• Pokémon Update: Mewtwo, Hugh, Tournaments, and Charity Water!

    As promised, the first episode of Marriland.com's new bi-weekly series — Pokémon Update — is now up! This week's Pokémon Update talks about the new form of Mewtwo for Pokémon X and Y, the exclusive Hugh Pokédex Skin for Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, an overview of some of the recent tournaments, such as the Spring Regional Championships and the International Challenge April, as well as The Elite Four: Charity Water stream going on, to which Curse will donate $500 to the cause.

  • The Elite Four: Charity Water, streaming Pokémon for Charity!

    From April 22nd until April 29th, Sephazon on YouTube (host of The Elite Four) is bringing together some of the biggest Pokémon Let's Players and most influential people in the Pokémon community for a united goal: livestream playing Pokémon and Pokémon-related games for charity! What charity are they playing for? Charity Water, which is a charity to help supply clean water to developing nations.

    Their goal is to raise $50,000 for charity over the whole week. While that may seem quite ambitious, with some big names in the Let's Play community such as SuperSkarmory, Haydunn, JWittz, Shofu, and even myself, Marriland, as well as over nearly 30 more awesome Let's Players with at least as much talent and passion, it is certainly possible that goal can be met, although not without your help!

    You'll be able to watch the stream live on The Elite Four Twitch.tv channel starting April 22nd. Since the stream is divvied up into three hour shifts, there's a schedule available online showing you when everyone is streaming, as well as what game(s) they'll be playing. What am I going to be playing? I'll be streaming Pokémon Puzzle League on Sunday, April 28th, from 6:00pm Central Time to 9:00pm Central Time.

    Definitely be sure to tune in during the stream and to donate whatever you're able to. It's all for a good cause!

    How do YOU game? Are you loyal to Nintendo or do you branch out to other systems and platforms as well? Do you prefer handheld games such as Pokémon, console games, or PC games? How much time would you say you spend gaming each week? We would love to hear what gaming is to you, so check out this short survey by Curse to let your voice be heard!

  • Full Restore: Pokémon Livestreams for Charity

    Today marks the commencement of an awesome event in support of the British Red Cross: our friends, Full Restore, are a group of video creating, gaming enthusiasts who run an annual Pokémon livestream to benefit the charity, a marathon lasting 100 hours and suitable for all ages!

    Start time: Friday, March 29th at 7pm GMT
    End time: Tuesday, April 2nd at 11pm GMT

    The team has made the process interesting for viewers as well, with a unique approach to participation and donations.

    Team member Benjamin Pracy, said: “Our approach to livestreaming is quite unique, we have made it more interactive. People will be telling us how to play and what to do, and we believe it makes the whole experience more interesting and exciting for everyone involved.”

    Indeed, players can donate to convince the team to complete certain tasks, or catch and name Pokémon a certain way.


    Their website keeps track of all donations so they know which tasks to complete next and which Pokémon to catch. The six Pokémon in their squad are always the Pokémon with the highest total donations. Viewers often group together to support their favourite Pokémon, sometimes donating hundreds to keep them in the top six.

    What Can I Donate For?

    • Catching Pokémon - We only catch the Pokémon you donate for (any of the first three generations). We'll even add a custom nickname. The minimum we ask for is £3.
    • Catching rare Pokémon - Same as above but more hardcore. We ask for a minimum of £20 for these exclusive Pokémon.
    • Pokémon squad - We'll always make sure the six Pokémon with the highest donations are in the current squad.
    • Protagonist & Rival - If you donate to name the characters you can become our Pokémon master.
    • Specific Requests - Got some other ideas about how we can play? As long as it's possible, we'll try it.
    • Real World Challenges - Outside the game, we'll try to fulfill your abstract (and hopefully legal) requests.
    • Full Restore used sing - Donate to hear us ruin your favourite songs during our gym battle sing-alongs.
    • Series Select - You get to decide which Pokémon game we'll play for you.

    You can keep track of donation requests on their Pokédex page, which will go live when the stream does. They've raised over £8,000 for the Red Cross Disaster Fund the last two years they've run this event, and hopefully this year tops that! The stream is viewable at the official site, starting at 7pm GMT today.

  • ExtraLives.org: Streaming Pokemon for Charity

    From today at 12:00pm EST until the evening of Tuesday, January 1st, ExtraLives.org is streaming live playthroughs of Pokemon games for charity! They're raising money for Free the Children, a charity that helps provide support for children in developing nations by providing them with food, clean water, and a proper education.

    ExtraLives.org has raised over $92,000 for charity since 2009, and their goal is to break the $100,000 mark with this charity. By donating to ExtraLives.org during the Marathon, you can help them reach this mark as well as contribute to a good charity, but even if you are not able to donate, you can still watch the stream and share in the fun! Just be sure to tell your friends and spread the word, too.

    Watch the stream!

    They'll be playing Pokemon Red, Blue and the bootlegged translation of Pokemon Green first, then will be playing Gold, Silver and the infamous bootlegged Vietnamese Pokemon Crystal version, followed by Ruby, Sapphire and an unplayed bootlegged version of Emerald, and finally topping it off with Black and White. If you're not familiar with these bootlegged versions, they are released unofficially and are usually poorly translated, but that can make for some rather entertaining gameplay experiences (although, fair warning: the bootlegged Crystal contains some unintentional inappropriate language).

    Sound like fun? Well head on over and watch the streaming fun over the weekend and into the new year! Remember to tell your friends and be sure to donate as well!