In case you didn't get the memo, this week is apparently Gamer Safety Week, according to the Merchant Risk Council's Gamer Safety Alliance. This week marks the second annual awareness campaign to draw attention to gaming account safety with the hope of teaching the community about the ramifications of having their online identity compromised (hint: it's real bad).

Indie developer Imminent Games is giving 20 percent of every sale of its game Drip Drip to the Robin Hood Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund through the entire month of February. Drip Drip is described as a 2D strategy game about "saving buildings from extreme weather conditions" for Mac and Windows PCs using water simulation gameplay and a time management challenge.

This Reddit thread reveals a grand and charitable deed that Bungie did for a very sick little boy in Seattle, as detailed by The Escapist. According to the Reddit thread, Seattle-based Reddit user fiscal_ reached out to Bungie asking them to send something to his five year old son who was in the process of getting a liver transplant.

Perfect World Entertainment announced today that 2012 Rock Band charity event Ümloud! managed to raise over $42,000 dollars for the Child’s Play. Perfect World Entertainment was a key sponsor of the annual event that was held on December 6th, 2012.

Blizzard Entertainment announced via its official blog that it managed to raise $2.3 million for the American Red Cross’s ongoing Superstorm Sandy relief efforts in the month of December. World of Warcraft players were given the opportunity to purchase a new in-game pet during the month, and stepped up in droves to help raise the money.

Crowd funding company Kickstarter revealed numbers for 2012, including some interesting data related to the games that were successfully funded during the year. That data, located in this report, offers some pretty interesting statistics on game related projects. According to Kickstarter, the site saw more than 2.2 million people donate nearly $320 million to game-related projects, with over 18,000 projects successfully reaching or exceeding their funding goals in 2012.

Chuck Bittner is a quadriplegic, a comedian and an avid video game player. More importantly he is a strong advocate for disabled gamers who need the ability to use custom buttons in games because he plays a lot of them using his face. He has championed a remapping petition urging game developers and publishers to include custom button mapping in all of their biggest titles. He also wants to go to PAX East this year to further spread the important message of button remapping, but he needs your help.

Organizers of the game-related charity Child's Play announced that more than $5 million has been raised in 2012, making it the biggest year for the charity to-date. In 2011 Child's Play managed to raise $3.5 million. A representative for the charity thanked event organizers, volunteers, and participants in various charity drives for their hard work and dedication to achieve this new milestone.

Gamers Outreach passed along word that registration for the Gamers For Giving 2013 LAN event is now open at lanfest.intel.com/gamers-outreach. The event will take place on February 16th and 17th at the EMU Student Center (900 Oakwood Street) in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The event is a collaboration between Gamers Outreach, the Intel LANFest series, and the student government of Eastern Michigan University.

A group of gamers and Zelda series fans came together on December 27 to kick off a five-day Zelda-focused gaming marathon to raise money for charity. The event lasted until January 1, 2013, and while the gang was probably physically and mentally exhausted, they managed to raise a lot of money for the charity of their choice.

A group of gamers and Zelda series fans have come together under the team name of Fun For Freedom to create what they call a "Zeldathon." The group will play through Nintendo's popular RPG adventure games for charity over the next five days while streaming their antics on this Twitch.tv channel.

Starting at right around noon on December 29 and running right through New Year's Eve, Extra Lives will host a Pokémon gameplay marathon to raise money for charity. Participants will play through up to three games at a time, including a few unsavory entries in the series and even some bootleg versions of games that are Pokémon-based. The website will live stream the triumphs and tragedies of participants as they attempt to play through multiple versions of the game at once, starting with three different versions of the first Game Boy generation of Pokémon games.

Mine-Thon 2 has concluded, with the official web site showing that event raised $10,148.00 for the Child's Play children's charity. Mine-Thon is a seventy-two hour, non-stop Minecraft gameplay marathon broadcast live via Twitch TV.

Participants play the game, entertain viewers and ask for donations, with all the proceeds going to charity. This is the second year of the 72-hour marathon and this year organizers raised a heck of a lot more money for Child's Play (last year they raised right around $4,400).

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media have revealed the participating sponsors and partners for the 2013 National STEM Video Game Challenge. For the third year, the AMD Foundation, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) will once again serve as key sponsors for the Challenge. New partners include the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Hive NYC Learning Network.

While many in the community are celebrating the fact that Johann Sebastian's Sportsfriends managed to hit its Kickstarter funding goal in the eleventh hour, many might not know that one person was instrumental in that happening: Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson. Notch had originally pledged $5,000 to the project but later decided to increase the amount he was giving by $3,000 to a total of $8,000.

On December 29 The Pixel Academy will set up shop in the ArtsCetera on 212 Smith Street in Brooklyn to create a 21st century digital media lab for kids. Open house ALL DAY (10am-8pm) - Instructors will be teaching classes on a range of creative technologies and answering questions about Pixel Academy and their educational programs.

Electronic Arts employee Wendell Harlow has been honored by the Make-A-Wish Foundation with a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Award. The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal marks the 60th anniversary of England's Queen Elizabeth II’s "accession to the Throne" and honors the achievements and contributions of Canadians. Wendell received the distinct honor for over a decade of supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Canada.

The Speed Gamers crew is preparing another 72-hour Mario-related gaming marathon to help raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The cool Texas-based marathon-gaming group The Speed Gamers will immerse themselves in all things Mario starting at 7 p.m. Eastern on December 14, playing for 72-hours straight, while also engaging in live streamed antics to raise cash for a great cause. Viewers can donate pledges, engage the group in witty banter, and have a shot at winning some interesting prizes.

On Thursday, December 6th, Ümloud! kicks off in San Francisco to raise money for Child’s Play. The event which brings journalists, game developers and fans together for some Rock Band 3-themed fun will take place at the DNA Lounge. The event will also feature plenty of performances, videogame antics, silent auctions, unrehearsed jam sessions and the irrepressible wit of Master of Ceremonies Tim Schafer from Double Fine.

Blizzard will give 100 percent of sales of Cinder Kittens from the World of Warcraft Pet Store to the Red Cross and disaster relief for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. The previously announced pet the Cinder Kitten can be yours for $10 USD. This fiery little feline is warm, adorable and will light the steps of any adventurer kind enough to adopt it. The Cinder Kitten has Rare-quality stats and is a part of the Elemental family.

Aksys Games passed along word that it has managed to raise $12,920 in donations for the American Red Cross after its successful "Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward Hurricane Sandy Relief Efforts Sale" on Nov. 14.

Ümloud!, the San Francisco area gaming charity event today launched a VIP auction package on eBay. Ümloud! launched an eBay auction for one person to win a play session for themselves, and four of their friends with gaming icon and Umloud! Master of Ceremonies Tim Schafer, with his pre-release Kinect game, and spiritual successor to Double Fine’s Happy Action Theater, the upcoming game Kinect Party. The auction is live now and ends promptly on Tuesday, December 4th at 3:30pm PST.

Pixel Academy, a New York City-based company founded by former Lead Game Designer at Nickelodeon (Mike Fischtha) has been conducting workshops for children ages 8-12 all over the city at locations such as homes and public libraries. These workshops teach children video game design, 3D printing, Arduino fashion design, and other fun technology based courses.

UK-based games industry charity GamesAid is calling for contributions to expand its store offerings on eBay. Since its launch in June of 2009, GamesAid's eBay store has managed to raise an impressive £113,417.88 for charity. The charity hopes to make that number grow by leaps and bounds during the holiday season - with your help.

The AbleGamers Foundation has released its annual holiday gift guide for those shoppers with loved ones and family members that are gamers who have a disability. This year's guide, located here, offers nearly a dozen items ranging from technology and peripherals to accessible video games with low prices for those on a tight budget.

Team Meat co-founder and Super Meat Boy co-creator Aubrey Hesselgren announced that he is holding the 3D prototype of Super Meat Boy Galaxy "hostage" in an attempt to raise 10,000 British pounds for depression-focused charity The Samiritans. He made his announcement (demands?) on the web site Just Giving. If the goal is met Hesselgren will release the the 3D Super Meat Boy Galaxy prototype to the public and if it fails he'll offer it only to those who were kind enough to donate.

Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight is going to be a little different this year... This year's event will let fans decide which ideas get made into games, with a live stream of the entire process to boot. But the best part is that, when it's all said and done, all of the games made during the vent will be released as a special Humble Bundle.

The organizers of Ümloud! announced that Unknown Worlds and Perfect World Entertainment have taken on Premiere Co-Sponsorship roles in support of this year’s event. Proceeds from the annual Rock Band competition that features both game developers and games journalists benefit the Child’s Play charity. Ümloud! will take place at San Francisco’s DNA Lounge on Thursday, December 6.

EA Sports has put some cold hard cash behind "Movember" - the month long fight to raise money for prostate cancer. The EA Sports division is putting up $500,000 in advertising throughout the month inside its most popular franchises including FIFA, Madden NFL, and NHL. The goal of Movember is to raise awareness about prostate cancer and male mental health by asking "Mo Bros" to grow moustaches in the month of November. "Mo Sistas" are also encouraged to help raise funds and awareness.

Activision is gearing up to sell Call of Duty dog tags at select retailers throughout North America, with the proceeds going to its non-profit charitable organization, the Call of Duty Endowment. The Call of Duty dog tags will carry a suggested retail price of $4.99 and will be for sale beginning today at retailers GameStop, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Best Buy and Target.