Returners Gaming

March Marathon Madness!

2012-01-29T16:47:00.002-06:00

Oh wow, there's some activity going on in this place. It must be a sign of the apocalypse. But then again it might just be because we're ready to rock this charity gaming thing again. You all probably thought we forgot about it or that we were going to throw in the towel, but no, that'd be where you're wrong. We're not about to up and quit, especially after our last marathon was the most successful we've ever had and because we feel awful for having to cancel the final marathon of last year.

So what's this news all about? It just so happens that our canceled marathon of last year is coming back in full force. That's right, we're going to be rocking the Community Choice marathon this year to open things up. I know a lot of you might have been expecting Zelda again, but frankly we felt we owed this marathon to you guys and so it shall be! But don't worry, there will still be plenty of Zelda to be had during the marathon. We've still got all of the games you guys voted on for us to play, so no worries there. We're even going to be putting up some new polls as well for more games to choose from!

I know, I know, you're all asking what the charity is going to be, but the simple fact of the matter is we're not telling just yet. Expect it in the next week or two though. We've got to build that suspense somehow, right? You might also be asking when this event is going to go down, and that I can tell you. The marathon is scheduled for March 16th-18th and is going to be kicking off at 6pm CST (that's 12am for you GMT folks) like they always do.

There are some other things that are going to be implemented after this marathon too, so look forward to that as well, but just like our charity for this marathon, all of those lovely little things are a secret right now.

So there you have it! This March, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, we will return! Mark the revival on your calendars my friends and be there so we can have another successful marathon

NEW Returners Podcast!!!

2011-12-01T10:38:00.004-06:00

Check it out the new episode of the Returners Podcast.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Forums: http://returnersgaming.proboards.com/

Vote on your winner for the Digital Thunderdome here at
http://returnersgaming.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=help&action=display&thread=469

and your gameplay choices for the Community Choice Marathon which will be posted at a later date.

Final Fantasy Marathon Donation List

2011-07-08T00:44:00.002-05:00

The donation list for the Final Fantasy marathon is up on the forums, so be sure to check it out and let us know if you would like your name removed from the list or if there is another name you would like to go by. Finally, all of the work for this marathon is over, so we'll see all of you in August.

Final Fantasy Wrap-Up

2011-06-25T01:51:00.002-05:00

It's been a little long in coming but we've got the Final Fantasy marathon's wrap-up post now. There's a lot that can be said about this marathon. First and foremost it was probably the best executed marathon we've had since the second Zelda marathon and not much went overly wrong with it. A few things did, but they don't need to be mentioned. We would like to thank Doctors Without Borders for allowing us to raise money for them once again. They have been nothing but great to work with and we definitely look forward to working with them in the future. Further we set a new donation total record for our marathons, with the total coming in at $2, 261.00 and while I'd hoped to hit the second goal of $3,000, we'll take the 2k mark and then some with pride. And everyone that was at the marathon should be filled with a sense of pride to for being part of the equation that helped us to reach that goal. Everything that watched deserves a big thank you from us and especially those of you that donated. A big hand goes out to all of you, especially Tronika who single-handedly covered the majority of that final total. We would also like to take a moment to thank some people that helped out a bit more directly with the execution of the marathon. First we would like to thank Adam, or as people more likely know him, Tailz64 from Bonus Stage Marathons for running both Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III for us. That was a lot of quality gaming for one person to be expected to do. We would also like to say a very big thank you to Essentia from Speed Demos Archive for helping us out with the on the spot planning (poor as it might have been) Final Fantasy VI race that otherwise would not have happened without her. Thank you very much for that Essentia, even if it wasn't much of a race.

As always we will be posting the complete donation list on the forums, but it probably won't be up for a little while. Once again, if you would like your name to not appear on the list or if there is another name you would like to go by, please connect us and let us know and we will get it taken care of as soon as we possibly can.

That's pretty much all that needs to be said. Keep in touch with us to see when the next marathon will be exactly, and what charity we will be raising money for. There will be a wide selection of games played and some of them will have been chosen by you, the viewers of the marathon. So we hope to see everyone again in August and maybe we'll see some new faces as well.

Killer Reviews: Portal 2 by Jerry

2011-06-03T14:09:00.003-05:00

Introduction/Initial Thoughts

Valve released the sequel to its innovative and popular game Portal on April 19th, 2011 but can they keep momentum in the sequel or is it doomed to go cakeless? In this installment I take on GLaDOS, again, to see if this game is worth the hype this time on, Killer Reviews.

Plot

Portal 2, as you would assume, takes place after the first installment and some time after the events of Half-Life 2. Aperture Labs has fallen into great disarray through the years but even after GLaDOS’ apparent destruction following the events of the first Portal the malicious AI is still functional but laying dormant.
In the single player campaign you play once again as Chell, the ever reticent protagonist from the first game, who awakens to find herself in a storage unit dressed up as a welcoming hotel room. Chell is almost immediately greeted by a blue-eye personality core named Wheatley who is dead set on escaping the facility with your help. During your escape Chell discovers that GLaDOS is still functional and is still holding a grudge against Chell for “murdering” her all those years ago.
GLaDOS begins to rebuild the ruined facility, now that her rival test subject has been revived, and forces Chell to participate in more tests. With help from Wheatley you escape the test chambers and confront GLaDOS a second time forcing her to relinquish command to Wheatley. Wheatley then becomes drunk with power and forces you to team up with your arch-enemy in order to take down yet another psychotic albeit idiotic and dull-witted AI.
The cooperative campaign not only introduces two new characters but, has its own unique plot and setting making the co-op experience an anomalous and enjoyable one. You are thrust into the control one of two modified robots equipped with portal guns and are sent, by GLaDOS, through a complicated series of test chambers known as the “Cooperative Testing Initiative” and takes place chronologically after the single player campaign.
Unlike Chell these robots, dubbed Atlas and P-body make “expressive noises” in order to communicate and were developed to work in concert with each other. Atlas and P-body are taken through 5 test chambers, four of which prepare the bots to “venture outside” in order to retrieve a data disk leading to a location known as the “Vault” where GLaDOS claims more humans can be found.

Score: 8.0

Presentation

Portal 2 uses the same engine as the first installment but the developers have made improvements to the engine itself to make way for any new games they release. The Source engine has made some great leaps in the years Valve has been using it by taking several aspects and models from their other games including the dynamic lighting model used in the first “Left 4 Dead” and the innovative dynamic music generation program used in the “Left 4 Dead” sequel. In addition to these, due to the new fluids introduced to the game, Valve had to develop a new physics/texture model called “blob-tech” allowing the accelerant and repellant fluids interact with the environment correctly. All of these factors are used to create an inviting environment which would otherwise be cold and bland.
The developers at Valve make Portal 2 an experience that is not only as satisfying as the first, but gives the environment much needed personality, and even emotion. I think the most interesting thing about Portal 2 and its environment is that you get to tread and explore more varied areas than the first such as the bowels of the Aperture Science Facility, but also some spaces where nature itself has began to retake after the facility has fallen into disrepair. Several rooms must be reassembled due to this as well which gives the environment, as said earlier, far more personality than in the first and can be considered a character in its own right.

Score: 7.0

Gameplay

Portal 2 makes no real changes to the controls or even the gameplay, except for the usage of 3 new gels making the game familiar without being just another stale remake. In the long run you need to think of the first Portal as a brave experiment in which we see gameplay aspects from the games forefather, Narbacular Drop, introduced into a regularly combat heavy genre in order to create a new and exciting sub-genre in games. The sequel on the other hand takes these elements and adds more from the innovative minds at Digipen to create a new yet comfortably familiar feel to an already ground-breaking model.
Gameplay in Portal 2 involves entering a chamber, solving the containing puzzle, and leaving just to start the process over again. Portal 2, like in its predecessor, breaks up an otherwise mind-numbing task into a fun and entertaining laundry list of tasks by use of the Portal Gun. This time around the developers introduce several new objects and mechanics into the game including: blue Repellant Gel which causes your character to be propelled away from surfaces, orange Accelerant Gel which drastically increases you running speed along a surface, and white Conduction Gel allowing you to spawn portals on surfaces which you otherwise are unable to, and more.
These gels as well as the rest of the new Portal 2 items and mechanics spice up a game which would otherwise be a longer copy of Valve’s first innovative and surprisingly popular gaming experiment.

Score: 9.0

Writing and Casting

Portal’s original writer Erik Wolpaw returns to write the games script in additional to Chet Faliszek, main writer behind the Left 4 Dead series, and National Lampoons Jay Pinkerton. The three split forces to work on the single and co-op campaign which was developed in tight coordination with the gameplay to produce a more “intimate feel” for the game and to prevent from revealing spoilers when describing achievements in-game. The story and script mirrors many of the ideas and elements in the pervious game to contrast the destruction of the Aperature Science Facility during Portal, which gives the building a “living breathing place”.
Ellen McLain returns in the sequel to reprise her role as the murderous AI GLaDOS but isn’t the only great voice actor casted. The ever eccentric Wheatley is brought to life by British writer, comedian, and actor Steven Merchant who makes an otherwise dull blue-eyed orb burst with satirical hilarity. Aperture founder and CEO, Cave Johnson, is voiced by J.K. Simmons who is the perfect fit for the character who spits out side-splitting information about Aperture’s earlier experiments and plays a pivotal role in the introduction of the new gels.

Score: 9.0

Final Thoughts

Portal 2 subtly adds elements to an otherwise flawless gameplay model and strictly emphasizes the “If it isn’t broken don’t fix it” philosophy that so many sequels ignore. When you combine the single player and multiplayer campaign’s plots you can look forward to upwards of 10 hours of gameplay which is nearly 5 times the content included in the first installment. Sadly this boost of content leaves no real reason for repeat playthroughs and they’ve added no additional test chambers as they did with the first game.
The additional features, on the other hand, can give you many reasons to return to Aperture’s halls including promotional videos, in-game developer commentary, and several hidden Easter Eggs. The plot is nothing to write home about but the script makes up for it as it is filled with witty humor and laugh-out-loud moments. All in all Portal 2 is an experience well worth the 4 year wait and is worth picking up and even buying if you enjoyed the first or even if you enjoy puzzle games in general.

Score: 8.0

Total Score: 8.2

Returners Podcast Episode 1

2011-05-31T20:43:00.003-05:00

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Final Fantasy Marathon

2011-05-04T23:07:00.001-05:00

The Final Fantasy marathon begins June 9th and will go until the 14th. That’s 120 hours of Final Fantasy. We’re raising money for Doctors Without Borders this time around and we’ve raised money for them before, but if you don’t know about them, they’re a group that helps provide medical and relief aid to regions affected by war, famine, disease, natural disasters and other tragic events. Recently they’ve been helping with the Japan relief effort as an example of the sort of things they do.

We’re, as always, going to be using the ChipIn widget to collect donations. However you will need a registered PayPal account to use the widget. You do not need to use PayPal to donate however; you can still use a credit/debit card or a Visa prepaid gift card. Because PayPal takes a small amount from all transactions as a service charge, we ask that you please at least donate a minimum of $1.00.

The following games are being played, and where it is important the version of the game being played is noted:
Final Fantasy I (Dawn of Souls)
Final Fantasy II (PSX)
Final Fantasy III (NES)
Final Fantasy IV (SNES)
Final Fantasy V (SNES)
Final Fantasy VI (SNES or PSX)
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XII

We may play FFXIII but currently it’s still being debated if we have enough time to get through it as well as all the other games.

We will be auctioning off naming rights to characters in each game. You can PM us your amount donated and the name you wish to have used for a specific character or leave a comment in the ChipIn with the amount donated and the name you want used (either way we will have to make sure the donated amount has been received before it can go towards the name being used, but we do prefer comments left in the ChipIn so we can read them on the commentary stream). Because FFIV lets you rename characters multiple times you may donate to have a character’s name changed at each Namingway passed during the course of the game. We will also be taking donations to go out of our way to fight the optional superbosses in the games. More on this will be coming later as it will be up to the individual players of the games to decide if they want to go out of their way and how much must be donated to fight each boss.

That’s the way things stand for now, but we’ll update as we know more. We hope to see a lot of old and new faces at the marathon, and remember even if you can’t donate you can still help us by spreading the word as much as possible either over the Internet or locally where you live. Ideally you could do both, a lot, from not until the marathon ends.

Well, that about does it for now. All of us hope to see you at the marathon!

The Returners Webcast

2011-04-30T21:18:00.003-05:00

Hey, it's a little late in coming, but here's the first episode of the Returners webcast. The topic of discussion is Graphics vs. Gameplay so we're hoping that you'll enjoy it. Please remember to vote for who you think would win in the Knife Fight and be sure to leave any comments and questions for us and we'll get them addressed in the next episode.

Part One: Here
Part Two: Here

Z-Day Tri Donation List Up!

2011-04-18T16:00:00.002-05:00

As with the past marathons, so too with this one, the full donation list is up on the forums. As always, if you would rather not have your name appear on the list or if you would like it to be changed to something else, please send us an email letting us know and we'll get everything taken care of ASAP. Once more, we would like to thank everyone who turned up to watch the marathon and donate.

Z-Day Wrap Up

2011-03-30T19:13:00.003-05:00

The marathon came and it ended. Things when mostly smooth except for a few technical problems at the end. That shouldn't be much of a problem in the future though. The gameplay for the marathon was stellar and we'd like to give our big thanks to Tailz64 and Cornshaq of Bonus Stage Marathons for their help in this marathon. They've always done good work for us and helped us pull off successful marathons and they run good marathons as well. Everyone should make sure to check out their next marathon in April.

Surprisingly donations are more than were expected. The marathon was not promoted at all successfully and turn out was less than optimal but still we managed 62% of our goal by marathon's end and the donation window will remain open for another four days. We are hoping that people will still want to give right up to the end and help us get closer to that goal.

We also offered a link to the Red Cross donation page to help with the relief effort in Japan and though we're not sure who donated to that particular cause, our thanks go out to anyone who did. You've helped make the lives of people in need better, even with the donation of but a few dollars and that's something to be very proud of.

As for sites which promoted us, there weren't many that we know of, but we would like to mention the ones we do know of and offer our thanks to them. So our very greatest thanks goes out to the following sites for their help in making this marathon as successful as it was:
Game Marathons
Link's Hideaway
Zelda 101
Zelda Europe

If any other sites promoted the marathon, please get in touch with us and we will put a link up for you. It is the least we can do for the help a simple news post about the marathon can have.

Finally when the donation window closes we will be putting up the donor list in our formus as we do with every marathon. If you would like us to omit your name or use a different name than your real name please get in contact with us and let us know.

That about wraps everything up. We will see everyone in June for the Final Fantasy marathon. Please do look forward to it. All of us here certainly are.

Z-Day Tri!

2011-02-21T23:50:00.007-06:00

So it comes to pass that the first marathon of 2011 draws near. Coming Friday, March 25th we will be embarking on a trip to the mystical land of Hyrule once more to beat Ganon down again to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association. However this time things are going to be a little different. As we are only going to be going for 48 hours (though we might just extend it, who can say?) we will not be playing through the entire series. Instead we will be playing through a selection of games that will most likely not take the entire time to complete. Therefore we will be challenging ourselves by then either a) doing challenging things in the games we’ve already played through based on what you, the viewers want or b) playing through games in the series we haven’t practiced based on what you want. Those who donate can leave comments on the ChipIn telling us what you would like to see done.

The games to be played are as follows:
The Legend of Zelda (beginning with ten minutes of being played blindfolded before the real game starts!)
Zelda II
A Link to the Past
Link’s Awakening (any% and 100% runs)
Oracle of Ages
Ocarina of Time
Potentially more to come! (Who are we kidding? There most certainly will be more to come)

All donations go to the Alzheimer’s Association and anyone who has a PayPal account or some form of credit/debit card may donate via the ChipIn widget that appears on the site. The ChipIn will be put up the Monday before the marathon and will remain open to collect donations until a week after the marathon ends. With that, we hope to see a lot of new and familiar faces come March!

Metroid Marathon Wrap Up

2010-09-06T12:38:00.002-05:00

And so another marathon comes to a close and the season is over. Next year promises to be a fun-filled experience for everyone with Zelda, Final Fantasy, and games selected by you, the community, for us to play. We’ll be getting all of the players to put up a list of games you can select from soon enough. As for this marathon, it was a great deal of fun, and we ended with $1,050 in donations. Not bad at all. First and foremost, we would like to thank Child’s Play for letting us raise money for them again. They’re always a pleasure to work with. Secondly we would like to thank you, all of the viewers and donors. Without you we’d never get anything accomplished during these things and it’d just be a bunch of weird people playing video games on the Internet. You make these events and we thank you for that. A special thanks needs to go out to Tronika for helping us out by demoing Other M before it was even released. It was very awesome of him to do that.

Now we would like to thank the people that helped us out and promoted us on their sites. First of all, Cornshaq needs to be mentioned for running Metroid II for us. He does good work even when he has his own marathons to plan out. We’re lucky to have him around and appreciate all of the work he puts forth. Now for the short list of sites that supported us (that we know of). If you posted something about this marathon and aren’t mentioned here, just send us an email with a link to the post and we’ll be sure to get you mentioned here! And here they are!

Total Video Games
Metroid Recon
The Metroid Database

The donor list will be up shortly. As always if you would like your name removed from the list or if you would like something put up in place of your name, be sure to email us with that information and we’ll get it all sorted out. Thank you again for making this marathon successful and we hope to see you next mission!

Metroid Marathon Wrap Up Coming

2010-08-30T21:41:00.002-05:00

After we've recovered from the marathon we'll be putting up the wrap up post for it here. After the donation window closes we'll be putting the donor list up on the forum as well. Remember that you've got until September 6th to donate in case you haven't. Well, we'll see everyone next year when we kick off the marathoning season again.

Metroid Marathon!

2010-07-22T16:10:00.002-05:00

Kicking off Friday, August 27th at 6:00pm CST we’re going to be tackling the Metroid series. Every game in the series will be played through at least once during the 72 hour period in an effort to raise money for Child’s Play. Those awesome people at Penny Arcade started this charity to help provide a little bit of joy in the lives of children requiring lengthy hospital stays during their treatments. We’d like to help them bring some happiness to these children’s lives with your help. More information about Child’s Play can be found here. With that said, on to the game list!

Metroid
Metroid: Zero Mission
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Metroid II: The Return of Samus
Super Metroid
Metroid Fusion

We’re going to be running through the games as fast as possible and if there’s time left over we’ll be going back through to do 100% runs and other such challenges, depending on what you, the views, are willing to donate to see!

Megathon Donation List Up

2010-06-16T00:27:00.002-05:00

The donation list for the Megathon has been put up on the forums. As is always the case, if anyone doesn't want their name to appear on the list or has a preferred name they would like to be listed under, fire us an email and we'll get it changed ASAP. See everyone in August!

Megathon Wrap-Up

2010-06-12T00:47:00.003-05:00

Hey! We're recovered mostly. So here's the wrap for the Megathon. It was awesome to say the least, and we're glad to have broken the $1,000 mark on a second straight marathon. Here's hoping that we'll do it again come August. Donations are still open until the 14th of June so keep it going guys! The Alzheimer's Association appreciates every donation that comes their way. It's a little disappointing that we didn't make it through every game though. We came up short by two. Mega Man X6 and X7 were not completed, but 20 out of 22 games isn't that bad is it? We're going to be throwing up the R being shaved into James' chest on our YouTube channel and we'll be announce on the forums when we'll be streaming the blind runs of MMX1-X3 (Expect probably the last week of June or the first week of July for that). We might try to shoot for beating more than one boss in those runs as well, but don't expect to see the games getting beaten like that. We're good at Mega Man, but we're not that good.

Now for the thank you round, and we've got a decent amount of people to thank this go around. First of all we would like to thank everybody that donated and everybody that helped to spread the word during the marathon. These events would be absolutely nothing without you guys. We're only here to provide the entertainment. It's everybody that comes out to view, donate, and promote that are the real heroes of this story. Special thanks goes out to Tronika who gave way more than was necessary. We appreciate that and we know everybody at the Alzheimer's Association appreciates it. And now for the specifics of the people that helped during the marathon and the sites that promoted it:

First among the list are people from two other marathon groups. We would like to thank Cornshaq, Alen McDohl, and Tailz64 for helping out with commentary and awesome gameplay during the marathon. We urge everybody to check out their marathons as well over at Bonus Stage Marathons. We would also like to thank Tom for helping out by playing Mega Man 9 and you can see his marathons over at Ocean City Trinity.

We would also like to thank the following sites for promoting the marathon:
Capcom, because you were awesome for promoting us.
Game Marathons
Pure Nintendo
Link's Hideaway
Zelda Universe
Jgonzo over at Capcom-Unity
Protodude's Rockman Corner
The Mega Man Network
MegaManX9.com

Finally we would also like to thank every last forum that allowed us to post something about the marathon even if that post might have potentially been in violation of some of their posting rules about advertisement. Thank you guys for not killing our posts before anyone had a chance to see them. Also to any other sites or people that might have promoted the Megathon and would like us to mention them by name, please send us an email with your site's name/your preferred online name and a link to the promotion and we'll be happy to include you in the list above.

That about does it for this marathon. We'll be releasing the first round of information about the Metroid marathon next week and we hope to see everybody in August for another awesome time helping out a good cause!

Megathon Almost Wrap-up Post

2010-06-09T20:48:00.001-05:00

Hey guys! No worries, the wrap-up post is going to be coming, probably this weekend. We're all still recovering and getting things in order after the marathon. We'll also have information about the Metroid marathon soon, so look forward to the next week for info! Until then, later and thanks to everyone that came to the marathon!

The Megathon Explained!

2010-04-11T23:27:00.008-05:00

That's right, we're at it again and so soon after the $1,000+ Zelda marathon for Doctors Without Borders. This time around we're going to be playing through 22 Mega Man games in 72 hours while raising money for the Alzheimer's Association. Their local branch is helping us out quite a bit with this and we'd like to thank them for that. The group's mission is simple: to eliminate Alzheimer's disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. For more information on them and our local chapter, please head over to their site.

The marathon is going to kick off June 4th at 6:00pm CST and it'll go through to June 7th at 6:00pm CST. The games that will be played are as follows:
Mega Man 1
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Mega Man 4
Mega Man 5
Mega Man 6
Mega Man 7
Mega Man 8
Mega Man 9
Mega Man 10
Mega Man X
Mega Man X2
Mega Man X3
Mega Man X4
Mega Man X5
Mega Man X6
Mega Man X7
Mega Man X8
Mega Man Zero
Mega Man Zero 2
Mega Man Zero 3
Mega Man Zero 4

And finally some things that everybody should do!
Mail a Friend!
Join the Facebook Event!
Up Vote the Megathon on Reddit!
Vote for the Megathon on Mixx!
Vote the Megathon Up on Slashdot!
Digg the Megathon!
Tweet the Megathon!

Bonus Stage Dragon Quest Marathon

2010-04-08T14:09:00.005-05:00

Today is the day of Bonus Stage Marathon's Dragon Quest marathon. For the full experience and to donate everyone should go to their website over at Bonus Stage Marathons. They're going to be raising money for the Frisky's Wildlife Sanctuary. You can find more information about them over here. Enjoy their marathon and please find some time to stop by their site and donate, donate, donate!

Z-Day II Donation List

2010-03-19T15:27:00.002-05:00

The donation list for the Zelda marathon is up on the forums now. Have a look at it and if you would like your name removed or replaced with something else, email us and let us know. See everyone in June for the Mega Man marathon!

Z-Day II Wrap-up Post

2010-03-12T07:25:00.005-06:00

Z-Day has come to an end and it seems to have been a fairly successful marathon. We've raised more money this marathon than any previous one, sitting at $1,075 right now for Doctors Without Borders. But that doesn't mean people should stop donating. We've got the window open until the 16th of March for anyone that might have wanted to donate but lacked the means to during the marathon. So if you want to donate still you can.

First and foremost we'd like to give a very big thank you to our chat mods for keeping an eye out for anything that didn't belong in the chat. A big thanks to all of you for that. Secondly we'd like to thank our friends over at Bonus Stage Marathons for helping us out with both gameplay and commentary. It helps take quite a bit of burden off of our shoulders that you guys are willing to help out with the marathons. So a big thank you to Cornshaq, Tailz64, and AlenMcDohl for all the help they were this marathon and past marathons. Another thank you goes out to Forgefire for helping us with running Wind Waker.

Now we'd also like to thank Mana Potions for sponsoring the event and also for sending us some potions to keep us going during the marathon. To all of the forums that let us advertise the marathon, thank you (even if it did violate your rules about posting over at Forum Nintendo). Thank you to the sites that promoted the marathon as well:
Zelda Universe
The Sacred Realm
The Mario Marathon Team
Pure Nintendo
North Castle
Link's Hideaway
The Extra Lives Team
Penguin in the Desert Productions
Game Marathons
Dark Chiron

If there is anyone else that promoted the marathon and would like to be mentioned please email us with a link to the story/article promoting the marathon and we'll get you put up.

A full donor list will appear on our forums after the ChipIn ends, so if you would like your name omitted from the list please send us an email before we get it up. We usually have the donor lists up two to five days after the ChipIn ends, but it would be advisable to let us know before the 16th.

For the people that won prizes during the marathon, we will be getting in touch with you about shipping arrangements after the ChipIn closes and the donor list is put up. We'll have the prizes shipped out within one or two weeks of that.

That's about it for this post. We hope to see everybody and some new people in June when we kick off the Mega Man Marathon!

Post-Marathon Sort of Wrap-up Post

2010-03-09T18:39:00.003-06:00

This post is more just to say thank you for watching and we hope you enjoyed the marathon. A more thorough wrap-up post will be coming in the next few days after rest has been had. Until then thank you for coming out to watch the marathon and we'll see you in June. Also, if you haven't donated yet but plan to, remember that the ChipIn is still going until March 16th so you've got time to donate to Doctors Without Borders if you want to (which we greatly urge you to do)!

Z-Day Update!

2010-02-24T19:20:00.002-06:00

We've hit 9 days and counting to Z-Day so here's a little update on the situation as it is. There's really just a few things to go over so this won't be too longwinded, I hope.

First is that we've made some minor changes to the gaming schedule, but nothing terrible. Closer to the marathon we'll be posting up on the sidebar the games and their estimated run times so you can compare the estimate to the actual run time. We'll also be keeping track of deaths over there as well. But anyway! Here's the altered schedule (which isn't really all that altered)!
The Legend of Zelda: Steve
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link: Cornshaq
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Mark
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: Jerry
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Jerrod
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: Tailz64
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons: Ian
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages: Tailz64
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Josh
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: Jerry
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Steve
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure: Blind run by random players

The second order of business is that we've got a bit of swag to give away to people that donate, and some swag to mail off from a previous marathon (for which we are terribly sorry for the unacceptably long delay in getting that out. It'll be in the mail soon for those of you that know who you are). We'll have pictures of the prizes up soon, and we might just find some more at the last minute before the marathon. Who knows? You'll need to show up to find out!

The last order of business! Over there in the sidebar, underneath the ChipIn (first of all you should click on the ChipIn and donate some money to Doctors Without Borders, because that would make you an awesome person and you want to be an awesome person, right?) there are three buttons, right? There's a link to the Digg article, which you should click on and digg the marathon at least once, but maybe even twice or more if you feel like making--or you have--multiple Digg accounts. There's also a link to the Reddit article, which you should also click on and up vote the marathon at least once, but maybe even more if you've got multiple accounts or feel like making more than one. Finally there's a link to our N4G tip, which you will need to log into N4G before clicking on. It'll take you to the vote page so you can vote for the tip. If we get 10 votes they'll do a story on the marathon and if we get a lot more than 10 votes we might even get on N4G's front page. So go! Click on those links! Help the marathon effort out!

That's pretty much everything. See you all March 5th.

Z-Day II Donation Window is Open

2010-01-02T18:30:00.002-06:00

Just a quick post to let people know that the donation period has started. There's a little ChipIn widget to the right of the website where you can go to donate via PayPal. If you have a PayPal account you can donate. If you don't have a PayPal account you can still donate with a credit card or a debit card. the transaction is safe and protected so you can donate without fear. All donations are sent to Doctors Without Borders.

So if you can, please donate and help make life a bit easier for people in need. Also don't forget to check out the post below this one and go to the links to digg and up vote the marathon to help us get on the front page of both Digg and Reddit.

Z-Day II: The Return of a Legend

2009-11-23T00:53:00.004-06:00

Z-Day II is drawing ever closer. The marathon will begin on March 5th at 6:00pm CST and go through to March 9th at 1:00am CST at the earliest. We're going to be tackling 13 Zelda games in 79 hours while raising money for Doctors Without Borders. They are a group that provides aid to victims of violence, neglect, and catastrophes such as armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care and natural disasters. More information about them can be found here. The donation window isn't open yet, but will open soon and continue until March 16th.

We will be pulling this marathon off with the help of ManaPotions.com and everyone at The Returners would like to thank them for sponsering this event and we hope that it is as enjoyable for them as it will be for us and the viewers. If you're interested in learning more about ManaPotions.com, you can find that information on their site here.

The current game list and order of play follows the chronological release dates of each game. As the Z-Day gets closer we'll update the list with who will be playing what game and if we decide to add Spirit Tracks to the list:
The Legend of Zelda
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Oh Mana Potions

2009-09-24T12:46:00.002-05:00

Why didn't we think of something like this first?

Now that's just all kinds of awesome. Be sure to check out their website. We're glad they're willing to sponser Z-Day in March.

YouTube News!

2009-09-18T13:20:00.000-05:00

Jerry's just put up the first part of his run of Arrazzan's Super Mario World hack, Super Arrazzan World. It's up on the Returners YouTube account, so head on over that way and check it out. It's bound to be hilarious, and be sure to head over to the forums and let Arrazzan know what you think of it too. We'll have more to come in the future.

Retro RPGs and Final Fantasy Donation Lists Posted

2009-08-23T19:49:00.003-05:00

Just a quick update to let everyone know that I've finally gotten around to posting the donation lists for the past two marathons over at the forums, so check them out. If you find you want your name to be left annonymous, email us and let us know. We'll be happy to take care of that for anyone.

Light of the Crystals Wrap Up

2009-08-13T14:51:00.003-05:00

Well, another marathon has come and gone and as is always the case with these things, there are aspects of it that we liked a lot and then there are aspects of it that we wished could have been better. Even so it was a successful marathon for the most part and it couldn't have been that way without the viewers and everyone that donated. A big thank you goes out to the people that donated and spread the word about the marathon. Similarly we'd like to thank our mods once more for the work they put in on this marathon since we know we were asking a lot of them to stick around for such a long time instead of the usual 72 hours. After a bit of time to wind down from the marathon we'll be putting some information up about the Zelda marathon coming up in March, as well as some information about things we've got planned to hold you people over until then. But for right now there are some promoting sites and people in the YouTube community that both helped promote and helped us run the event that we would like to extend our thanks to for the help they offered.

GameMarathons.com
Nintendo World Report
Ninfest
Limit Break Radio
Zelda Universe
North Castle
Kombo.com
Rejected Gamer
VGTribune
The Ansem Retort
Cornshaq Gaming
LuccaRPG
Shoxy11
Scarlet Moon Studios
WhitemageSerenia
Tailz64

Thank you for all of the help everybody. The ChipIn is going to remain open until the 18th, so if you're waiting on money to come in or something like that there's still more than enough time to donate. Once again thank you for all of the help in making this an exciting event, and we will see you again come March for the next marathon.

Final Fantasy Marathon

2009-07-15T15:31:00.014-05:00

The Light of the Crystals marathon begins August 6th at 5:00pm CST with commentary from the players and other members in the house about their feelings on the marathon as a whole and other pre-show related things and will end on August 11th at 10:00pm CST. That's 120 hours! We will be raising money for Child's Play once more. The donation period has begun and will continue through August 18th. We will be trying something new with our commentary feed for this marathon and listen to the response of the viewers on the new setup as opposed to the old to see which would be more favorable to them. During the marathon we will attempt to play through as many of the Final Fantasy games as possible in 120 hours. Remember to donate and if you can't donate to spread the word as far and wide as you possibly can over every social networking site you are part of in an attempt to make this event spread like wildfire. The more you spread the word the more viewers we can get and the more donations we can collect. So tell everyone, and remember to digg the event, reddit it, and tweet it to as many people as possible and if you can, join The Returners facebook.

The order of the games follows the release dates of the Final Fantasy series from FF to FF12.
Game List
Final Fantasy I: Steve
Final Fantasy II: Jerrod
Final Fantasy III: Adam/Tailz64
Final Fantasy IV: Steve
Final Fantasy V: Mark/Cornshaq
Final Fantasy VI: Jerrod
Final Fantasy VII: Jerry
Final Fantasy VIII: Chelsea
Final Fantasy IX: Pam (Tentative based on health reasons)
Final Fantasy X: Keenan & Kelsey
Final Fantasy XII: Adam/Tailz64

Wayback Wrap-up

2009-07-14T17:08:00.005-05:00

With our third marathon concluded we're here to give thanks to the people that have donated and also to those people that promoted us even when they couldn't donate. To all of you, thank you. We would also like to thank Child's Play for allowing us to raise money for them. They were nothing but supportive and kind in their dealings with us. We're going to look forward to future events working with them. There are a few people to thank for helping us with this marathon in a more personal manner than merely donating or promoting the event and we hope that they'll be willing to help us again in upcoming events:
Cornshaq
Alen McDohl
Tailz64

We've also got some sites to thank for promoting us so let's say thank you for the promotion and if anyone wants to see the story they put up for us, the links are here too when applicable:
Nintendo Gal
Pure Nintendo
North Castle
Speed Demos Archive
Gaming4Others
The Total Gamer
Hyrule.net
LoZ.com
Zelda Universe
Game Marathons

We're glad that everyone has shown interest in what we're doing and we're thankful for the people that have helped us out in any way they can. This marathon perhaps wasn't as successful as we would have hoped it would be, but still it was good and if nothing else it has taught us the value of good promotion methods.

We've got one more bit of news for everybody concerning the Final Fantasy marathon that's around the corner in August. The charity will again be Child's Play. We had said we were going to be surprising people with the charity we raised money for but that charity has been pushed back to the upcoming March marathon some months away. We're going to be playing through as many of the FF games as possible within 100 hours, and while we would like to get through all of them none of us are certain that it will happen at all. We will be opening donations sooner than usual, within a week of our current donation period ending, and keep it open for a week after the marathon as usual. Here in a few days we will be posting more detailed information about the marathon.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years Part 2

2009-07-03T06:17:00.003-05:00

It's been up on the forums for a bit now, but we've finally gotten around to slapping it up on the main page. Here's part two of Alen's playthrough of FFIV: TAY. We hope that everyone enjoys it. We'll be bringing more of his playthrough once the Wayback marathon concludes, so look forward to that.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years Part 2

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years part 1

2009-06-29T15:47:00.006-05:00

We're in for a bit of a treat now. In anticipation for the Wayback RPGs marathon and the Final Fantasy marathon, we're happy to put up the first part of Alen McDohl's new FF4: The After Years playthrough. Watch it! Enjoy it! Live it! Or something to that effect. You can see more of Alen's videos here at Scarlet Moon Studios so give him a visit. He's got some good stuff up there.

Finally! The first video of a few to come: Final Fantasy IV: The After Years Part 1

We're looking forward to more of Alen's playthrough in the future and we're also looking forward to good things from him in the upcoming days. So enjoy everybody!

2009-06-26T12:09:00.003-05:00

So the time has come for the charity to be revealed. The Returners will be raising money for Child's Play during the Wayback RPGs marathon. We're hoping that everyone can spread the word as far and wide as they can. Let anyone and everyone know about this in the hopes that they might be interested in donating or spreading the word or both. And don't forget to Digg the Wayback marathon

Wayback RPGs Marathon

2009-06-17T23:02:00.003-05:00

The Marathon's going to be starting at 5:00pm CST on July 10th. It will run until 6:00pm on July 13th. Sadly due to monetary reasons we won't be giving away prizes during this marathon but we're hoping that we make up for that with stellar commentary and gameplay! In the days leading up to the marathon we will be posting more details about it here and on the forums. We also have a surprise or two in store, perhaps in the form of some new members to our merry little band. We hope to see everybody there to support another marathon of fundraising and fun.

List of current confirmed games being played (additions may come later):

Chrono Trigger
Chrono Cross
Super Mario RPG
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy IX

For those people that are new to how we do things around here, when the marathon begins we will have two feeds embedded in the website; one for commentary where one of our members will chat with viewers live, fielding questions and spurring on donations; and one for the actual gameplay so that viewers can watch the games being played live. We also provide a chat client so that our viewers can chat with each other and facilitate speaking with our commentators in real time instead of through email. We will have a ChipIn widget embedded in our webpage to the right of the feed where viewers can click to donate to the charity. Donations will open a week before the marathon begins and stay open for a week after the marathon ends, at which point we will compile a complete donor list to be placed on our forums. If we manage to get through all of the games before the 72 hour time limit we will go back through and play them again, trying to collect all items.

Brawlathon Wrap Up

2009-06-08T17:22:00.005-05:00

Well, another marathon down. Donations are going to be open until the 14th of June so if you haven't donated yet, or you want to donate again, we urge you to do so and help us get closer to that goal and remember that after donations close a full donation list will be posted on the forums, so keep a look-out for that and if anyone would like to remain anonymous on that list, please contact us so that we know.

Everyone here had fun with the marathon and we all hope that everyone who watched did as well. We would like to thank all of the viewers and those who donated. We would also like to thank GoNintendo, Hyrule.net, Zelda Universe, North Castle, Wii Nintendo, The Wiicast, and Nintendo Paper Crafts for the pure awesomesauce of them promoting the event, especially to the Wiicast for featuring our stream in their site. We'd also like to thank Vintage Stock for offering us a bit of swag to raffle off during the marathon. If there is anyone that we've forgotten to include here, we are very sorry about that, but you get our thanks as well. This was a group effort and without all of you the marathon likely wouldn't have been able to happen at all. So from everyone at The Returners, thank you.

Finally we've got a bit to touch on for the Retro RPGs marathon, though it isn't much right now. There will be more information in the next couple of weeks, though. Right now all we can give you is the current confirmed list of games that will be played and one tentative title. The list and order the games are played in will change in the coming days, but for now we will let you know the confirmed games being played:

1.) Chrono Trigger (Confirmed)
2.) Chrono Cross (Confirmed)
3.) Super Mario RPG (Confirmed)
4.) Final Fantasy IV (Confirmed)
5.) Final Fantasy IX (Confirmed)
6.) Parasite Eve (Tentative)