Video game industry pioneers and USC alumni Kevin Bachus and Chanel Summers have made a donation to the USC School of Cinematic Arts Interactive Media & Games Division (IMGD) to help establish The Bachus-Summers Fund for Innovation in Interactive Entertainment. The donation was revealed today by School of Cinematic Arts’ (SCA) Dean Elizabeth M. Daley and will be used to create a fund for student support to be awarded to those who show initiative in the fields of interactive and immersive media.

And just like that, Humble Indie Bundle 7 comes to a close with 395,917 bundles sold for a grand total of $2,650,204.55.

The pot will be divvied up among Humble Bundle, the games' developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Child's Play charity according to the whims of the individual buyers.

The bundles sold at an average purchase price of $6.69 and break down by platform as follows:

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.

Crowd funding site Crowdtilt began offering tax-deductible donations for nonprofits today. Crowdtilt co-founder James Beshara says that Kickstarter prohibits charity and cause fundraising, Indiegogo nonprofit donations are not tax deductible, and even Movember takes a 17.7 percent fee. The goal is to offer fundraisers the ability to raise cash for charity without having the platform they are using take a large chunk of it...

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.

Humble Bundle has added five games to its current promotion bringing the total to a spanking 11.

The new additions are Avadon: The Black Fortress (tablets only), Canabalt, Cogs, Swords & Soldiers HD, and Zen Bound 2.  With the exception of Avadon, each game comes with its soundtrack.

It's that time again!

Yes, a new Humble Bundle is here, making indie games available in the pay-what-you-want way we all know and love.

The Humble Bundle for Android 4 features six games: Splice, Eufloria, Waking Mars, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, and Machinarium.  The first five are yours for whatever price you feel like paying but if you want Machinarium, you're going to have to pony up more than the average price which as of this writing, is $5.90.

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.

The 15th annual Nite to Unite - For Kids gala raised $822,000 for the ESA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Entertainment Software Association, the event's organizers announced today. The black-tie event took place last week in San Francisco, where various game industry luminaries and the media got together for a good cause. Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell was also honored at Nite to Unite as the 2012 ESA Champion Honoree. Previous honorees include Blizzard president and CEO Mike Morhaime and Star Wars franchise creator George Lucas.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has launched an educational Facebook app contest today with 30 prizes worth a grand total of $2.5 million. The 'College Knowledge Challenge' kicks off this week with an "edtech hackathon" at Facebook’s headquarters at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park.

On October 20th, Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward will participate in Extra Life’s 24-hour gaming marathon to help raise money for the Children's Miracle Network Hospital where kids are treated regardless of their family’s ability to cover medical costs.

UK-based games industry-driven charity GamesAid has opened up the nomination process to allow for voting on which charities it will support in its next round of funding. To be eligible, charities must be registered in the UK and focus on helping children and young adults in some way. Of course these charities will need be be game-related in some way as well. Organizations also have to have a turnover of £5m (roughly $7.85 million) or less and running costs of no more than 30 percent. Nominations opened up today and will end on August 13.

Zynga is loaning several of its developers to create a social charity game on Facebook. Development on a "social action" game based on the book Half the Sky by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn is well underway according to GamesBeat.

The book is about "turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide." The game will be released on Facebook on November 13.

Beginning Friday, June 22, a group of dedicated gamers in Lafayette, Indiana will host the fifth annual Mario Marathon fundraiser to benefit the Child’s Play Charity. The group has been doing this since 2008, and has managed to raise over $242,000 for Child's Play to-date.

Gamer and game industry-powered children's charity Child's Play has managed to raise an impressive $1.5 million in 2011 so far, with over $10 million donations made to date since it was launched by Penny Arcade's founders in 2003. This year's target number is $2 million, which is still a reachable goal before January 1, 2012.

The Humble Introversion Bundle closed earlier this week, selling 190,261 bundles for a grand total of $778,643.57.  The dough will be divided up between Humble Bundle itself, the developers of the games included in the bundle, and two charities: the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play.

As always seems to be the case, Linux users paid the most, averaging $8.78 with Mac users following at $5.90 and Windows users bringing up the rear at $3.40.

After a two-week run, the Humble Voxatron Debut is now closed.  So, how’d it do?

Humble Bundle sold 172,261 bundles for a total of $902,448.11 making it one of the lower earning bundles but certainly not a comparative failure.  Here’s how the previous bundles shook out:

The second annual IGDA Foundation Charity Dinner takes place October 27, this year putting David Jaffe in the hot seat. The event costs $200 to attend, with the proceeds going to various charitable endeavors including multiple scholarship funds. It will take place on the evening of Thursday, October 27th at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, LAX, in Los Angeles, in conjunction with this year’s IGDA Leadership Forum. This year John Romero will be continuing his “legend on legend” interview of seminal game designers with an interview of David Jaffe.

Blizzard Entertainment will host a series of special charity auctions featuring server-blade hardware that was originally used during the early days of World of Warcraft. The money generated from the auctions will go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, one of the world's premier centers for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases. The auction consists of the original HP Blade System servers that once housed hundreds of different realms across North America and Europe.

Today at 2 pm EST, Benefit Evil will begin its annual marathon Resident Evil gameplay event to benefit Child's Play. The three-day marathon of Resident Evil playing - all to benefit the wonderful Child's Play charity - will run from today until October 9 at 10 pm.

You can be a part of the action by watching them play through some of the best and worst Resident Evil games, chatting with them via the live chat and following their antics on Twitter. Of course, the whole point is to get you to donate money.

It’s time to raid the couch cushions again, because the Humble Bundle is back with a bundle of games you can pay what you like for (unless you’d like to pay $0 or less.  In which case you can sod off).

Last week officers from the Georgia Department of Revenue showed up at the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta and seized eight of the establishment's vintage arcade games because for "vending law violations." Seized doesn't mean taking physical possession of the machines; instead the machines were unplugged and tagged with bright red violation stickers.

Tickets are on sale for Activision's first annual event dedicated to Call of Duty, Call of Duty XP, at www.callofduty.com/xp. The event will take place September 2 - 3 in Los Angeles. Call of Duty XP tickets are now on sale. Tickets are $150 and are valid for both days of the event. In addition, buying a ticket gives you admission to all events and activities with the exception of food and drink. Naturally you'll have to pay for your own travel to and from the event. You can buy up to two tickets, the proceeds of which will go to the Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit organization that helps returning veterans find employment, establish careers and transition back to civilian life. You must be 18 years old or older to attend.

How do you give money to politicians without actually giving them a big fat check directly? Write a check to a charity they are closely associated with. That is just what AT&T has been doing, and it is getting the attention of the public and media outlets.

AT&T has given a substantial amount of money to charities connected to several lawmakers including Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia), who just happens to be the chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which has direct jurisdiction over the Federal Communications Commission. A charity associated with Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi), who just happens to be on the Senate Appropriations Committee. AT&T also gave a generous contribution to a charity associated with Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina), the No. 3 House Democrat. His daughter, Mignon Clyburn also happens to be a member of the Federal Communications Commission.

There are about five weeks left to go until the fourth annual Gamers for Giving competitive gaming tournament kicks off at the Eastern Michigan University Student Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Hosted by Gamers Outreach, the one-day tournament gives hardcore players a chance to take part in an event that directly benefits charity. The proceeds from the tournament go to funding various charitable efforts.

The 2011 event takes place on Saturday, June 18th at the Eastern Michigan University Student Center. This year's activities include a 2 vs 2 Halo Reach tournament, a 4 vs 4 Call of Duty Black Ops tournament (played on the Xbox 360), a 1 vs 1 Starcraft 2 tournament (BYOC) and a 100 person console LAN. Doors open at 10:00 AM and the event will run until 10:00 PM.

Interactive Studio Management (ISM) will host its fourth annual Invitational Charity Poker Tournament alongside the 2011 Game Developers Conference (GDC 2011). As is the case every year with the event, all proceeds will benefit charity. The proceeds for this year's event will go to Best Buddies California, a nonprofit 501©(3) organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, utilizing a global volunteer movement to create opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development.

On average, the ISM poker events see an average of average of 160 players, spectators and video game companies participate. The event hopes to exceed the annual $80,000 it raised last year.

The Behemoth is giving PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade owners an opportunity to go pink in Castle Crashers. The developers behind the popular action RPG announced a new character called the Pink Knight and that all the proceeds from the purchase of this character (and four new weapons) will be donated to charities devoted to Breast Cancer Research. The Pink Knight comes armed with a Lollipop and 4 other brand new additional weapons.

PSN players will get the Pink Knight first, with a release date for XBLA players to be announced at a later date. The PSN version sells for $1.99 and goes live February 8.

Find out more about the Pink Knight here.

Commentary: How can anyone not love the people at The Behemoth?

Xwerx, makers of the XtendPlay controller enhancement for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 controllers, announced today that it is is extending its campaign to donate a portion of revenue from product sales to the Get-Well Gamers Foundation.

Get-Well Gamers Foundation is a California-based international charity dedicated to bringing electronic entertainment to children in long-term healthcare facilities. The campaign, which began in December, will continue through the end of January.

XtendPlay is available for direct purchase at the Xwerx online store for $19.99 USD.

Electronic Arts says that it has managed to sell 4000 Santa costumes across 17 days in its PC online game Battlefield Heroes. This is particularly noteworthy because $1 of each sale goes directly to the Child's Play charity. The costumes can be worn while shooting other players, driving a tank or flying a plane..

"We're blown away by the support our community has shown for the Child's Play charity, which helps provide videogames for children in hospital," senior producer James Salt told Eurogamer.

"As of Thursday the 16th we have received a little over $3700 in donations. If we can reach $8,000 by December the 31st, we'll match that total with another $8000. $16000 certainly buys lots of video games!," added Salt.