The final update before we go live, our last prep weekend!

Penny Arcade, Inc. started as a simple webcomic about two roommates waiting for a game level to load. In the intervening thirteen years, it has become the undisputed king of gaming webcomics, spawning a gaming convention, a parallel video series, a video games of their own and Child’s Play.  Between 2003 and 2010, Child’s Play has raised almost nine million dollars. There may be irony in a deeply profane webcomic starting a charity for children, but the enormity of the contribution is undeniable.

The great folks at Penny Arcade and Child’s Play have been nothing but supportive of us and our craziness, and this year they’ve gone the extra mile and donated some amazing games and swag they’ve received (but isn’t appropriate for kids) to us so we can give them away to you.

Thanks to everyone at Child’s Play for making what we do possible. Kristen, Jamie and Robert will be here on Sunday to answer your questions and drive the bus, so be sure to tune in then!

If you’re wondering what kind of company Dracogen Strategic Investments is and why they’d be supporting a charity gaming marathon, it’s probably because you don’t know about the man behind the company, Steve Dengler.

The co-founder of currency conversion website XE.com (currently the 300th most popular website in the world), Steve isn’t just an incredibly successful entrepreneur, he’s also a noted Angel Investor, philanthropist, comic strip character and geek. This year Steve has raided his own personal stash of incredible memorabilia to put together some of the most impressive lots we’ve ever offered. We were so amazed by how much time and effort Steve had gone through to put together these lots, we thought we’d let him fill you in on the process in his own words:

Desert Bus: This is a really generous donation and we’re so floored to have a collection of this magnitude. How difficult was it to pull together? 

Steve: Quite difficult. No single task was particularly difficult, but overall, it was a real challenge. Many of the titles came from my own collection, but I also purchased a number from eBay and Amazon. If you’re floored by the donation, that makes me very happy. But I’m floored by all the people that helped me pull it together, like Tim Schafer, Ken Levine, Chris Avellone, Sean Becker, Tom Hall, John Romero, Jeff Lewis, Felicia Day, and so many others. They all have my sincere gratitude.

I want to give back. I love doing it through business, and I love doing it through charity. I find it immensely personally satisfying. So you could say I’m doing it for selfish reasons.

Desert Bus: Wait, I just re-read my introduction. You’re the Steve in the webcomic MegaCynics? That comic is hilarious! How many of your escapades in the comic are true to life? Do you really get up to all that wacky stuff?

My sister Ash and I started MegaCynics together in April. Dracogen provided the financing and I provided my business experience to help get it going. Most events in the comic have at their core a kernel of truth. And certainly the dynamic you see playing out in the comics is 100% true. Some events really did happen almost exactly as shown. And sometimes something happens in the comic that becomes a personal joke, and then we do it in real life just for fun. Ash and I are having a blast with it.

Steve will be visiting Desert Bus for our kick off weekend, and will be helping us auction off some of the sweet, sweet prizes he’s donated.

It’s a little over 2 hours until we start bussing, we’ve already surpassed last year’s starting total, and things are getting crazy around the Moonbase.

Remember that this year to bid on a live or silent auction you must register for a donor account.

Go forth, and DONATE!

Before we officially start this year’s marathon, the entire organizing committee would like to extend an official thanks to our organizing partner The Escapist.

Once again we are working with the Escapist to promote Desert Bus and bring it to an even bigger audience. The team at Escapist HQ have been working tirelessly to help us this year, creating a special mini-site, devoting advertising space to the event, sending us wonderful swag and helping us reach out to even more companies for sponsorship.

It was the generous support of The Escapist that helped propel us north of $200,000 last year so we’re thrilled to be working with them again this year.

Thank you,

The Desert Bus for Hope 2011 Organizing Committee

Get it? Lots of fun?

It’s often been said (mostly by us) that when your goal is to add value, you get your butt down to Ken “Value Added” Steacy’s place. With decades of aggregated work filling his garage, he’s always more than happy to pull some awesome stuff out of the archives. We help out the children, and Ken gets to reminisce on projects he hasn’t seen in ages. Everybody wins!

Here’s some of the stuff Ken has managed to pull from the vaults for us this year:

• Astro Boy Original Comic Pages – Guaranteed to have been made long before Nicolas Cage screwed everything up for Astro Boy.
• Some art for an unproduced set of Marvel trading cards.
• The original unused art for Space Above and Beyond Issue #1
• The art from “Krol Blade” from the WoW TCG.
• The sketch AND the finished art from a WoW TCG card.

• Eight signed Star Wars trading cards (and two giant cards), including Ken as R2-D2!
• Art from two Spider-Man kid’s books (with the book included!).
• An artist proof from a Spider-Man trading card.
• The original sketch from a Harry Potter trading card.
• What we’re calling The Ken Steacy Trading Card Set, simply because it’s got tons of miscellaneous cards Ken’s drawn, all of them signed.
• An Aurora Borealice megaset: The book, a print and a piece of original art, all signed by Joan Steacy.
• One completely unique print of a sketch of The Joker and Harley Quinn.
• Some rare uncut sheets of Marvel trading cards AND Marvel Masterpiece Trading Cards.

Personally, we hope Ken’s garage never runs out of cool stuff, and even at the rate he’s dispensing with the goods, it’s likely it never will.  You can check out Ken Steacy’s corner of the web at www.kenspubishing.com

Hey everybody, some unfortunate news to report. The planned Desert Bus pre-show with LRR composer Bradley Rains will not be going ahead this year due to a family emergency.

In Bradley’s own words:

Dear LoadingReadyRun and Desert Bus fans,

It’s with a heavy heart that I write to you today to tell you that the LoadingReadyLive! Desert Bus pre-show has been cancelled. My father has had not one but two medical emergencies in as many days this week. He’s stable now, and the prognosis is good, but I must attend to him at this time. 

I will continue to make music for LoadingReadyRun, and we WILL do a free live show for you in the near future, I promise! 

Thank you all for your love and support over the last two and a half years, and happy Desert Bussing!

-bradley

Additionally, from me personally, I know Bradley was putting massive effort (and a lot of money) into this show, so if you happen to have a couple bucks around that aren’t earmarked for Desert Bus, his Paypal address is [email protected]

He’d never ask for it himself, because he’s an awesome guy like that.

Thanks.

What would Desert Bus be if it wasn’t packed full of incredible video game collectibles that you can’t get anywhere else? This year video game lover and philanthropist Steven Dengler has dug deeply for the children this year and put together some absolutely incredible lots of beloved, classic games, all signed by their creators.

What we’re creatively calling “Steve Lot 1” contains:

• A very rare copy of Daikatana (PC), signed three times by John Romero: on the box, cover, and CD!
• Planescape Torment, the very rare “big box” version (PC), signed by Chris Avellone and a ton of the team!
• A very rare copy of Anachronox (big box) (PC), signed by Tom Hall
• Bioshock (PC) signed by Ken Levine
• Freedom Force (PC), signed by Ken Levine
• Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich (PC), signed by Ken Levine
• This lot will be auctioned on November 22nd at around 4:30 pm PST.

I’ll let you digest that for a moment…

“Steve Lot 2” is also a collection of games that would be at home in any museum. It contains:

• A very rare copy of Daikatana (PC), signed three times by John Romero: on the box, cover, and CD!
• A very rare copy of the Doom Collector’s Edition (PC), signed three times by John Romero: on the cover, sleeve, and CD!
• A very rare copy of Anachronox (big box) (PC), signed by Tom Hall and John Romero
• Bioshock (PC) signed by Ken Levine
• Freedom Force (PC), signed by Ken Levine
• Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich (PC), signed by Ken Levine
• Planescape Torment, “small box” version (PC), signed by Chris Avellone and a ton of the team!
• This lot will be auctioned on November 23rd at about 4:30 pm PST

BUT WAIT, there’s more. Steve has also donated:

A delightful collection of Obsidian games that will be auctioned off at 1:00 pm PST on November 19th:

• A very rare copy of Planescape Torment, “big box” version (PC), signed by Chris Avellone and a ton of the team!
• Fallout New  Vegas (PC), signed by Chris Avellone and a ton of the team!
• Knights of the Old Republic 2 (PC), signed by Chris Avellone and a ton of the team!
• Neverwinter Nights 2 (PC), signed by Chris Avellone and a ton of the team!
• Mask of the Betrayer (Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion) (PC), signed by Chris Avellone and a ton of the team!
• AND Alpha Protocol (PC), signed by Chris Avellone and a ton of the team!

A sweet Irrational Lot containing:

• Bioshock (PC) signed by Ken Levine
• A very rare copy of System Shock 2 “big box” version (PC), signed by Ken Levine
• Freedom Force (PC), signed by Ken Levine
• Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich (PC), signed by Ken Levine

AND we also have a Brütal Legend Lot filled with goodies signed by Tim Scafer we’ll auctioning at about 4:00pm PST on November 19th and a Psychonauts Lot that we’re putting up for silent auction on November 19th at 6:00 pm PST.

As always, to participate in these live auctions, all you need to do is sign up for a donor account, register your email and hop into our IRC chat before the auction begins. Detailed instructions on how to do this can be found in our FAQ.

Over our five year history Desert Bus for Hope has gotten quite the reputation, not only for raising ludicrous amounts of money for Child’s Play but also for having some of the best auction lots of any fundraiser, online or not.

This year our official sponsor Wizards of the Coast has pulled out all the stops, donating some jaw-dropping one of a kind Magic: The Gathering and D&D items that are so amazing we’re promoting them ahead of time. If you know anyone who likes Magic, tell them about these lots NOW.

This year we are auctioning off:

• 3 uncut sheets of the latest MtG expansion, Innistrad in FOIL – one commons/land, one uncommon and one mythic/rare. Each sheet contains 121 cards and measures approximately 28” by 39”.
• A MTGO account with 4 of EVERY card currently in standard
• Complete sets of M12 and Innistrad, in foil
• A Legend of Drizzt Rulebook, signed by Drizzt creator R.A. Salvatore & Rulebook author Peter Lee

And we’re GIVING AWAY stuff that’s just as amazing!

These lots are for the serious MtG fan and collector. The uncut, foil sheet of Innistrad commons/land will be auctioned off on Sunday, November 20th, the MTGO account on Monday, November 21st, the foil uncommons sheet will be auctioned on Tuesday, November 22nd and the rares/mythic sheet will hit the hit the block on Wednesday November 23rd.

For more information on all the Wizards of the Coast lots you can check out our live auction listings page.

The foil Innistrad rares/mythic sheet. Holy cow.

Calling all bidders! You could be the future owner of amazing Desert Bus auction lots! Our incredible database of prizes is now live and active, showing you the brilliant corporate and Craft-Along items we’ll be auctioning and giving away this year. So have a look, plan out your bidding and drool to your heart’s content.

We are still hard at work getting all the items and photographs listed, so come back for continued updates to the list. Please be aware that there may be changes made, as we are still finalizing the listings.

And if you haven’t yet, now is the time to sign up for a donor account. It’s fast, it’s easy, and all you need is an email address. This account will help you to track your bids and donations, and will help us to get your items to you more efficiently and with less loss of sanity. We’re crazy enough already, after all. You must have a donor account in order to bid on the auction items. Learn more here.

We’ll see you at the auction block!