It's that time of year again. The days are getting longer, the weather is improving, and the Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run is just around the corner. I'm sure most of you know the drill by now, but just in case you don't, the GBCER is a community-led charity fundraising initiative. Now in its eighth year, members of the Giant Bomb community take to the interwebs to livestream all manner of video game happenings to raise money for a good cause. That cause is Pencils of Promise, a charity that provides educational support to children in developing countries. This year, the GBCER team is aiming to raise $7,500 for the cause - enough to put one hundred kids through school for a whole year.

Last year I was able to take part in the GBCER and had a blast doing so, livestreaming a Pokémon Gold Randomizer Nuzlocke that made it all the way up to the Champion of the Elite Four and raised $133 in the process. This year I'd really like to do the same, but I'm finding it hard to settle on one single idea for my contribution. That's why I'm throwing it open to you, the Giant Bomb community, to help me decide what to do for this year's GBCER. Below are my three final options. All you have to do is pick the option that most appeals to you, and sound off with a vote for that option in the comments below.

More Randomized Pokémon Madness

One of my options for this year's GBCER is to continue my trend (if one instance of a thing can even be called a "trend") of Pokémon Randomizer Nuzlockes. There's no denying that last year's Pokémon Gold Randomizer Nuzlocke was a heck of a thing. In a single nineteen-hour marathon livestream, I made my way through a highly randomized version of the Johto region, incorporating rules allowing only one capture per area and a permadeath clause for even more added challenge on top of totally reshuffled Pokémon and item locations. There was joy and sadness in equal measure as we overcame hurdles and lost valuable team members along the way, culminating in an epic showdown against the Champion of the Elite Four, which we sadly lost. It was tons of fun. Which is why I'm considering doing it all again this year.

If I do end up going down this route, I'll play through a different generation of Pokémon game. My friend Dean has suggested that he'd like to see a fourth-gen Randomizer Nuzlocke, which would mean getting stuck into Pokémon Diamond, Pearl or Platinum. As with last year's event I would offer donation incentives, including increased randomization the more money we raise before the start of the stream, plus the opportunity to nickname a Pokémon for all donors.

inFamous 2: Public Moral Compass Edition

Shout out to my buddy Tom for this suggestion. I played through the first inFamous last year and found it to be an incredibly fun (if a little rough around the edges) open world superhero game. I'd like to get around to playing the sequel this year, and this seems like it would be a perfect opportunity to do just that. Howlongtobeat.com lists the game as taking around 15 hours on average to beat, which should make for a fun marathon streaming session for all involved.

Where this could get really interesting is the potential for donation incentives. Every donor could allocate their donation to Good or Evil, with the side with the most funds determining how I would play the game. Obviously there would be scope for this to change over the course of the stream, depending on how incoming donors choose to align their donations. It could be interesting to let the choice be made by committee and change my play style accordingly.

A Spyro Marathon

My third and final idea is one inspired by this week's announcement of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, slated for release this September. I have an insane amount of love for the first three Spyro games, having played all of them more times than I can remember through my childhood and knowing huge chunks of each game inside and out. Wouldn't it be fun to take that rekindled passion for the little purple dragon, and channel it into an attempt to beat all three of the original PlayStation games within a single twenty-four hour sitting?

The major downside to this option is that I'm struggling to come up with any ideas for donation incentives for it. If anyone who likes the sound of this stream proposal has any ideas for how to make it more interesting from a donation perspective, please let me know along with your vote in the comments below.

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Those are your options, folks. Get voting in the comments, and the idea with the most support by Monday morning will come to fruition as my contribution to this year's Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run. Thanks for reading folks. Take care, and I'll see you around.

Daniel

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Currently playing - Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3)