The Rezzed 2018 Experience

This was my worst Rezzed so far, though I’ll admit that my swollen hurt leg is an important factor in that statement. I have a knack you see, a knack for injuring myself in the stupidest ways imaginable. I’ve twisted an ankle getting out of a house through a ground floor window and last week I tripped and fell extremely hard on my left knee and shin on the way to answering the intercom on my flat. Yeah, that’s the level of athleticism we’re working with here. So, of course, Rezzed was a painful affair and the reason I didn’t stay until closing time on Friday, left 3 hours into Saturday and didn’t even go on Sunday.

On the upside, I managed to play everything I wanted to play and managed to get thoroughly annoyed by the organisation of the event, so let me tell you this story! Let’s start with the annoyances! Continue reading The Rezzed 2018 Experience

Extra Life 2017 – Tabletop RPG Time!

Extra Life is this Saturday! I’m really excited to take part this year and to raise money for McMaster Children’s Hospital, part of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Continue reading Extra Life 2017 – Tabletop RPG Time!

Summer Games Done Quick 2017 is ON!

It’s that time of the year again, when speedrunners from around the world get together for a week-long marathon of game, space and time breaking playthroughs of both famous mainstream games and some obscure gems of the gaming world of which only the runners themselves and their community have heard of.

Yes, it’s Games Done Quick, specifically Summer Games Done Quick, raising money and awareness for Médecins Sans Frontières, aka Doctors Without Borders. Last year the speedrunners community raised nearly $1.3 million and you can be sure they’ll attempt to beat that record this week, using their amazing incentives to draw donors. Continue reading Summer Games Done Quick 2017 is ON!

Gamely Giving’s Gameblast Starts NOW!

As the title says, we’re finally kicking off our charity event, our delayed participation in SpecialEffect’s Gameblast event. We’ll be playing for the next 72 hours with a variety of genres and video games, some new, some old and some borrowed or imposed to us.

All money raised during the event will go directly to SpecialEffect, a fantastic organisation which develops custom solutions in software and hardware to help those with disabilities enjoy video games to their hearts’ content.

Go to https://www.twitch.tv/gamelygiving to check out our stream. The first player is Pete, kicking it all off with Crysis for the next 6 hours. At 10pm, Nathan takes over with some fun time hunting mechanical animals in Horizon Zero Dawn.

If you’d like to donate to our cause, you can do so in two ways:

  • Go to our JustGiving page and donate from there
  • Text ‘GGGB99 £5’ to 70070

But if you can’t donate, don’t worry, you can still help us achieve our goal. As we mentioned it on the Gamely Giving site, these are the other ways in which you can help us out!

If you’re wondering when I’m going live, it’ll be tomorrow at 10am, playing Super Mario Galaxy 2. I hope to see you all there.

Now, stop reading this and go to our Twitch channel and join us for three days of gaming fun!

 

Gamely Giving’s Gameblast 2017!

SpecialEffect is a UK-based charity organisation which develops custom solutions—software and hardware—to allow people with disabilities to enjoy videogames. I’ve mentioned SpecialEffect in the past, particularly when at an EGX or Rezzed event as they always have a booth present, and I’ve mentioned some of these solutions and how amazing I’ve found them, be it the chin-based controls for Rocket League or the Eye-tracking controls for Minecraft.

SpecialEffect, much like other non-profit organisations with ties to the gaming community, has its annual game-centric fundraising event. It’s called Gameblast and in the past couple of years I’ve had the opportunity and pleasure to do my little bit as part of the Gamely Giving team, comprised of writers from fellow websites, such as GeekOut South-West, Later Levels and the now defunct 1001Up.

Gameblast 2017 took place on the last weekend of February but for several reasons, we couldn’t take part in it, so we’ve decided to hold our own belated Gameblast next week and upping the ante compared to the traditional single-day event. We’ll be broadcasting our charity stream for 72 hours, from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th of April 2017. Continue reading Gamely Giving’s Gameblast 2017!

Rezzed 2017 – The Experience

This year it was a different Rezzed for me. I couldn’t make it all three days, having only time for the closing and busiest day of the event, Saturday. Because of it I decided not to book many appointments, only settling for three: Square Enix Collective, Bandai Namco and the devs of Formula Fusion. The last one intrigued me despite not being one of my usual genres. Continue reading Rezzed 2017 – The Experience

Extra Life 2016

Around this time last year, I was getting ready for Extra Life, putting together a list of games to play, prizes to give away, conditions for raffle entries and of course, the all-important donation goal. I worked tirelessly on this, getting in touch with game developers for keys, Blue Microphones for a Blue Yeti as grand prize and coordinating with the rest of the Tomb Raider Community Team. Continue reading Extra Life 2016

Rezzed 2016 Kickoff!

It’s that time of year again isn’t it? It’s Rezzed time, baby!

For those of you who don’t know Rezzed is a yearly gaming event, the little brother to the massive EGX—formerly Euro-Gamer Expo—with a greater focus on independent developers and titles. It starts today and will run until Saturday at the Tobacco Docks in London. Continue reading Rezzed 2016 Kickoff!

Here Comes a New Challenger! – Extra Life 2015

Last week I announced I was taking part in this year’s Extra Life, to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals as part of the amazing Team Tomb Raider Community.

Last year I was part of another site’s writing staff and through them I had the honour, the pleasure and the privilege of participating in Gameblast 2014, raising money for SpecialEffect, a UK-based organisation that focuses on helping people with disabilities enjoy the world of gaming and in turn helping them through gaming. It was a wonderful experience that left me with the desire to do more. Continue reading Here Comes a New Challenger! – Extra Life 2015