Our first set of silent auctions has finished, but there’s still lots of amazing stuff that you can bid on!

There are still four hours left to bid on this amazing Mass Effect painting by Eric Johnson, this glorious set of hand-made LRR Logo rugs by Jamas Enright,  and this fantastic Planescape Prize Pack (possibly the greatest game ever) donated by Dracogen.

Plus our third set of silent auctions have just gone live, and you have eight hours in which to bid for this Glass Octopus forged in temperatures over 1000 Fahrenheit, this Zombie Toque (winter hat) that is guaranteed* provide some degree of protection from rampaging zombies, and this dainty Steampunk Necklace that combines science fiction with Victorian opulence.

Bid early and bid often!

*Not a guarantee.

Yes indeed! That most magical of moments has happened here at Desert Bus for Hope: we have managed not to crash for eight hours and have succeeded in getting our first point of (hopefully) many! Betting starts now for when the bus will crash and who will be driving when that happens*.

We’ve also soared past $12,000, $15,000, $18,000, $20,000, and even one Desert Buck(tm). What`s a Desert Buck you ask? Why it’s $22,805, the total amount of money we raised in our entire first year! This time it took us less than eight hours. You guys are amazing!

If you want to contribute a milestone picture (say $50,000 raised, or 10 points) you can send it to: milestones (at) desertbus.org.

Please make your pictures no larger than 1000 x 1000 pixels wide, and use the following file formats: JPG, PNG, GIF.

*Don’t actually bet on this.

Minority Games are the creators of Papo & Yo, a PSN game that oddly doesn’t seem to feature anyone with those names, instead focussing on the young boy Quico, and his poisonous frog addicted friend Monster. Players guide them through surreal and magical land, solving puzzles and having adventures. They’ve donated 9 copies of the game for us to give away for your playing pleasure.

Hey everyone!

Only a few hours left for our first round of silent auctions! If you haven’t seen them yet we have some great hand crafted donations from Kate Szkotnicki, Sharon Bruhn, and Misty!

How can you go wrong with some plush Mario Mushroom Pillows (Super AND 1-Up!), a cuddly brigade of Plants VS Zombies amigurumi, or the world’s cuddliest Dalek?

It’s a trick question–you can’t.  Send in your bids and win one of these awesome auctions (or all three–this is for the Children, after all)!

PubNub is a blazing fast cloud-hosted real-time messaging system for web and mobile apps. That means that we can receive real time updates to our donation total using their lightning-speed data pushing service, and that we no longer have to bribe Lakitus to carry hard drives around.

Thanks PubNub!

It’s 2AM and the second set of silent auctions are beginning!

This time around we have the following gems for you to bid on:

• “The Waiting Game” – a beautiful 10×22 painting by Eric Johnson of the fantastic FemShep playing her favorite game on the Citadel: Tetris!
• A really impressive set of three hand-made LoadingReadyRun latch hook rugs made by Jamas Enright!
• A Planescape prize pack that includes a mint condition 1st edition of the game novelization signed by Chris Avellone, Colin McComb, and Ray Vallese and a handcrafted Lady of Pain Rag Doll made by Kristian Brevik!

Desert Bus is proud to have the award-winning independent game development studio Double Fine Productions on board!

Founded by industry luminary Tim Schafer way back in the year 2000, over the past 12 years Double Fine has released some of the most creative and critically acclaimed games on the market, including Brutal Legend, Costume Quest, and of course Psychonauts, arguably one of the best games. Ever.

Double Fine is setting us up with some limited edition Middle Manager of Justice prints that you will not want to miss, so stay tuned for Paul’s driving shift on Sunday!

Penny Arcade, Inc. started in 1998 as a simple webcomic about two roommates waiting for a game level to load. In the intervening years, it has become the undisputed king of gaming webcomics, spawning gaming conventions, video games of their own, an internet TV channel with awesome shows, and the charity Child’s Play. Since 2003 Child’s Play has raised over twelve million dollars to buy toys, books, and games for children’s hospitals around the world. There may be irony in a deeply profane webcomic starting a charity for children, but the enormity of the contribution is undeniable.

The great folks at Penny Arcade and Child’s Play have been nothing but supportive of us and our craziness.

We want to extend our utmost thanks to everyone at PA for making Desert Bus for Hope 6 possible. Jamie and Kristen will be here on Monday and Tuesday, so be sure to show them some love.

We’ve only been bussing for just over an hour and we’ve already hit $10,000 raised! We thank you! The children thank you! Everyone thanks you!

Here’s the first batch of milestone images, and remember, if you want to contribute one (say $50,000 raised, or 10 points) you can send your pictures to: milestones (at) desertbus.org.

Please make your pictures no larger than 1000 x 1000 pixels wide, and use the following file formats: JPG, PNG, GIF.

Hey everyone, do you like fezzes? (Of course you do! Fezzes are cool!)

Well here’s your chance to win a fez that the great and powerful Wil Wheaton donated to Desert Bus!

Here’s what you have to do:

1) Draw a one panel political cartoon showing the evil corporate tycoon Roscoe thwarting James’s attempt to unionize Desert Bus.

2) Send your entries to contests@desertbus.org.

3) List your subject line as: James’s Driver Challenge.

Good luck! The contest ends at 9:00 AM PST, November 17th.

Click here more information on the fez.