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Incidentally, the next "Desert Bus for Hope" is coming up on Nov. 19th.

These people are insane. INSANE!

Yeah, God (or Science, or Beer, your choice!) forbid that we do something to raise the quality of life for terminally ill children. WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!? Child's Play may or may not be the best, but in my opinion, it's WAY above the worst. They spawned DBfH, FFS!

I have often said that driving is the world's most boring video game. Get to your destination, while avoiding a multitude of hazards. Think about it: there is nothing positive that can happen during a drive, and the media keeps us relentlessly up-to-date on the negatives. Driving: "stay between the lines, stay between the lines, stay between the lines...*sigh*..." And if you don't pay attention for just one moment: tragedy. The famous video game Desert Bus is actually a more accurate simulation of driving than any Gran Turismo.

Jack Thompson, is that you?

Clearly, you have never played desert bus or Gran Turismo, nor have you actually driven a vehicle in real life. Driving is an immersive, 3d experience, and it really is quite dangerous if you stop paying attention while driving (so put your fucking cell phone, sandwich, and other distractions away until you are no longer driving). Desert certainly is boring, and the only rules are to stay between the lines and nothing positive can happen during a drive (which consists of 4 hour shifts of driving in the desert, with no other traffic and no real distractions to keep your mind on the road, which is nothing like actual driving. Gran turismo, on the other hand, includes tracks that exist in real life. Driving different types of vehicles will give you somewhat of an idea of how those vehicles handle, making adjustments to vehicle in the simulated shops will give you an idea of how those adjustments would affect an actual vehicle, and the physics engine, while not perfect, is much, much, much better than desert bus.

Are you of the opinion that first person shooters are boring? Here is your logical stream: First person shooters are boring because the only outcome is that you might get shot, just shoot the bad guy, just shoot the bad guy...sigh... and if you don't pay attention for one moment, tragedy. The famous video game area 51 is a more accurate first person shooter than call of duty.

By the way, the world's most boring videogame is not desert bus (it gets played with lots of amusing commentation) but rather Tail of the Sun.

I have often said that driving is the world's most boring video game. Get to your destination, while avoiding a multitude of hazards. Think about it: there is nothing positive that can happen during a drive, and the media keeps us relentlessly up-to-date on the negatives. Driving: "stay between the lines, stay between the lines, stay between the lines...*sigh*..." And if you don't pay attention for just one moment: tragedy. The famous video game Desert Bus is actually a more accurate simulation of driving than any Gran Turismo.

I had some friends, Mario Marathon, just recently raise $29,000 in 96 hours playing 7 Mario Brothers games. They raised money for Child's Play. Last year they raised $12,000.

The single smartest thing I think they did was to off-load the broadcast of the event to ustream.tv.

Some amazing amounts of money ($70,000 in 5 days) has been raised by such marathons.

Very cool.

Don't forget Desert Bus for Hope where they raised $70,423.79 in a little over 5 days. As long as you keep paying them (during the pledge drive) they play.

I'm actually much more impressed with this, since it requires constant attention or you veer off the road, and get towed back to your starting point in real time.

Let Pen Jillette explain it!

I think I've found the right game for you. :).

That is actually a great idea. I might start developing a work commuting simulator. Driving to work in real time. Spend up to 2 hours on congested freeways per trip depending on actual server load. With all the great distractions of way-too-cheery morning radio show hosts and spilling hot coffe on your lap (cup holders can be purchased at higher levels, or stolen if you are a rouge character). That is time well spent on those boring weekends or for the unemployed. A game that with a huge potential demographic.

Too complicated. Skip the traffic and other distractions - MMOs don't have budgets to actually add content to their games. And at 2-hours per trip, way too easy to level. Your players will reach the endgame way too soon.

No, instead, you need to concentrate on the driving experience. You want Desert Bus!

Played with teams, it's been played for upwards of 5 days in a charity event.

Penn and Teller once had a game produced, "Desert Bus", in response to complaints that video games were too violent.

The player gets to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in real time at a maximum speed of 45mph. The game cannot be paused. The bus contains no passengers. The road is empty. Nothing happens. If the player makes it to Las Vegas, they score one point. Then a supervisor characters shows up and says "You want to pull a double shift?" The player can then drive back to Tucson. On the return trip, it slowly gets dark. That's it.

If you run off the road, the bus stalls, and eventually a tow truck shows up and tows the bus back to the starting point. In real time.

Somebody got six points once. This is believed to be the record.

Heh, old news - I cited this last week in a research paper.

I also managed to work in a citation of the Desert Bus for Hope fundraiser for the Child's Play charity, as a bit of a contrast.