GameBlast21: coming this weekend

Video games have the power to do a lot of good. They help us see the world through another person’s eyes and experience their stories, as well as giving us the chance to meet new friends with similar interests. It’s no exaggeration to say they can even change someone’s life.

This is something hundreds of gamers all over the UK taking part in GameBlast21 this weekend believe in. The goal is to raise as much funds and awareness for SpecialEffect, a wonderful charity which aims to put fun and inclusion back into the lives of people with physical disabilities by helping them to play video games. By using technology ranging from modified joypads to eye-control software, they’re finding a way for everyone to play to the very best of their abilities.

We’ve participated in the annual GameBlast streaming marathon since it started in 2014 and there’s only a few days to go until this year’s event. Read on to find out what we’ve got lined up this time around and how you can get involved.

24-hour stream from 08:00 GMT on Saturday, 27 February 2021

Thanks to everyone who voted in our polls to create the game schedule for our marathon stream! A reminder of what’s coming up can be found below. We’re going to have some awesome people helping us out on the day: friend-of-the-blog Phil will be headlining the action section; Kevin from The Lawful Geek will be running a TTRPG to support the cause over on his own channel from 20:00 GMT on Saturday; and Ellen from Ace Asunder will be our marvellous mod for the event.

#DaysForDonations fundraising targets and awards

Over £3,500 has been donated by you generous lot through our JustGiving page at the time of writing this post. This means we’ve now hit six of our fundraising targets and will be organising some special events as rewards, as well as streaming for at least an hour a day for a 70-day period after the marathon stream. The more we manage to raise for SpecialEffect, the longer our streams will go on for – and more we’ll embarrass ourselves on camera for a worthy cause.

How you can get involved

We can’t deny that donations are greatly appreciated and will be put to good use. They enable SpecialEffect to continue their work assisting hundreds of physically-disabled people across the UK to experience the joy of video games. The charity does this free of charge, and shares the knowledge gained from their lifelong assessment and support services with hardware and software developers – so a feature that’s worked successfully for one individual can then go on to benefit thousands of others.

Check out our JustGiving page for details if you’d like to donate. It’s not just about money though: anything you can do to raise awareness and let others know about SpecialEffect is hugely beneficial too, as it increases the potential for them to reach more people they can help. Tweet about the charity’s work, share our GameBlast21 press release, come along to our streams join us in chat; these are all valuable actions and we’re incredibly grateful for your support.

Good luck to everyone taking part in GameBlast21 this weekend! Together, we can help SpecialEffect level the playing-field for people with physical disabilities and share the joy of gaming.

We’re taking part in GameBlast21 to support SpecialEffect, the gamers’ charity.
Making a donation will bring you great loot, increase your XP by +100 and make you immune to fire.*
(*Not guaranteed.)