesday evening is a great lineup:
- Left 4 Dead 2 (co-op, all campaigns in just under an hour)
- Dying Light (co-op)
- Resident Evil 7 (new game madhouse in an hour and a half)
- Resident Evil 3 (in an hour, done as a race)
- Silent Hill (in 50 minutes)
- Blood 2: The Chosen (bidwar/donation incentive for Caleb or Ophelia)
Resident Evil 7 is a definite “don’t miss” title for this block, and it’s the first time the game will be run at a GDQ event. Good luck to all the runners on this spooky set!
Bloodborne:
On the final day of AGDQ, heyZeusHeresToast will be doing an all bosses run of Bloodborne in just over an hour and a half. Gonna need some popcorn for this one, Good Hunter!
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:
At Summer Games Done Quick 2017, after meeting the donation incentive, runner Orcastraw finished off the week of speedrunning with her Breath of the Wild run in just 45 minutes. Now, BotW will be the final game once more as atz runs all the main quests in just shy of four hours. Impressive! To top it all off, there are two donation incentives for this run – a bid for the name of the horse, and a bid for the language in which the game is run.
Controversy:
If you missed out on the drama of SGDQ 2017 and the preliminary drama for this time around, we’ve got you covered.
No Super Metroid?:
There seems to be one question on everyone’s mind: where is Super Metroid? It has been a GDQ staple since the very beginning that Super Metroid is included in the lineup, mainly because of the kill the animals/save the animals bid-war that ensues. It’s believed by some to be one of the biggest donation draws of the entire event. Twitter users voiced their concern that Super Metroid was not on the schedule, with some even stating that they would not donate this year as a result. There is speculation regarding if the game itself will be added (along with the kill the animals/save the animals bids) as an additional donation incentive at some point during the week in order to maximize donations. However until (or if) that happens, there is ultimately no way to know if there will even be any animals to kill or save this time around.
Bringin’ the Ban Hammer:
After last year’s GDQs, some fans of the charity show are concerned about the guidelines which the runners are expected to adhere to, and took to the internet to voice their concerns. GDQ has their rules posted on their website, which include that “swearing should be avoided while on stream,” and to “avoid topics that are polarizing or controversial in nature,”in order to keep things “positive” and “family friendly.” However many have questioned the subjectivity of these terms, which makes them hard to police, even though GDQ rules firmly state that they are at the discretion of the event staff. This had also expanded to the Twitchchat and Discord servers for the event, which angered many of their users. The focal point of this seemed to culminate in the banning of an emoji which depicted a man wearing a dress. Some fans felt was used to mock transgender runners and members of GDQ staff. This of course prompted discussions of censorship and the way in which emojis (which in themselves may not have malicious intent) are used in context. If you missed the “MAGA hat debacle” of SGDQ 2017, Kotaku wrote a great article covering the drama.
Silver Soul Gaming 