ZombiePie

Okay everyone thank you so much to everyone who has donated and promoted this charity drive! However, WE HAVE ONE MORE WEEK UNTIL THE MAIN EVENT!If you haven't yet donated, please donate what you can, and don't forget to

Thank you for the donation and feel free to drop by when you can. With three days, there are plenty of opportunities to join the fun.

Full disclosure, the "misery" aspect of this stream more relates to the inclusion of the food donation incentives. Also, this stream is meant to dabble in humor and hyperbole in an effort to raise money for charity. It should not be viewed as an indictment against any of your gaming memories or preferences.

So, you know what? HOW ABOUT WE MAKE IT "13 HOURS OF JOY AND FUN!" I'm going to do something special to possibly make this up to you. If you donate any amount, I will make it a "Dollar for Minutes of Positivity Challenge." If you donate, I will match the amount to a similar amount of time where I have to say nothing but positive and nice things about Final Fantasy XIII-2. If you donate five dollars, I'll give you five minutes of positivity. If you donate sixty dollars, I'll give you one hour of positivity. Just remember to say in the comments "THE POWER OF POSITIVITY!"

If you cannot donate, this incentive is open TO ANYONE so if you can get anyone you know to donate and say "THE POWER OF POSITIVITY" I will match their amount. Let's do this!

I just don't even....

Also, who thought it was a good idea to book the New Day in another gauntlet match? There has to be another way you book Kofi's rise to glory!

UPDATE TO ALL DONORS AND INTERESTED USERS!!! (This includes: @riostarwind, @chaser324, and @soulcake - IT WORKED!)

Alright, so a lot has happened in one week. After reaching out to multiple sources, I discovered that at the end of Monday my account had raised $1,470 of my initial goal of $1,500. While this is certainly great news for all involved, it also makes fundraising for the next twenty days harder as there would have been a lack of active donation goals at the start of the "real" stream.

As such, and it is with a heavy heart that I make this announcement, I have changed my total goal to $2,500. That places me at having currently raised 58% of my total. As I do not wish to punish my donors, as well as those who would like to see me engaged in my usual tomfoolery, I won't just round up to the nearest tenth, I'll go an extra step and automatically list myself as accomplishing my goals from the 70% marker and down.

To each and every one of you who has made this possible, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. To those just now reading this update, you can still donate to my page, and if you are not able to donate, please spread the word however you can.

@thatpinguino:

Ladies, Gentlemen, and those that identify as neither,

Today I set forward an ambitious agenda that will bring forth a new era of the Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run. One in which we all live in absolute merriment and joy. One in which freedom and democracy are protected ideals. One in which tolerance and equality are openly embraced as key tenants.

I am, of course, speaking of my eventual and unprecedented victory over the blight that is thatpingino as the highest fundraiser of the Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run. Since assuming the responsibilities of running the event, his reign of terror has known no bounds. And I, ZombiePie, would be most humbly honored if you allowed me to end his devastation to our collective honor once and for all.

To better set forward my agenda, I will throw down the proverbial gauntlet. Or, to speak in his vulgar tongue, place the "ball in his court." I will not only defeat him, but I will force him to concede victory to me on his very own podcast. A humiliation I intend to capitalize upon until the end of time.

Remember, donate to my page now. If you cannot donate, please, spread the word however you can on through any means necessary.

One week down, and we have raised 10% of my goal! Thank you to everyone who has made this possible so far!

Oh boy... I cannot wait to eat the leaves of a plant most people would use as decoration because it tastes so bad people didn't start eating it until five years ago. Luckily for me, I only have to eat the ice-cream so far.

It's not a big deal. As to be expected, the next FF12 blog has been delayed to infinity. I hope to get the next episode out next week.

But luckily for all involved, I have 13 hours of pure horror to entertain the masses! Donate now to whittle away what little sanity I have left.

Remember, if I can reach 100% of my goal before the end of the Saturday stream, it will be 13 HOURS! That cannot possibly be an ill-advised amount of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Alright, I contacted @thatpinguino and he talked to a representative from Pencils of Promise about PayPal support. Long story short, you can donate using PayPal, but it entails an extra step or two. Here they are, and I'm so sorry it is not as convenient as it should.

1. Select PayPal on the Pencils of Promise general donation page after editing the amount you would like to donate.
2. When re-directed to PayPal, select "Donate with PayPal."
3. Verify you information and amount on PayPal.
4. In the area titled "Add a Note," specify your donation is for "Chris "ZP" F." from the "Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run IX" Team.
5. The donation will post on my page within 24 hours. If you do not see your donation after that time has elapsed, contact me.

Thank you for your support, and I'll log you down for a notification the day before the streams start just in case!

To everyone else, I'm looking for my first donation! Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Personally, I find vanilla Empire at War downright unplayable, but that's partly because I actively follow modern RTS and 4X games. If you want a better starting point I'd say try Forces of Corruption's story mode first on an easy difficulty setting. If any of these mods entice you, start with Awakening of the Rebellion 2.6 and find the Galactic Conquest maps that just have the Empire and Rebels. Again, I recommend playing on the lowest difficulty setting as there's no shame in that.

Or jump into Thrawn's Revenge, play one of the small scale campaigns, and try the Pentastar Alignment or Empire of the Hand. Both of those factions have the easiest campaigns,

Not only does this community still exist, but it has expanded into other games. The authors of the Thrawn's Revenge mod ported the mod to an updated version of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. It plays completely differently, but I have to say that I am amazed that they are as active as they are, and exploring ways to keep their mod alive.

The sad truth is, there will never be another Star RTS even if there is incredible appetite for a new one.

For some reason, I feel the same way about the RTS genre in general. RTS games are perfect podcast games as they rarely have confrontational stories, but require enough of your attention that you cannot play them half-awake. They usually find teh right balance between maintaining your attention and not draining your life-force.

If it was the third best game of 2017 why is the middle act so boring and a chore to play? That and I literally fell asleep when watching Ending B.

I got more NieR:Automata hot takes! I'm hosting a buy one, get one free deal right now!

@dudeglove: You will enjoy the video I have selected for next week's Spotlight:

I enjoy haunting people's dreams.

It is a recurring joke that I dislike Nier: Automata and Marino places the same disclaimer whenever he edits the Spotlight. You can see this several previous editions of the Spotlight when the game came out. Since then, the two of us have been issuing rebuttals about the game on the Spotlight as a somewhat recurring storyline. One of these days I hope to see if I can slip my dislike for the game without him noticing, but alas dear friend, it appears he caught this witticism as well. One of these days....

Also, I disagree it is a well-made game.