CARDBOARDGAMING MAGAZINE

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C A R D B O A R D M A G @ G M A I L . C O M

UPCOMINGGAMES The Next Gen is coming, but that doesn’t mean

everything has been put on hold for its arrival.

Sep. 17KILLZONE:MERCENARY

GRAND THEFT

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WONDERFUL

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ARMA 3

AMNESIA:A MACHINE

FOR PIGS

FIFA 14

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UPAND

COMING(not like that, you sicko)

Mikelat is a Canadian LPer who kind of sounds like what a teddy bear would sound like if he could talk. He plays PC games like Bio-shock: Infinite (on 1999 and blind, no less), as well as XCOM: En-emy Unknown, Metro: Last Night, and Quake 4. A lot of his charm comes from the fact that he is, seemingly good at games rather than just having the personality to carry a let’s play.

Lachy390 is an Australian LPer characterized by quick talking, entertaining vids like his Minecraft Pixelmon mod series. He also played Oblivion, Skyrim, and the Walking Dead. Subscriber-wise he’s just starting out, but his videos are organized and the chan-nel’s viewer interaction is great.

Psychadelicsnake plays games that I certainly wouldn’t play after bedtime, such as the Silent Hill series, Siren Blood Curse, and Penumbra. He’s LPed recent hits as well, like the Last of Us and Tomb Raider, and plays on higher, if not the highest, difficulty set-tings. His commentary is energetic and light-hearted, an interest-ing contrast to the scream-like-a-little-girl-worthy games he often let’s plays.

AussieDard does creative, interesting how-to things in Mine-craft, or, as he calls it, DardCraft. It’s an apt description for the se-ries as he does cool stuff with red stone, sticky pistons, spawning, enchanting, and more minecraft projects. On a random note, he also probably has the best opening sequence for his videos on this list.

TheRPGMinx is the most subscribed to on this list, but also the only girl. She migrated from her previous username a while back, mangaminx, which some may remember for her hilarious Amnesia: the Dark Descent videos and the birthplace of Mr. Face. Now she does a whole host of other games and has new videos six days a week.

Anyone who watches let’s plays knows that the player makes the game. Moderate-ly uninteresting games can be portrayed as fun via a let’s play that brings a personality and life to the game that might otherwise be missing, or it can add to the entertainment val-ue of another. A let’s play com-mentary can lessen the terror of a good horror game or be a companion through an intri-cate plot.

But, best of all, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than playing the games yourself. Here’s some LPers to get you started.

theUp

&Up

BY ASHTON DUNCAN

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For a lucky number of us, a “little help” is having a friend over to com-plete those pesky co-operative achievements, or, in desperate cases, using cheat codes or saves. But not everyone is as fortunate as that.

Some people just need a little more help, and just because it’s extra effort doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing. These charities help out kids in ways you would have found fun when you were their age (and, if you’re reading this, still do.)

CHILD’S PLAYChild’s Play is a charity ded-

icated “improving the lives of children with toys and games in [their] network of over 70 hos-pitals worldwide.” Basically, they, with the help of hospital staff, set up wishlists for kids including games, toys, books, etc.Kids get their presents through

one of two ways: either people donate money to Child’s Play so Child’s Play can buy consoles, games and more for hospitals and therapy facilities, or people can view their local (or not local) hospital’s wishlist and send a gift.Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins

of Penny Arcade fame started Child’s Play in 2003 in response to the media’s negative portray-al of gamers, asking gamers to donate to the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

And gamers did their duty - Kra-hulik and Holkins found them-selves with a garage packed full of toys, games and gifts as well as $250,000. They raised around $10 million as of 2010.

EXTRA LIFE

GAMESAID

GAMERS OUTREACH

Extra Life is a 25 hour gaming marathon that raises money for kids in the Children’s Miracle Network. If you know anything about Dance Marathon, it’s pret-ty similar, only without all the dancing. This year’s 25 hours kicks off at 8am on Nov. 2 and

has every gamer get sponsors for a total donation of $100 or more. The average per gamer do-nation is $200.Victoria Enmon inspired the

Sarcastic Gamer Community to send in video games and buy gifts to keep her spirits up despite her

Gamesaid is a UK-based char-ity that mostly supports oth-er children’s charities, including education, health, housing and social welfare. They also distrib-ute funds to career guidance and sport.

They usually allocate the funds they raise to small/medium-sized charities. Money is raised through industry activities, such as social or sporting events, individual and corporate donations, game packs, and unwanted merchan-dise auctions.

Gamers Outreach is probably the most diverse direct chari-ty in this grouping, having three major projects at its disposal for funding.Project GO Kart funds the con-

struction of portable video game kiosks in hospitals who have a

limited amount of access to ac-tivities outside their rooms.Fun For Our Troops supplies vid-

eo game care packages to troops serving overseas for stress relief, relaxation, and to boost morale and overall well-being of U.S. troops.

sickness. She sadly passed away in January 2008, after which Extra life started, raising over $300,000 in the next two years.

While a gaming component is not required for a charity to re-cieve funding from Gamesaid, it’s still a funding charity run by and promoted by gamers.

Gaming4others is a fundraising event in which gamers donate money to participate in online tournaments. The proceeds are then donated to pre-designated causes or organization.

R E A D E R S U B M I S S I O N SS E N D G A M E S U G G E S T I O N S , C O M M E N T S A N D L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

C A R D B O A R D M A G @ G M A I L . C O M o r @ c a r d b o a r d z i n e

RISE OF THEUPSTARTS

Crowdsourcing the funds for a video game is a relatively new concept, but one that has taken off. Fans directly controlling production may be a revolutionary concept, but for now here are some Kickstarter games for September.

N E V E R E N D I N G N I G H T M A R E S

R E D N E C K A S S A S S I N

S U N L E S S S E A

T E T R A P U L S E

“A terrifying psychological horror game inspired by the developer’s battle with mental ill-ness. Explore nightmares! Branching narrative!”

“Shot down & left for dead, Hirsch Deer is found in the woods by Sasquatch who trains our hero in the art of assassination.”

“Explore a vast underground ocean in your customised steamship! A PC & Mac game in glorious 2D from the creators of Fallen London.”

“Save infinite worlds with the only weapon you have left: your own life force. (PC/Mac/Linux).”