For the third year in a row, a comedy troupe is playing a marathon session of the world’s worst videogame to benefit charity.

LoadingReadyRun is playing Desert Bus, an all too realistic bus driving simulator from an old Penn & Teller unreleased videogame compilation, for 120 hours straight to benefit Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity. So far, the event, which is being streamed live, has raised over $84,000, already eclipsing 2008’s $70,423 figure.

Desert Bus has players pilot a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas in real time at a maximum speed of 45 MPH. The trip takes a full eight hours and the game cannot be paused. Additionally, any incidents or accidents result in the bus being towed back to Tucson and the trip starting over from the beginning. Penn & Teller commissioned the game as a response to the mid-1990s political furor over violent games.

This year’s charity event partners include Rock Band creators Harmonix, Antec, Braid developer Hothead Games and The Escapist, which is hosting a portal for the charity drive on its website.

The event is revenue driven, and in theory endless. As long as donations are increased 7% each hour, the drive will continue.

BioWare's recent censorship of discussions about potential gay characters in the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic did not escape notice by the Penny Arcade crew.

Click here for the full comic.

The Washington State Senate has passed a resolution commending Penny Arcade founders Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik as creative types, businessmen and philanthropists. The legislative body also noted the 10th anniversary of the popular site.

Both Holkins and Krahulik hail from Spokane.

From the resolution:

WHEREAS, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik recently celebrated the comic's 10th anniversary;
and WHEREAS, In 2004, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik launched the first annual Penny
Arcade Expo, a gaming festival... and WHEREAS, The Penny Arcade Expo attracts thousands of tourists from around the globe to visit the city of Seattle...

 

WHEREAS, In 2003, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik created the Child's Play Charity, an organization which raises contributions of money and toys to donate to Children's Hospitals worldwide; and WHEREAS, Child's Play Charity has raised over 4.5 million dollars for sixty different Children's Hospitals since it was established...

GP: Well-deserved!

Via: Kotaku

While gamers continue to debate whether or not the upcoming Resident Evil 5 contains racist imagery, the Penny Arcade crew has weighed in on the issue with a new comic (left).

Incidentally, in a recent GamePolitics poll on the topic, 83% of GP readers disagreed with the idea that there was racism in the game.

For the full PA comic, click here.

Last week, GamePolitics reported on the case of an Indiana mother who complained that her daughter's Baby Pals Nintendo DS game uttered the phrase "Islam is the light."

Our exclusive follow-up with publisher Crave Entertainment explained how developers added the game's audio files and why the "Islam" line is little more than an auditory illusion.

Now, the Penny Arcade crew has waded into the controversy in their inimitable way. Hit the PA link for the full cartoon...

GP: Big thanks to longtime reader CyberSkull for the tip!!

Joystiq reports that Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity raised an amazing $1.4 million for sick children during its recent fund drive:

The annual Child's Play charity fund is known for accumulating outlandish quantities of money from the gaming community -- this year was no exception. Button-mashing altruists not only met the charity's lofty $750,000 goal, they nearly doubled it, bringing in a total of $1,434,377...

...generous gamers surpassed last year's impressive $1.3 million haul (and in the middle of a recession, no less)...

This week's Child's Play Charity Auction Dinner raised more than $200,000 for worthy causes, reports Gabe of Penny Arcade.

Among the items auctioned off was the rather impressive statue at left depicting an Orc from World of Warcraft on his mount.

Simply awesome - both the event and the statue...