Magicians are making a new Desert Bus

Virtual reality road trip

Desert Bus has become an unlikely success as something people suffer through for hours on end to raise money for charity. The infamous mini-game — a painful, realistically paced bus trip from Tucson to Las Vegas with no pause menu — comes from the unreleased Sega CD title Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors. It’s a fascinating creation right up there with Takeshi’s Challenge.

On his podcast Penn’s Sunday School, host Penn Jillette revealed plans to continue the Desert Bus legacy. “I’m working on a game,” he said. “I’m working with [Gearbox Software CEO] Randy Pitchford, and […] we’re going to do a new Desert Bus and it’s going to be just for charities, so charities can use it to raise money.”

It’s at this point I need to pump the brakes and remind everyone about the time Pitchford, who used to be a professional magician, gave $25,000 to a crowdfunding campaign and got Jillette’s ponytail as a reward. That happened. Okay. Let’s resume.

“We’re doing a couple other games,” said Jillette. “It’ll be a bundle; we’re talking to a bunch of people. It’ll probably be agnostic in terms of platform, and it’ll probably be for the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR.”

Randy Pitchford and Penn Jillette remaking Desert Bus for virtual reality [Gamasutra]