Awesome Games Done Quick is a yearly week long speedrunning marathon. It is held every January and gathers speedrunners from all over the world to play games fast for a week straight with no breaks. Anyone can watch for free, but viewers are encouraged to donate with all of the money going to the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Last year they raised around $450,000 and this years goal was $500,000. They easily smashed that goal halfway through the marathon and quickly set their sights on a million. They reached this goal during the Chrono Trigger, the last speedrun in the marathon. Its hard to believe that a video game live stream can raise that kind of money so quickly, but it just proves how passionate people are about gaming and what good the medium can do.
Even though the official marathon is over the stream is still running here, and they are still accepting donations for PCF. There is no schedule now, just whoever hasn't left yet playing whatever they want. If you are more interested in checking out the marathon itself, you can find archived recordings of all of the marathon runs here. I highly recommend the Super Metroid Race and the Borderlands 2 four-player co-op run. If you like what you see be sure to tune in live next year, or check out Summer Games Done Quick which is a similar event held in July.
