Charity begins at home, literally
[Update: Just a reminder that SGDQ 2021 is now officially underway! You can check all the action live on Twitch and take a look at the schedule — localized to your timezone — right here.]
What? It’s that time of year already? Apparently so, as this weekend will see the Games Done Quick team take to the airwaves to present one of the biggest highlights of the gaming year, Summer Games Done Quick, which kicks off Sunday, July 4, live on Twitch.
As a hardcore follower of GDQ’s events, I’m sure you’ve all heard this from me a dozen times before, but SGDQ 2021 will see a posse of global speedrunners pit their skills against a wide variety of titles, old and new, in a full week of exciting back-to-back gaming action. SGDQ will once again be held in an online capacity this year, as the world continues to gradually pull itself up from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
A quick look at the schedule for this week’s event reveals a glut of awesome titles just waiting to be conquered, alongside modern-day fare such as Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn, the Demon’s Souls remake, and Streets of Rage 4 will be retro releases pulled from franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong Country, Mega Man, and Pokemon. The fun begins on Sunday with Dragon Age: Inquisition. Be sure to check out the schedule for a full list of games, localized to your personal time zone.
As always, viewers will be able to bid on bonus games, enter competitions, vote on ing-game player choices, and — most importantly — donate to a worthwhile cause. This year will see GDQ direct all donations to global healthcare network Medicins Sans Frontieres, an organization that has perhaps never been under more strain than in recent times. Last year’s SGDQ event raised an amazing $2.3 million USD, so here’s hoping that this year’s festivities are able to match, or even smash, that incredible figure.
Summer Games Done Quick is one of my highlights of the year, every year. While it has admittedly lost just a touch of its charisma having been forced into an online capacity, it remains a thoroughly entertaining week — packed full of great games and compelling action, while demonstrating the indelible and rarely trumpeted generosity and dedication of the video gaming community. Be sure to check it out.
SGDQ 2021 runs July 4-11. You can check out all of the action on the GDQ Twitch channel
