Entertainer and magician Penn Jillette, who you probably recognize as one half of Penn and Teller, is working on a virtual reality remake of Desert Bus with Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford.
The original Desert Bus – a mini-game featured in the never-released 1995 Sega CD title, Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors – is played annually by charity organization Desert Bus for Hope, which last November raised over $600,000 by playing the game for 159 hours straight.
According to Jillette the remake will only be made available for charities, such as Desert Bus for Hope, and will be released as part of a larger bundle.
“I’m working on a game. I’m working with Randy Pitchford, and we’re going to do – and this is a big, big deal – 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,” said Jillette, speaking on the latest episode of his podcast, Penn’s Sunday School.
“We’re doing a couple other games. 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.”
To date the Desert Bus for Hope team have raised over $3.1 million for Child’s Play, a charity that donates toys and games to children’s hospitals around the world.