November 22, 2007
Here at GamePolitics, we'd like to wish every reader a happy and healthy Thanksgiving Day, even those who don't celebrate this uniquely American holiday.Yes, we live in a world wracked by war, poverty and disharmony. But gamers have much to be thankful for. Games have never been better, more exciting, more educational or had a greater impact on society at large.
While we give thanks for our games, let's take a moment to reflect on these gamers who are giving back:
The Contra Costa Times reports that more than 800 gamers gathered last Saturday for a giant LAN party for the benefit of the Get Well Gamers Foundation and the Alameda Food Bank:
The contest, organized by NVIDIA and Electronic Arts, also gave die-hard gamers the first opportunity to play new games and test out software and other PC components that are expected to be among the hottest-selling items this holiday season...
Get Well Gamers, by the way, is run by GP regular (and occasional contributor) Ryan Sharpe.
In one of the most imaginitive approaches we've seen to raising money for a worthy cause, four Canadian gamers will play Desert Bus, an unreleased, completely monotonous mini-game, for as long as the donations keep coming in. They hope to raise $5,000 for Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity:
Not only are you donating to Child’s Play but you are also making a bunch of idiots up in Canada play a very boring and never ending game... You could donate twenty dollars through the Child’s Play Website, or you could donate your money through our website, your money is going to exactly the same place but you get to force us to play Desert Bus for just that much longer.
The boys start driving tomorrow. Make a donation and keep their monotony going.
Don't forget Fun For Our Troops, a nonprofit which aims to send games and systems to our military personnel in Iraq. Read the full GamePolitics report on this terrific group here.
PlayStation 3 owners can help just by leaving their PS3 turned on.
Stanford University's Folding at Home project harnesses the distributed processing power of home-based PS3's in research computations aimed at curing disease.
Finally, Gaming4Others is raising money for Child's Play by holding online game tournaments.
UPDATE: We neglected to mention the 2008 MMO Calender, which benefits St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. GP purchased the 2007 version, and it's fabulous. The 2008 calendar includes the following MMO's: Age of Conan, Dark Age of Camelot, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Eve Online, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Star Wars Galaxies, Stargate Worlds, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft...
UPDATE 2: Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA)prez Hal Halpin dropped GP a line about Gifts from Gamers, another organization devoted to getting games and systems to U.S. military personnel overseas.
Comments
You are a one trick pony aint ya? Almost as as bad as JT himself. You harp on about JT in every post you make, and you still don't sound well informed.
@ GP
Thanks for a story that paints gamers in a good light!
*looks in last article*
Nice going man, YA JINXED US.
I'm actually from Burlington, and I'm in fourth year physics at Waterloo.
November 22nd, 2007 at 11:38 am
Maybe Jack Thompson could come on to say happy Thanksgiving to gamers.
Except he might be having a bad Thanksgiving Day because he lost his case recently."
Nah, he is making his new case agnainst video games. Someone almost choked on a piece of turkey and he is trying to sue The Sims as the reason.
Your point being what? He's done so much good for gaming at large that I really don't care.
Is GWG still having issues?
And, er, i don't mean to be pedantic, but Thanksgiving isn't unique to the U.S.A.; check the Wikipedia entry for more info. :)
Happy whatever!
Except he might be having a bad Thanksgiving Day because he lost his case recently.
For all non Americans, Have a nice day.
I do not leave a comment about Jack Thompson every time I post.
I was just leaving a little teaser about Jack to cheer people up.
I have seen people post alot more about Jack then me you idiot.
Your just a troublemaking retard that makes no sense, so shut up.
You seem like the dumbest poster on this sight so stop talking bad to me.
Have a good one everybody!
no, i don't think i will pal. did you space your post out like that so you could read it better? Seems like another post where mention JT, you could have just had a go at me, but no, you mention him again. Perhaps it is a condition and i shall just feel sorry for you.
We get Boxing day instead I guess, which is like Black Friday except its the day after Christmas, and we is basically and extension to the Christmas period so we can watch the cricket :P
They also have a wikipedia article, too. :) THey're based out of the Hamilton area, and still a pretty small organization, but we're all doing what we can to get the word out. They had a few pretty sweet gigs, too, they were at nDex a few weeks ago, they were at the Burlington Sound of Music Festival, doing as much as they can to get the name out.
If you're from the area, or if you just love helping sick kids and getting them some entertainment for their hospital stays, go ahead and donate. :)
I was going to point this out myself, just because I know a few people from other countries that have gotten ticked off at us treating it like it's our own holiday.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! :D
Can't we all just get along?
I don't care who started it, I'll turn this car around right now!!
Don't make me reach back there!
Just practicing for when my daughter acts up. Happy day to everyone regardless of what you are celebrating.
You made me have horrible, horrible flashbacks **slaps head to remove childhood trauma**
Well played.
As for those who do celebrate it but are not from the US, Dennis was partially right as today the US is the only country celebrating Thanksgiving right now.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
I will donate what I can.
On a side note, it is snowing!!!!!! Guess I will have to stay in tonight and play Mass Effect!
Anyways, happy Thanksgiving everyone. Even if you don't celebrate it... BE HAPPY ANYWAYS! :-)
Oh, GP - that picture is AWESOME!
Just kidding. It's one of the strange things in canadian/U.S. holydays.
My high school's JROTC program is participating in the Fun for Our Troops organization, and has probably also had the largest amount of food delivered to the food drive since I started going here.
- Cecil475
Happy thanksgiving to my fellow American GPers.
Have a great day to those who don't celebrate thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Gamer or not! :D
Somebody will proberbly choke on their turkey, Jack is currently busy (because he has no friends to share the day with) preparing a lawsuit against Nintendo blaming the choking incident on the murder simulator: Cooking Mama
That's a horrbile thing to say, he's still a human being.
I'm a little slow today. :S