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
Happy thanksgiving all you Americans!
There. Are all the whiners happy, now?
Onto the article. It's always good to see good deeds being done. Giving aid to those in need, or supporting those far from home truely helps us all. And if you can get the inside scoop on upcoming releases or force some guys to play the worst game of all time, all the better. :)
@ ConstantNeophyte
I literally just beat Assassin’s Creed. It’s awesome. They are going to make a sequel! They have to. The gameplay, graphics, and story all blew me away. So many surprises. I almost agreed with a few of the villains. At least, I almost agreed with their motives. I won't say anymore. And the revelations at the end... OK, you have to play it. I'd hate to ruin it for ya.
http://www.gamingwithchildren.com/2007-11-22/a-day-of-thanks/#more-277
--Ryan Sharpe
First of all if you are not Jack forgive me, but Jack has been posting under many "anonymous coward" names recently. But that being said if that is you Jack: Ha, fail. Nice try though trying to drive a wedge in like this. Do you honestly think by discrediting others that it will make your side look any more desirable? "Oh no, Gamerdad went to the Superbowl, there is only one thing we can do! We must help Thompson rape our freedoms in the ass!"
Gamerdad did have a heart attack, so thats true. And medical bills are expensive so they needed the money, so I still don't see where the lie is. Furthermore when you almost die it puts a new spin on things and maybe he wants to see the Superbowl before you know, actually dying.
Or after a heart attack should he have just sat around the house and waited for death? Sheesh, let the poor guy live a little.
Stop being a grinch in a topic meant for giving thanks.
What business is it of your's Thompson?
That money was willingly donated ot him and is therefore his, what he does with it is his business, not the business of a hearse chasing soon to be ex lawyer who is cursing his luck that one of his "enemies" survived.