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November 21, 2010, 6:17 am
Posted by: Paul

Coming up at 6:30 PST. We are auctioning off the Sony PSP Uber Prize Pack.

This is 9 PSP games! Pursuit Force, Motor Storm: Arctic Edge, Monsters Deluxe, Jak & Daxter – the Lost Frontier, Loco Roco 2, Daxter, Little Big Planet, Twisted Metal Head On, MLB 10: The Show

November 21, 2010, 6:00 am
Posted by: Jer
Harmonix is Desert Bus for Hope’s longest running corporate sponsor – with us to furnish us with fabulous prizes since year 2, we’ve made it an official Desert Bus tradition to award the Harmonix Prize pack as the ‘grand prize’ of that year’s desert bus. Once again, Harmonix have really stepped up to the plate by donating us the biggest, most impressive bundle they’ve ever done.
This year’s Harmonix Grand Prize includes: Rock Band 3 (83 action packed tracks, Pro Mode, 7 player mode, drop in drop out, hundreds of in game goals, all the bells and whistles!) on the console of your choice along with an Xbox360 Telecaster guitar controller signed by the Harmonix devs!
So how can you win this fabulous prize? As we do every year, all you have to do to be eligible is donate to Child’s Play. At the end of the Marathon, we’ll use the Chipin data to pull the name of everyone who donated more than $5 over the course of Desert Bus 4. We do a random draw and that person wins. Simple as that!
So thank you once again to Harmonix for their incredible generosity! Please visit them online at http://www.harmonixmusic.com/.
November 21, 2010, 12:23 am
Posted by: Jer

Averaging well over $1000 per hour, the Desert Bus keeps going strong! Let’s see how high we can fly this rocket, folks, we’re on track for a huge number toys and games for the kids!

November 20, 2010, 8:42 pm
Posted by: Jer

When Morgan arrived (late) this afternoon to begin his 24-hour shift driving the Desert Bus, he confessed that he had only had about five hours of sleep. Given his condition, the chat became dubious of his awareness, and asked us to set up a donation-based crash pool.

Of course we have obliged, and used this as an opportunity to create another way for you to win a fabulous Desert Bus prize. To be eligible, make a donation of five dollars and a number of cents equal to the hour of his shift in which you expect Morgan to crash. For example, a donation of $5.17 would indicate that you expect Morgan to crash in his 17th hour of driving. A donation of $5.25 indicates a vote of confidence for Morgan, and the expectation that he will finish his shift without incident.

If (or when) Morgan crashes, we will make a random draw from the successful guesses, and give the winner a  Sega DS prize pack, containing Sonic Mega Collection, The Hardy Boys: Treasure on the Tracks and Pictoimage. If you’re looking for an excuse to donate $5, this might be it, and keep watching as we will have a lot of other prizes to give away before the run is out.

November 20, 2010, 8:25 pm
Posted by: Jer

After only 25 hours, one drive, one crash and many many challenges, we have crested the $30,000 mark. The surreality that is Desert Bus continues, so keep watching to see how things unfold!

November 20, 2010, 8:18 pm
Posted by: Jer

Frequent watchers of Desert Bus will be familiar with Pants-on-Head James who, with Rosco, has had many fantastic adventures. Here are some of your interpretations of his fantastic exploits!

November 20, 2010, 7:25 pm
Posted by: Jer
When Fangamer contacted us about donating some T-shirts and keychains, I was super excited. Graham is already a Fangamer fan, owning their fine Special Forces and Bit Boy T shirts, so we can personally vouch for their quality and excellent customer service. The incredible Fangamer megapack prize you can bid on features some of their most popular video game inspired shirts. However, the generous folks at Fangamer didn’t stop there. They’ve donated so many shirts, keychains and other goodies, we have 11 lots of their things – some of which you can bid on, and some of which you can win!
Thank you so much to the generous folks at Fangamer! Please check out their shop online at http://fangamer.net.
November 20, 2010, 6:40 pm
Posted by: Jer

One of the things we like to do to solicit donations and further our torment is auction off awesome prizes. Here is the docket of major auctions you can expect over the next  several hours:

DJ Hero Party Bundle

Do you need 2 turntables and a microphone? Of course you do! That?s why there?s the DJ Hero Party Bundle! The bestselling game, and enough peripherals to make you forget you?re not actually a boss DJ! Generously donated by Freestyle Games!

Tauren Lion plush (DELAYED UNTIL TOMORROW)

This is a plush Tauren Druid in cat form, made with all new materials. He is over a foot long, and is very huggable! One of a kind handmade plush by Serthida, this cat has a very goofy smile and will happily guard your desk. Not for small children, as there are small parts that may be removable

Tetris afghan

This beautiful cozy afghan will keep you both warm and nostalgic as you play Tetris or dream about Tetris or pretend to be a Tetris superhero. Guaranteed to look totally awesome on you, your couch, your bed, etc.

Ramona Flowers bag – denim w/ pink star

This incredibly awesome too-cool-for-words bag has a large pocket inside for a netbook or Kindle, and smaller pockets for a phone, laptop mouse, DS, pens, laminated list of your evil exes, etc. Stars on both sides. Giant hammer not included.

A note from the crafter: “I’ve been sewing for many years, but this is the first handbag pattern I’ve ever created.? I made these after I read the first few Scott Pilgrim books, and knew that just carrying one around would make me feel like a badass.? (I was right.)”

Escapist Games Journalist Prize Pack 1

Ever wonder what it?s like to be a games journalist? Get a little closer to your chosen profession with the Escapist?s Games Journalist Prize pack! Everything here was donated by a REAL games journalist! Pack 1 includes: Mr. Potato Head, The Art of Soul Caliber, Guild Wars game, All Points Bullet T-shirt, Dark Storm Gathering Novel, Police Notepad, Mana Energy Potion, Rise of the Argonaughts soundtrack, The Escapist T-Shirt, Imp Plushie

Also stay tuned overnight (our time) as we’ll be auctioning off a Namco Bandai PS3 Uber Pack:

Bandai Namco PS3 Super Ultra Prize Pack

The Dead to Rights Offensive Attack whistle, Enslaved T, Dragonball 2 DS, Tekken 6 PSP, Dragonball PSP, Dead to Rights, Clash of the Titans, We Cheer 2, Naruto Shippuden DVD

November 20, 2010, 4:59 pm
Posted by: Jer

Yes, we’ve come this far – trouncing our total take from Desert Bus year one, and getting off to a much quicker start than even our record breaking run last year. It’s been a blast so far, so let’s keep the momentum and get this bus back to Tucson!

November 20, 2010, 4:49 pm
Posted by: Jer

LoadingReadyRun’s partner-in-crime from The Escapist has announced his intention to call in to Desert Bus in about 15 minutes. Yahtzee is a true everyman, web series producer, writer and entrepreneur, with his Mana Bar taking Australia by storm.

While I doubt Yahtzee will have time to lambast Desert Bus for us, he’s said he’ll chat for a bit, and maybe auction off some swag to a lucky fan!

If you have any questions for Yahtzee, please feel free to append them to the bottom of this blog post! We don’t promise to get to any or all of them, but we may ask some if time permits.