Author Archives: Stephonee

UPickVG IV: Introducing… the Mystery Games

For UPickVG IV, you’ve got a new option on the list of Available Games that you can donate to see us play: the Mystery Game. The great and mysterious Mystery Game! It could be anything!

Well, any game, anyway. The Mystery Game is not a boat. It’s definitely a game. But it could be any game! Even a game about boats!

When you donate for the Mystery Game, you’re donating for one hour of a mysterious game that is not elsewhere on the Available Games list. (So there’s Hint #1: it’s a game other than anything else that’s on the list!) But actually, “Mystery Game” is a bit of a misnomer – it really should be plural: “Mystery Games.”

Luigi and Garrus are guarding the Mystery Games so that no one can sneak a peek

There will be 10 total Mystery Games available for UPickVG IV. Each carefully wrapped with some nice doodles on the outside of the wrapping, courtesy of Gamemasters Chip and Grant, to give a helpful clue as to the contents of each package (or just make things more confusing – what do those frowny faces with X eyes even mean!?!).

When the Wheel of Destiny lands on a Mystery Game (and it will… if there are enough donations for “Mystery Game” to get into the Top 5!), the Player on shift for that hour will get to pick from the box of Mystery Games, using only the drawings on the outside of the package as their clues. They will then unwrap the package so that all may learn its contents, and play the game within for one hour – no matter what it is!

Once the game is revealed, you’ll be able to donate for that game specifically, just like any other game on the list, if you want to see another hour of it later in the marathon. Or, you can donate for “Mystery Game” again, and force a Player to choose again from the now-smaller selection of Mystery Games!

What if Chip or Grant is the Player on shift when the Mystery Game comes up on the Wheel? Don’t they know what the games are? Yup – that’s why, if the Wheel lands on Mystery Game during one of their shifts, they don’t get to pick the game for themselves! Someone else in the crew (the rest of us have no idea what those games could be) will do the picking for a Grant or Chip shift.

Will the audience get to help pick which Mystery Game package we want to see opened and played? Probably! It depends on the Player, but most of us are inclined to ask the Chat’s opinion on things. So make sure you have a Twitch.tv login before UPickVG IV starts, so you can make your opinions known!

Can I donate for the Mystery Game right now so that it’ll get in the Top Five and all this magical mystery stuff will happen? Yes friend, you can: Donate now!

Behind the Scenes: Our Streaming Setup “After”

If you took a look at our streaming setup “before,” just a few short months ago, you might have noticed that things here at U-Pick were literally held together with tape and sheer love. But we’ve spent the last few months pouring even more love (but a lot less tape) into our setup, and we’re pleased to share the results with you.

With no further ado, here’s what we’re working with for our rehearsals nowadays:

The “After” pictures:

: From left to right: Steel Battalion hides, the TV, Blue Snowball mic and “the button,” Wentworth the camera, computers Munchkin and Joshua (and their monitors)

: Okay, so there’s some tape left in our setup – holding the labels onto our AV switchbox!

: The Blue Snowball microphone that gives us no-clipping sound, and the “buttons” that we use to make video clips.

: Wentworth, our trusty new camera, has a wider-angle lens to capture more of the room. And a shiny nametag!

: Our two computers stacked together: Joshua, the streaming computer, on the bottom with his back facing out for easy cable access to switch systems; and Munchkin, our chat computer, on top.

: The monitors for Munchkin and Joshua. Munchkin on the left is YOU (or how you appear to us, anyway – lines of text in the chat!), and Joshua on the right handles all the streaming.

Our setup will look slightly different during UPickVG IV – same equipment for the most part, but we’ll be in a totally different space!

Joshua (Streaming Computer)’s Specs:

Capture Card: Micomsoft SC-512N1-L/DVI Capture Card
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 113.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Storage Drives:
OCZ RevoDrive 350 Series 480GB PCI-E Solid State Drive (video recording)
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5″ Solid State Drive (operating system and programs)
2x 1 TB hard disks in a RAID 0 Array (additional video recording)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

Webcam: Logitech Webcam C930e
Microphone: Blue Microphones Snowball USB Microphone (Electric Blue)
The Buttons: Optimus Mini Three keyboard

Tune in June 12th – 14th to see how all this equipment stands up to 49-straight hours of live-streaming and shenanigans!

Bonus Points: Can you find our old camera, Gerald, lurking somewhere in the photos? We keep him around as a backup! Or… is he hanging around waiting for his chance to exact revenge on us for replacing him?!?

UPickVG IV: How the Wheel of Destiny Works

All hail the Wheel of Destiny! Photo by Steve Petrucelli

During the U-Pick Video Game Marathon for Charity, two things determine the games we play for your amusement: your donations, and the Wheel of Destiny.

As donations come in, we log them according to the game that was requested in each donation. Every dollar is logged as 1 Point for that game (and yes, cents are logged as 1/100th of a point!), and the Live Ranking of all the games is updated.

An example of how the live rankings might appear

This is where the Wheel of Destiny takes over. Once per hour, starting ten minutes before we play the first game, we spin the wheel. Whatever number it lands on, we play the game in that slot for the next hour. (The ten minutes is to give us time to change games/systems.) The game that the wheel lands on? Well, not only do we play it for an hour, but it also loses all of its points, and goes back to the bottom of the ranking. If you want to see another hour of it, you’ll have to donate for that game again to get it up into the top of the rankings again!

Photo by Steve Petrucelli

We’ve been known to tweak the way that the Wheel of Destiny works over time. The pictures you see here are from UPickVG II (2013), when we did a straight-up Rankings 1 through 7 on the wheel, plus a “Democracy” space (which correlated to a long-running poll).

This was cool, but it taught us that Democracy was heavily overweighted (a 1-in-8 chance to land on it, and the #1 game changed infrequently), and that there was no real incentive to get games above the #7 slot, since that slot had the same odds as the game ranked #1. From the example chart above, you can see why that matters: to get a game to #7, you’d only have to donate $13.38 in this example, but the #1 slot would cost at least $100.01 in donations (big difference!).

Since UPickVG III – The Battle of the Birthdays (2014), we’ve switched to a weighted-wheel – which we think you’ll like better. Because after all, if you donated enough to get a game into Rank #1, shouldn’t the game you picked have better odds on the wheel than the game in 5th place? We think so.

How the Wheel is Weighted for UPickVG IV:

Ranking	#of Wedges	Probability
#1	3	37.5%
#2	2	25.0%
#3	1	12.5%
#4	1	12.5%
#5	1	12.5%

So in our example above, where the game ranked #5 (Steel Battalion) has $20 in points, the #2 game (Tokyo Jungle) has $25, and the #1 game (Buck Bumble) has $100, you could donate just $5.01 to Steel Battalion to double its chances on the wheel! Or you could donate $80.01 to triple its chances (or donate $20.01 and get 3 friends to do the same)!

Naming a Game for a Specific Player

The Wheel made Stephonee play Zelda II. Photo by Steve Petrucelli.

You can’t name a Player in your donation comment, only a game – so if you’re interested in seeing a certain player have to play a certain game… how can you make that happen?

It’s all in the timing:

For any given player, the best time to donate starts one hour before that Player’s shift starts, up to one hour before their shift ends. The only exception to this rule is the very first Player (this year: Grant) – the time to donate for a game for his first shift is now – it started when donations opened (but the window still closes one hour before the end of his shift).

An example: Let’s say you really want me (Stephonee) to play some Steel Battalion, because watching me launch an 80-year-old woman out of a vertical-tank-mech-thing -with the largest controller ever made- is what you consider a laugh riot. Fair enough. The times to donate for Steel Battalion for my shift would be Sunday, June 13th between 11am and 3pm (EDT), so that’s when you would want to lay out your donation and name “Steel Battalion” in your comment.

So if you’ve got a strong preference as to who plays which games, consult the Player Shift Schedule before making your donation(s). But if you don’t have a strong preference, just go ahead and donate right now! Either way, 100% of your donation will go to clean water projects in Uganda – so you can have an impact on the Wheel of Destiny and a real person’s real-life destiny, too.

Giveaway: Dying Light on Steam

Help spread the word about the U-Pick Video Game Marathon for Charity, and you’ll be entered to win a copy of Dying Light on Steam!

Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below – and hurry! The giveaway ends at 11:59pm on May 27, 2015.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good night. Good luck.

UPickVG IV: The Available Games List

Your requests have been heard, the votes are in, and now the UPickVG IV list of available games is finally here! Below you will find all the possible games that we may play in the 48-hour-long video game marathon that starts on June 12th. But remember, we’ll only play a game if you donate for it! So check out the list below, then head straight over to the donation page to formally request the game(s) you want to see us play.

Game	System
Aquanaut’s Holiday	PS1
Batman and Robin	Genesis
Battletoads	NES
Beautiful Katamari	XBOX 360
Body Harvest	N64
Buck Bumble	N64
Buffy the Vampire Slayer	XBOX
Commando	NES
Dark Souls	PS3
Deadly Premonition	XBOX 360
Fatal Frame II	XBOX
Goat Simulator	XBOX 360
GoldenEye 007	N64
Hannah Montana: The Movie	XBOX 360
Hello Kitty Cube Frenzy	PS1
Hey You, Pikachu!	N64
Hyrule Warriors	Wii U
I Am Bread	PC
Ico	PS2
Jackie Chan Stuntmaster	PS1
Octodad	PC
Pilotwings 64	N64
Pokémon Snap	N64
Razor Freestyle Scooter	PS1
Red Dead Redemption	XBOX 360
Ristar (the Shooting Star)	Genesis
River City Ransom	NES
Shadow of the Collosus	PS2
Shining Force	Genesis
Silent Hill 2	PS2
Silent Hill Shattered Memories	Wii
Sonic and Knuckles	Genesis
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire	N64
Steel Battalion	XBOX
Super Mario 3D World	Wii U
Super Mario 64	N64
Super Mario World	SNES
Super Metroid	SNES
Superman 64	N64
Tail of the Sun	PS1
TES II: Daggerfall	PC
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time	SNES
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask	N64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	N64
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess	Gamecube
Tokyo Jungle	PS3
WarioWare	Gameboy Advance
Zombies Ate My Neighbors	SNES
MYSTERY GAME	WHO KNOWS?

But what is this… “Mystery Game” thing? Wouldn’t you like to know! And actually, so would we! Our gamemasters, Chip and Grant, have picked out a few extra games to have on-hand during the marathon. They’ve wrapped them up tightly and discretely in packaging that conceals the identity of the games within – and we think they’ve even done that Men-In-Black-flashy-thing to themselves – so they might not even know what the games are!

If you donate for “Mystery Game” and the Wheel of Destiny lands on it, we’ll grab one of the mystery packages, unwrap it, and play an hour of whatever that game is! Looking for a little more mystery in your life and in UPickVG IV? Donate and put “Mystery Game” in your comment!

Whether you donate for a Mystery Game or one of the fine games listed above, we can’t wait to see what you pick! And of course, don’t forget to come back and tune in at 7pm Eastern on June 12th to see how it all goes down.

Rick Grimes: Why don't crabs give to charity?

Sauce: http://imgur.com/gallery/gspD3Vp

UPickVG IV Player Shift Schedule

You are super hyped for UPickVG IV, the upcoming 48-hour-long video game marathon where you get to pick the games that are played. You’ve requested games that you want to see, you’ve been voting on all those requested games to solidify their inclusion, and you’re shoving gobs of money into a special savings account just to donate as much as possible to make ______ play that game!

But wait a second… what about that ______ in the last sentence? Just who is gonna play these darn games in the name of charity, anyway?

We’re glad you asked! And in response, we’re proud to announce the Player 1 Shift Schedule for UPickVG IV:

Friday, June 12th
8pm – Midnight	Grant
Saturday, June 13th
Midnight – 4am	Chloe
4am – 8am	Sarah
8am – Noon	Chip
Noon – 4pm	Stephonee
4pm – 8pm	Tracy
8pm – Midnight	DebbStep*
Sunday, June 14th
Midnight – 4am	Grant
4am – 8am	Sarah
8am – Noon	Jimmy
Noon – 4pm	NightHawk
4pm – 8pm	Greg

All times above are Eastern Daylight Time. Clicking on a time will show you that time in your local timezone. Clicking on the name of a Player will take you to their bio.

*This shift previously belonged to JohnnyVengeance, who will unfortunately no longer be able to make it to UPickVG IV. The good news is that the illustrious DebbStep will be taking over his shift!

So start planning your donations for the games you want all these cool cats to play, and tune in Friday, June 12th to see what happens to us:

Stephonee

GrantGrant

Chip Chasterson

Super Chloe

Sarah

Jimmy

Tracy

NightHawk

Greg

DebbStep

What Video Games Will We Play? VOTE NOW!

UPickVG IV, the 4th U-Pick Video Game Marathon for Charity, is coming June 12th! And we want to know – just what games are you going to subject us to this time?

Your vote below will help determine which games are available to donate for in our 48-hour long marathon. You have until the end of the day on May 15th to get your votes in! You can vote for multiple games at once (pick all the ones you like!) and you can vote once per day, so…

Vote early, vote often! (Until May 15th!)

(Can’t see the poll below? Click here!)

Tips: (Yes, we’re going to tell you how to rig the poll for a game you want!)

The games appear in random order every time the poll loads, so as to not give favor to the games that happen to be at the top. If you’re looking for a specific game, use “Ctrl+F” to search for the game’s name.
Don’t see the name of a game above that you wanted? Use that “Other” box to do a write-in vote, son!
Best way to get a game you want to do well in the poll? Vote every day, and harass your friends and family to vote for that specific game, too. Remember to be specific when you harass people – a Facebook post of just the link to this blog post won’t get Aunt Edna to vote for Dark Souls – you gotta tell her what game to vote for.
Share the poll on all your social media networks. It’s for charity, and voting is cool.
Tips #3 and #4 go double if you’re doing a write-in vote for something that’s not in the poll. You’ll have to work extra hard to convince friends, family, and your social networks to come back often and write in the name of the game you want. (And next time, don’t be slow, and request games before we do the poll.)

Interview on Slashdot Video

Want to learn more about what we do here at the U-Pick Video Game Marathon for Charity, and how we do it? We recently sat down to answer some questions from Slashdot (/.)’s timothy about what we do, and how it all happens.

And the article was featured on Slashdot’s front page, so… that’s awesome! Right under the Apple Watch.

Check out the two-part interview on Slashdot’s site to see Grant and me (Stephonee) explain it all, with volunteers Chloe and Tracy on hand in the background for moral support (or just for giggling).

Still got questions about what UPickVG IV is, and how it will work? Hit us up with a comment here!

UPickVG IV – June 12th-14th 2015

It’s coming, it’s coming, IT’S COMING! The 4th U-Pick Video Game Marathon for Charity (“UPickVG IV” for short) will be broadcast live on the interwebs June 12th-14th, 2015.

Donate now to pick the games!

During the 48-hour-long continuous livestream, we’ll play the video games you pick to raise money for charity: water, to bring clean water access to people who need it in rural Uganda.

All hail the Wheel of Destiny! Photo by Steve Petrucelli

Starting the evening of June 12th and going for the next 48 straight hours, we’ll play the games you choose when you make a donation to our charity fundraiser. We’ll switch games each hour (on the hour), as determined by the Wheel of Destiny that we spin – a wheel of all the top games that have received donations.

Got ideas for what games should be on the list? GOOD. You can request games for UPickVG IV right now on our Request Games page. The sky’s the limit: name any game you can think of that you would pay money (to charity) to see played!

We’ll be taking suggestions for UPickVG IV on the Request Games page up until May 1st. At that point, the “Voting Period” begins, and we’ll throw everything that’s been suggested into a big ol’ internet poll – and you’ll be able to vote for your favorites! (Don’t worry, you’ll be able to vote for more than one game, and we’ll let you vote more than once, too.)

Once the votes are in, we’ll put together the ultimate list of video games available for UPickVG IV – and we’ll open the donation floodgates so that you can get the games of your choice up on that Wheel of Destiny. [Editor’s note: The votes are in and that list of available games is up – you can donate now!]

But what should you be doing between now and then?

We’ve got some ideas!

Get those video game title requests in! Request Games here. DONATE! Your requests have been heard and our list of games for UPickVG IV is now available, so get your donatin’ on!
Add the marathon to your calendar so you don’t forget to tune in!
Tell everyone you know about UPickVG and how awesome it’s going to be. Use the graphic up top, and share this post with the sharing buttons down below.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. We post cool video game stuff and updates about UPickVG IV.
Visit our Watch Now page every Sunday at 4pm EDT (8pm UTC) – we do live rehearsal broadcasts every week! Tune in, heckle us in the chat, and get hyped for the big marathon on June 12th!