24 hours of Monster Hunter for charity

I've been playing and writing about games for longer than I can remember, so I thought I would put my skills to good use and raise money for The Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.

On the weekend of October 11-13th, I'll be playing Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on Wii U for 24 hours straight, stopping only for toilet breaks, coffee, the occasional snack and to sharpen outrageously huge longswords and forage for blue mushrooms and whetstones. It's going to be a gruelling play session but I'm hoping people will throw words of encouragement my way on Facebook and Twitter. I'll also be using both these sites to keep everyone up to date on how I'm getting on.

The venture is in conjunction with Edinburgh Sick Kids Friends Foundation - a charity which provides funding over and above NHS provision to help make time spent in hospital better for young patients and their families.

I know times are tough for everyone these days, but if you are able to donate even a small amount, your efforts would be very much appreciated both by myself and the charity. Even if you can't afford to make a donation, please spread the word and cheer me on from the sidelines. It's going to be a crazy 24 hours!

Here's a link to my Just Giving page, where you can make a donation: http://www.justgiving.com/kiltedmoose

Wish me luck!

Update: Well, I survived my 24 hours and had a blast in the process. I started flagging with around five hours to go, but a cracking online session with three Twitter friends raised my spirits and I finished up with a few low rank quests as my fingers had started to go to sleep.This is the final photo I took, and I think it captures how I felt at the end perfectly! Thanks for all the support.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

Rejoice, my fellow hunters! Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is almost with us! Well, we still have a few months to wait, but I hardly need much persuasion to post something Monster Hunter related, so here we are.

Ultimate is stomping its way to the US on March 19, before swimming across the Atlantic - presumably tied to the back of a Lagiacrus - a few days later on March 22. Ultimate will be released simultaneously on Wii U and 3DS and that means one thing - I'll finally be picking up a Wii U to coincide with the release. I've been putting it off for too long and this gives me the perfect excuse to jump into Nintendo's new console.

While the Wii U version will have full online play, the 3DS version doesn't have this feature. However, cross-platform saves mean I gather resources on the bus to and from work on my 3DS and then transfer them to the Wii U when I get home. Perfect.

While it's doubtful we'll ever celebrate Monster Hunter like they do in Japan, I really hope this is the version which finally convinces those sitting on the fence how good Monster Hunter really is.

And, as if all this Monster Hunter goodness wasn't enough, there are rumours abound that Monster Hunter 4 - due to arrive in Japan this year on 3DS - will also be coming to Vita. The thought of playing an import version on the Vita's sumptuous screen is enough to make a wyvern cry shiny tears of joy.

I'm off for some 1000 Year Crab and Hairy Tuna sushi to celebrate!