Attention, speedrunning fans. Summer Games Done Quick 2016, also known as SGDQ 2016, will be airing this Sunday — July 3rd, 2016.
This event is a celebration of the speedrunning community — of the hardcore gamers who take specific games and practice them to extreme perfection. If it takes you days to finish your favorite game, they’ve probably worked out how to complete it in a few hours with skill, practice, and abuse of the small exploitable elements they discover.
Wondering if one of your favorite speedrunners will show up? Check out their schedule for the event, which runs from July 3-10.
There’s various categories for the different speedruns that will be shown. Some let the players break the game, abusing glitches to get insane records — such as beating Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in only 17 minutes and 42 seconds. Others showcase automated bots that play the games on their own, displaying what you can do with the game if you have absolutely perfect timing and precision, (and are programmed to be a bit showy). Then you have races, where several speedrunners play the same game at the same time, competing to beat the others to the end.
Donations can be made during the event, with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. Usually, the hosts will read out messages given by donors during the event.
This is an event worth checking out if you haven’t seen it before. It’s running 24/7, so you can pop in an out whenever you want. Who knows, maybe it’ll inspire you to try speedrunning a game.
You’ll be able to watch it on the Games Done Quick Twitch channel when it starts on July 3rd.
