Whenever I get sick enough to spend the day home from work, I usually console myself with some video games. I've always felt that getting my mind off of whatever vicious virus is making my body its personal breeding ground for mucus helps me to feel better. I'm going to go out on a limb and think that many of you are in the same boat.
It's for that reason that TrueAchievements is holding
The Ultrafun: Halo Forever! (For a day). As we explained in our
post last weekend, our goal is to raise money for
Child's Play, a charity which provides video games, toys and other fun stuff to children who are in the hospital. In short, they are one of the best charities out there when it comes to games and gamers. As a staff, we felt that they were the best charity for our
donations.
Now, I know what you're thinking:
That sounds great, OBJ! How does it all work?I'm glad you asked.
Here's how
The Ultrafun is going to work:
We have staffers broken up into two teams, Red & Blue, who will be playing the campaigns of
Halo 3,
Halo 3: ODST, and
Halo: Reach on Legendary in 4-player Co-Op. They will be kicking off at 13:00 BST (8:00 AM EDT) on July 2nd (this Saturday) and not stopping for 24 straight hours.
Here are the teams!
Team 1: [Red]JayourButterflyEdgedrabikhttp://www.trueachievements.com/lozzy7.htmTeam 2: [Blue]King NothingMatrarchomgeezusW1LLYMANAs we raise money and pass certain milestones, the teams will back out to the main menu add a SKULL, and resume their playthrough with the new skull challenges implemented. Ergo, the more you donate, the more skulls will be added and the more "fun" this challenge will be! Here are the donation milestones, along with a quick description, courtesy of
Halo Wikia:
UPDATE: Several milestones have already been hit! Let's keep it rolling!
• IWHBYD Skull - $100"Unlocks new, often humorous, dialogue for the AI."
• Grunt Birthday Skull - $150"If a Grunt is shot in the head with any headshot-capable weapon, a popping sound is heard, colorful confetti explodes out of it which causes minor damage to nearby enemies, and a sound clip of children cheering from the game
Viva Piñata can be heard in the background."
• Cowbell Skull - $250"Physics impulses are increased. Explosions and melee attacks launch characters and objects farther, but the damage is not affected."
• Catch Skull - $500"NPCs throw many more grenades at an alarming rate. NPCs always drop two grenades when dying."
• Fog Skull - $1,000"Motion Tracker is fully disabled."
•
Tough Luck Skull - $2,500
"Grenades, Needler fire, projectiles and vehicular charges are evaded more skillfully by the AI. Brutes go Berserk more often and Grunts will turn Kamikaze more often."
•
Famine Skull - $4,000
"Dropped weapons have much less ammunition/charge."
•
Thunderstorm Skull - $6,500
"All enemies are promoted to higher ranks."
•
Tilt Skull - $10,000
"Enemy defensive resistances/weaknesses are amplified."
•
Black Eye Skull - $14,000
"No auto-shield regeneration. Only melee attacks cause shields to recharge."
•
Mythic Skull - $20,000
"All NPC's health allocation is doubled."
It has also been hinted that, if we pass $50,000, the teams will commit to playing at least 30 straight hours... or until they pass out.
In the event that the teams SOMEHOW manage to beat the campaigns of all three games before the 24 hours elapses, they will move over to
Halo: Reach multiplayer and take on members of the community in "Big Team Battle" with all eight staffers facing off against eight community members at a time.
If you're interested in signing up to game against the Fundraisers, please join the
Community Gaming Session for Halo: Reach. This session is dependent on both teams getting through all three campaigns. If both teams make it, we will message all those interested and update the front page!
Throughout the event there will be several ways you can follow the action. First and foremost is here, in the
TA Chatroom, where everyone's favorite Content Editor,
Ergo Me Smart, will be answering questions and providing updates on the teams.
Furthermore, several staffers will be Live Tweeting the event:
Jayour -
@jayourdeaddrabik -
@MartynDrabikErgo Me Smart -
@EllisSpiceMatrarch -
@TA_MatrarchKing Nothing -
@DuranDuranSucksButterflyEdge -
@ButterflyEdgeW1LLYMAN -
@W1LLYMANomgeezus -
@omgeezusIf you'd like to add your voice to the Twitter/Ultrafun movement, be sure to use the hashtag: #theultrafun
Finally, and best of all, we will be streaming live on
USTREAM as well as capturing video and posting highlights next week.
Now for the important part... how YOU can help by donating.
Donations for the event are now OPEN and you can donate via the
ChipIn Page. NOTE: ChipIn works with PayPal accounts. Those who use a currency other than dollars can still donate, too! Simply enter the dollar amount you wish to donate then PayPal will convert it so you can know exactly how generous you are in the currency of your choice.
Note that you don't actually need a PayPal account. If you don't have one but wish to donate, simply enter your card details and PayPal will take care of the rest!
At TA, we realize that times are tough, and money is tight right now, but remember that every dollar you donate goes to buy games for sick kids... kids who need that mental distraction and brief respite from illnesses that sometimes don't have a cure. So, please, if you can, give generously.