TheSpeedGamers

TheSpeedGamers
Genre Gaming Marathon
Date(s) 2008-present
Frequency Variable
Location(s) Arlington, Texas
Years active 6
Inaugurated March 14, 2008
Most recent June 20, 2014
Participants Britt LaRiviere, Chase LaRiviere
Website
http://www.tsg.tv/

TheSpeedGamers (also abbreviated as TSG) are a group of gamers based out of Arlington, Texas, who raise money for various charities. They accomplish this by streaming live marathons of video games played over Twitch.tv (formerly Justin.tv). The group was founded by Britt LaRiviere in early 2008 and still hosts marathons regularly. Viewers can interact with the commentators and other viewers via IRC chat on Justin.tv. The group has raised nearly $400,000.00 for at least 16 different charities.

History

Britt LaRiviere founded the group in March 2008. LaRiviere originally imagined the site as a source for gaming reviews, but over time, the idea evolved into forming a marathon group. Finally, they decided that if they ran marathons, then they should do it for a worthy cause. They adopted a Speedrun mentality and ran their first marathon, with a Zelda theme.[1] Since then, the group has continued on for over eight years, hosting multiple marathons and still going strong .[2]

24/7 Streams

Starting in February 2011, TheSpeedGamers started a 24/7 stream. Unlike marathons, no money was being raised. Also unlike marathons, games weren't continually being played. Instead, various music was played while the TheSpeedGamers' fans can chat in the chat room on Justin.tv. For a couple hours each day, Britt or Chase played games as part of an ongoing Let's Play. For the 7 days of the week, they usually played a different game each day. Then, the next week they picked up where they left off the previous week, thus making it a once a week Let's Play update. As of the end of the Metroid Marathon 2011, TheSpeedGamers stopped the 24/7 streams until further notice. On Labor Day 2011, TheSpeedGamers once again started TSG 24/7. In the fall of 2011 TSG 24/7 became TSG Presents!, a more occasional stream than the previous continuous efforts.

On January 24, 2014, TheSpeedGamers rebranded themselves as TSG.tv, with an ongoing overhaul of their website, forums, and other features. To mark the rebranding, the group did an unannounced 24-hour marathon of Sonic and Mario games, raising money for Mercy Corps. Donators had the option to apply their donation toward a total for Mario or a total for Sonic. At the end of the 24 hours, the respective totals were applied as a handicap system for a 40-minute computer-controlled Super Smash Brothers match between Mario and Sonic. The winner of that match would be the franchise for the December, 2014 72-hour marathon, that marathon to raise money for the Rocking H Ranch. Sonic won both the significant majority of the donations and the match.

Notable Marathons

Past Marathons

Marathon/Charity list

Marathon Date Length Charity Money Raised
Zelda Marathon I March 14–17, 2008 72 Hours St. Jude Children's Research Hospital $1,090.00[3]
Zelda Marathon II June 13–16, 2008 72 Hours Giggles Therapy $1,450.75
Mario Marathon '08 July 11–13, 2008 48 Hours None N/A
Metroid Marathon '08 August 15–18, 2008 72 Hours St. Jude Children's Research Hospital $6,123.79
Mother/Earthbound Marathon '08 August 28–31, 2008 55 Hours None; support of American localization (PK Siege) N/A
Halo Marathon '08 September 26–27, 2008 24 Hours None N/A
Halloween Marathon '08 October 31-November 2, 2008 48 Hours Lupus Foundation of America $1,060.00
Pokémon Marathon '08 December 19–22, 2008 72 Hours ACT Today! $5,923.69[9]
Zelda Marathon '09 March 13–16, 2009 72 Hours Ally's House $6,235.39[10]
Mother/Earthbound Marathon '09 May 15–18, 2009 72 Hours Susan G. Komen for the Cure $10,586.00[11]
Metal Gear Marathon '09 June 19–22, 2009 72 Hours None N/A
Final Fantasy Marathon '09 July 17–24, 2009 168 Hours ACT Today! $50,734.63[5][6][12][13]
Mega Man Marathon '09 August 14–17, 2009 72 Hours Earth Day Network $7,188.06
Resident Evil Marathon '09 October 30-Nov. 1, 2009 49 Hours (due to Daylight Saving Time) Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation $16,349.54[14]
Pokémon Marathon '09 December 18–21, 2009 72 Hours Ally's House $18,395.96
Metroid Marathon '10 March 12–15, 2010 72 Hours Halton Autistic Family Support Group (HAFS) $11,616.50
Mother/Earthbound Marathon '10 May 7–10, 2010 48 Hours Susan G. Komen for the Cure $10,749.32
Mario Marathon '10 June 11–19, 2010 189 Hours (due to 21 hour extension) ACT Today! $57,399.00 [8][15]
The Summer of Zelda July 1-Aug. 1, 2010 27 Nightly Streams ACT Today! $20,000.00 *
Assassin's Creed/Prince of Persia Marathon '10 August 20–23, 2010 72 Hours Gulf Restoration Network $10,550.04
Community Stream Month '10 October 2010 N/A ACT Today! $2,075.00
Castlevania Marathon '10 October 29–31, 2010 48 Hours Rocking H Ranch $6,926.50
Kingdom Hearts Marathon '10 December 17–20, 2010 72 Hours BestFriends.org $10,624.65
Pokémon Classics Marathon '11 March 11–14, 2011 72 Hours ALS Association $15,394.03
Metroid Marathon '11 May 6–9, 2011 72 Hours Civic Force $8,251.85
Star Wars Marathon '11 July 8–15, 2011 168 Hours Direct Relief International $11,254.09
Zelda Marathon '11 December 16–19, 2011[16] 96 Hours (24 hour extension) Rocking H Ranch $20,016.00 [7]
Pokémon Marathon '12 June 15–22, 2012 168 Hours ACT Today![8] $59,322.36
Mario Marathon '12 December 14–17, 2012 72 Hours Make-A-Wish Foundation! [8] $11,903.80
Mega Man Marathon '13 March 8–12, 2013 96 Hours Rocking H Ranch $11,880.00
Final Fantasy Marathon '13 June 24-Jul. 1, 2013 [2] 168 Hours ACT Today![8] $32,689.50
Halloween Marathon '13 October 18–21, 2013 [2] 72 Hours Heifer International $14,538.50
Zelda Marathon '13 December 13–16, 2013 [2] 72 Hours Mercy Corps $17,852.00
Mario vs. Sonic Minithon January 24–25, 2014 24 Hours Mercy Corps $1,257.00
Donkey Kong Minithon March 7–8, 2014 24 hours Heifer International $1,128.00
Indie Games Marathon April 25–28, 2014 72 Hours Direct Relief International
Pokémon Marathon '14 June 20–27, 2014 168 Hours St. Jude Children's Research Hospital $32,073.33
Minithon Series July–November, 2014 Varies ACT Today
Sonic Marathon '14 December 12–15, 2014 72 Hours Rocking H Ranch $4,321.00
Total $492,639.28

*: The Summer of Zelda, a month-long effort of nightly streams,[17] was originally designed to raise money for ACT Today! through the Pepsi Refresh Project in place at the time. The second weekend of the month, a user notified TheSpeedGamers that ACT Today! was also in the running with Chase Community Giving on Facebook, a similar project by Chase Bank.[18] With only three days to do it, the community was able to garner enough votes to gain the charity a $20,000 donation for placing in the top 200 charities at the event.

References

  1. McGee, Maxwell High Scores for Hope 2009-2-24. Retrieved on 2010-1-28
  2. 1 2 3 4
  3. 1 2 Marlo Thomas Thank you letter from St. Jude Retrieved 2010-1-26
  4. Gaming For a Cause ACT Today
  5. 1 2 Video Gamers Hold Marathon Session For Charity CBS 11/TXA21 2009-7-21. Retrieved on 2010-1-26
  6. 1 2 Wilcox, Lindsay Would You Play 168 Hours Of Video Games?NBC Dallas-Fort Worth 2009-7-25. Retrieved on 2010-1-26
  7. 1 2 https://twitter.com/TheSpeedGamers/statuses/152231356494135298
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.thespeedgamers.com
  9. 2008 November/December issue of GEE Magazine, Germany
  10. http://nintendogamer.co.za/index.php/news/419-the-speed-gamers
  11. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18414
  12. http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2009/371.html
  13. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/19/charitywatch-thespeedgamers-tackling-final-fantasy-i-xii
  14. TheSpeedGamers' Resident Evil Marathon Will Be Starting Shortly! Official Capcom Website
  15. http://www.act-today.org/TheSpeedGamers-Mario-Marathon.php
  16. http://wiki.thespeedgamers.com
  17. http://www.thespeedgamers.com/summer-of-zelda-schedule
  18. "Another opportunity for the Summer of Zelda".

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, January 25, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.