Gamers play Nintendo's Super Mario for Charity

June 23, 2008 - PRLog -- A team of video game enthusiasts in Indiana hope to raise money for charity by broadcasting a live multi-day "Super Mario Marathon" on the internet.

The event, beginning June 27th, will see the team play through 22 years of Super Mario titles, beginning with 1985's "Super Mario Bros" and ending some days later with the Nintendo Wii's latest Mario adventure, "Super Mario Galaxy". They estimate the event will last nearly 60 hours, during which they hope to attract a large internet audience.

Through their website, mariomarathon.com, the team is soliciting donations to benefit Child's Play, a charity which distributes video games and toys to children in 40 hospitals worldwide. To date, team has solicited over $400 in pledges.

"Video games get a lot of bad press," said Brian Brinegar, event coordinator, "yet, they bring joy to children in these hospitals all over the world. Hopefully, through this event, we can shed a bit of positive light on the gaming community. It's us trying to give back."

When asked about preparing for such an event Brian joked, "I train every night for at least an hour." He goes on to discuss less entertaining aspects of preparation, "soliciting pledges, technical trials, play schedules, web design, and marketing, it's the most work I've put into playing a video game."

The marathon is made possible by Nintendo's latest video game console, the Nintendo Wii. Though the use of a feature called the Virtual Console, the Wii is able to play classic Nintendo games without old game hardware.

For more information or to watch the event, visit http://www.mariomarathon.com/