Tag: Speedrunning

Awesome Games Done Quick 2023 cancels live event over Florida policies

Speedrunning marathon AGDQ 2023 will be online due to ‘COVID-19 dangers and increased aggression towards LGBTQ+ individuals’ in Florida.

Games Done Quick, better known as GDQ, has canceled its 2023 live event that was going to take place in Florida — citing the state’s policies on COVID-19 and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Every year, GDQ organizes two massive video game charity speedrunning events – Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) in the summer and Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ). The organization has raised more than $40 million for various charities, most notably Doctors Without Borders – an international nonprofit organization that aids humanitarian efforts in countries afflicted by war and endemic crises. 

Usually, AGDQ takes place every January with a massive in-person event. The 2023 show was supposed to happen in Florida, but it’ll be strictly online.

“While we would love to return in-person, we’ve determined that to provide a safe and welcoming event to all, it was best that we move away from our originally planned location in Florida,” GDQ said on Twitter. “Given the state’s continued disregard for COVID-19’s dangers (including anti-mandate policies) and an increased aggression towards LGBTQ+ individuals, including the law colloquially known as ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ we do not believe it is a safe place for our community.”

GDQ explained that the Florida venue was chosen back in 2020 and that relocating to another in-person location would be too costly.

“While the move to online will allow us to save some on expenses, we still have considerable costs to recover,” GDQ continues on Twitter. “We are looking to recover it wherever possible, including community support via Twitch subs.”

AGDQ 2023 is taking place from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15, 2022, and will be streamed on Twitch and YouTube.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Speedrunners raise more than $3.4 Million for charity

Blindfolded Sekiro was the highlight.

Every winter, Games Done Quick holds a week-long speedrunning event  on Twitch  where people race through video games as fast as possible. All the while, viewers make charitable donations during the broadcast, and 2022 was a record-smashing success.

Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) 2022 began Jan. 9 and wrapped up Sunday after raising over $3.4 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. As with last year’s event, AGDQ 2022 was held online to ensure participants’ safety during the ongoing pandemic and prevent any  last-minute cancellations  from happening. 

According to AGDQ’s press release, there were several world records broken during the event, including:

The most jaw-dropping spectacle during AGDQ 2022 was runner Mitchriz finishing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice  while blindfolded. Yes, he made it through the notoriously challenging action game by FromSoftware while being unable to see — in about two hours, no less. What’s even more bananas is rarely took damage from bosses.

Check out a clip of Mitchriz’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice run below. There’s a high-quality YouTube mirror here as well.

Games Done Quick’s next event will be the Frost Fatales, which begins on Feb. 27 and goes until March 5 on Twitch.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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Pokémon speedrunner finishes Shining Pearl in under an hour

Yes, already!

A speedrunner finished Pokémon Shining Pearl  in just under an hour.

As first seen by Techraptor, a well-known speedrunner in  Pokémon  circles named  Werster  finished Shining Pearl  in an astonishing 50 minutes and 36 seconds. Yes, barely a week after the RPG came out and folks are already blitzing through it like nobody’s business.

“The remakes are so broken you can beat them in under an hour,” Werster said in the  YouTube video description. “Shoutouts to the speedrunning community around this game, the past week has been a blast and so many different people have contributed towards so much in this game in such a short space of time. It’s been fantastic.”

You can watch the complete Pokémon Shining Pearl  speedrun by Werster for yourself below. Don’t blink, though, or you’ll likely miss five or so tricks necessary to pull this run off.

What’s particularly impressive about this speedrun is that since the Shining Pearl  is so new, even faster times are bound to happen soon. The community will undoubtedly find heaps more skips and tricks in the days, weeks and years to come.

If you’re more of a Pokémon GO  person, we’ve got a bunch of raid guides to help out on your mission to be the very best. Such as how to counter Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres, Regice, Regirock and Registeel during raids.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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