2K Games is a developer/publisher with an impressive list of published titles (Jade Empire, BioShock, The Darkness, Borderlands), including a few we all thought would never see the light of day (Prey, DNF). In its own way, 2K and it’s game The Darkness helped spawn Unskippable’s most noteworthy running gag “That was the nth time I died.” It also was the very first game Yahtzee Croshaw covered in Zero Punctuation. Perhaps cannily aware of this, they’ve sent us a limited edition Darkling figurine not for sale anywhere else.

2K Games will be releasing The Darkness 2 in 2012, as well as the hotly anticipated Bioshock: Infinite. You can learn more at www.2kgames.com.

Steve Butts and Steve Dengler have joined forces in the first chapter of Dengler and Butts! Here’s the first thrilling chapter of many, written by Granite_Grizz

12:45 – Directly behind the black vehicle

Butts – We’re almost there. If you pull up to the side, I’ll take a shot at their tires.
Dengler – I’m not leaving the fate of the bus in your hands rookie. I’ll pull to the side and you grab the wheel.

The black vehicle, apparently noticing the tail, started accelerating, but Dengler was already at top speed and easily pulled alongside the culprit.

Dengler shouted, “Take over.” as he lifted himself from his seat and aimed at the front wheels of the suspects vehicle. Sadly, Dengler lost traction on the accelerator and the pair of detectives started slowing down.

“Damn it! Quick, Butts, hit the accelerator!”

Butts lunged from his seat and quickly slapped the hand not occupied with steering on the accelerator.

“Keep it steady rookie.” Dengler encouraged as he took aim and fired at their target.

 

Will our heroes survive? Will they fight crime! Send what you think happens in Chapter 2 to contests@desertbus.org!

Chris Cashman is a comedian and voice actor who you may know best as the host of Xbox Live’s former gameshow series 1 vs 100. Chris hosted the series for it’s entire run, from 2009-2010. Today he can be heard as a regular cohost of the Geek Gamer Weekly podcast.

Chris will be calling in at 2:30PM, so tune in and have your questions ready to go!

One of this year’s most welcome corporate sponsorships is from the award winning Fernwood Coffee Company. Makers of the best coffee in Victoria, the Fernwood Coffee Company and their incredibly talented employees have won accolades all over the world, as took home the grand prize as the best Baristas in Canada is 2010.

This year Fernwood is providing perhaps the greatest gift of all – free coffe, tea and americanos for the Desert Bus organizers. The importance of this gift CANNOT be overstated.

If you’re in Victoria, please visit them at 1115 North Park Street, or visit their website to order some of their award winning coffee online!

We passed $125K while I was asleep! Here’s some milestones!

Webcomic artist and friend of LoadingReadyRun Sam Logan will be calling in at 1:00PM to field your questions, and check in with the Desert Bus crew. In addition to authoring more than 1400 strips throughout his webcomic ‘Sam and Fuzzy’s near ten-year run, Sam also works as thegraphic designer for children’s science magazines YES MAG and KNOW.

Post your questions in the comments below.

Michael Lunsford is the artist responsible for the webcomic Supernormal Step. He drew the amazing poster for Desert Bus for Hope 4: A New Hope, summarizing the events of that six day long marathon magnificently. He’s on board to draw the poster for Desert Bus 5, and it promises to be even better! This year the poster will be available for you, the viewers to purchase from the LoadingReadyRun store, and with a portion of the profits going to Child’s Play (the other portion has to go to poor exhausted Michael, because it’s only fair…)

You can read Supernormal Step at www.supernormalstep.com and his DeviantArt page at http://zet.deviantart.com (both links are slightly less safe for the childrens, but check out the Venture Bros. Fanart on his deviantart! That is SO COOL!)

Film reviewer and host of The Escapist’s Escape to the Movies and The Big Picture webseries’, MovieBob, will be calling in at 11AM to wish the Desert Bus team well. In addition to the two previously mentioned series, Bob is also known for his ongoing series The Game Overthinker at ScrewAttack.com, as well as his column Intermission, and his blog.

Questions for MovieBob can be posted in the comment section below!

A slightly late addition to our call-in roster, Neil Gaiman is an award winning author, screenwriter, and graphic novelist that needs little introduction. Behind such work as Sandman, Good Omens, American Gods, Coraline, Stardust, and much, much more, Neil’s work is a staple among any geek’s library.  More recently, Mr. Gaiman wrote the Doctor Who episode ‘The Doctor’s Wife‘, which aired earlier this year.Throughout his career, Neil has been nominated for, or the recipient of, more writing awards than it’s reasonable for me to list, though they include the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, The Eisner Award, and the Newbery Medal, among others.

Mr. Gaiman will be calling at at 10:00AM, so please submit your questions in the comments below, and tune in at 10!

It’s no lie that Kathleen loves Atlus and all of their games, so it’s important to understand the magnitude of her delight when she saw that the developer had sent an incredible box of games and limited edition swag to support this year’s Desert Bus.

The beloved publisher of the Shin Megami Tensei Series, the Persona Series, Catherine, 3D Dot Heros, The Cursed Crusade and more, the only way this donation could have been improved was if adorable Atlus mascot Jack Frost himself hand delivered it.