Tag: SpecialEffect

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 2016 – It’s all Fun and Games

Last year’s Rezzed was my first one, first time heading to the Tobacco Docks to see dozens of indie developers and their creations, book interviews and come in with press credentials. Last year, as I intended to use Rezzed as the first step in my push for The Mental Attic, I overbooked and spent time running around from one interview to another.

This year I decided to book fewer interviews going for the stuff that really caught my attention and, because it was a new one for me, the games for which the developers, publishers or public relations officials contacted me personally. This is not me being humble, and you can ask my friends—if you can find them—it really isn’t, but I’m not the guy people recognise, I’m not used to video game industry professionals contacting me directly to set up interviews or even telling me they follow The Mental Attic, that’s something that happens to my friends and colleagues but not me. But for this Rezzed it happened, more than once, and it still as new for me now as it was at the start of the event.

Continue reading Rezzed 2016 – It’s all Fun and Games

Two days of Fun – Gameblast 16 Highlights!

From Friday last week to Sunday, I joined an awesome group of people in a 48-hour gaming marathon to raise money for an even more amazing organisation. SpecialEffect is a charity that creates custom controllers and solutions for people with disabilities—gamers just like all of us—so that they can enjoy the videogames that we take for granted. They bring happiness to everyone they help, something that is apparent in the pure and radiating smiles you see in their videos.

It was a long weekend, and while there were some hiccups—nothing is ever perfect—there were some amazing moments, some quite hilarious as well! Here are my highlights of the Gamely Giving Gameblast 2016 marathon! Continue reading Two days of Fun – Gameblast 16 Highlights!

We Came, We Saw, We Gamed – Gameblast 2016!

From Friday last week to yesterday, I joined an awesome group of people in a 48-hour gaming marathon to raise money for an even more amazing organisation. SpecialEffect is a charity that creates custom controllers and solutions for people with disabilities—gamers just like all of us—so that they can enjoy the videogames that we take for granted. SpecialEffect brings happiness to everyone they help, something that is clear in the pure and radiating smiles you see in their videos.

So how could I not join Gamely Giving? It meant that I could help SpecialEffect change someone else’s life, bring happiness to them, help them realise that as long as they want it, achieving their goals and dreams is possible, that having disabilities doesn’t mean they won’t enjoy what other people take for granted. They will, because there are phenomenal people out there, people lke those in SpecialEffect, dedicated to helping them make it so. Continue reading We Came, We Saw, We Gamed – Gameblast 2016!

Gameblasting for SpecialEffect – Gamely Giving Kick-Off!

We’ve prepared for it, planned, collected prizes, set schedules and warmed our broadcasting muscles. We’ve show awesome games, long games, short games and done a bit of everything. Our big boss has been hard at work behind the scenes, whipping us into shape (with an actual whip!) and making sure we have all our responsibilities down with practiced efficiency, while also coordinating everything, so we owe her a lot!

There are plans, spreadsheets and more, but it’s all for this day:

Gameblast 2016 starts TODAY! We’re raising money SpecialEffect, an amazing charity that creates custom hardware and software to help those with disabilities to enjoy the games many of us take for granted. It’s inspiring and humbling to see them at work, and their success stories will melt even the coldest heart. Continue reading Gameblasting for SpecialEffect – Gamely Giving Kick-Off!

Blast Off for SpecialEffect – GameBlast 2016

In 2014, a group of friends asked me to join them for a charity event called GameBlast. At the time I didn’t know anything about it nor about the charity they were backing, SpecialEffect. When they told me about it, I found the organisation’s work inspiring. Now, as I go into a second GameBlast with that team, Gamely Giving, It’s an honour to be part of this effort, to be another Gameblaster. Continue reading Blast Off for SpecialEffect – GameBlast 2016

EGX 2015 – Day Three

I will be honest. I wasn’t looking forward to EGX Day 3. I was tired and aside from the interviews I had planned, I had pretty much seen everything I had wanted to see at EGX.

But I did make a promise to the Great and Legendary Ben to try out one of the AAA games for him, to brave the long queues and give it a whirl. But because this was a bigger day, Saturday after all, I could only do Just Cause 3. As someone who’s never played a Just Cause game before I have to say I loved it. There was so much freedom to do as you wished and the potential for creative destruction is outstanding. Continue reading EGX 2015 – Day Three

EGX 2015 – Day One

This is my first EGX and my first time at the Birmingham NEC, so I was so fortunate to be on the bus with developers and locals going to the event, meaning I just had to follow them. The queues to get in with the early access crowd—as I didn’t know there was a press entrance—were insanely large, something that honestly shocked me.

This was an intense day. It was my first time at an Expo. I had to find a rhythm between exploring and interviewing. Made me wish I had some backup, to rein me in sometimes, but it’s all part of the experience. Continue reading EGX 2015 – Day One