Posts tagged with “charity”

While we’re obviously ecstatic about the release of our game, there’s some serious stuff going on in the world that is probably a bit more deserving of attention at the moment. By now I’m sure you’re all aware of what happened in Japan the past few days (and what’s going on now with reactor worries). There are some great game led efforts to raise funds going on, and they’re worth a look.

Cat from N4G has put together a good list of sites you can donate to that are doing relief efforts now. Brian Crecente from Kotaku is putting together a concert/auction/party type fundraiser in Denver in a few days too, and we plan on donating some SBS stuff for the auction as well. Definitely a great cause.

Let’s move on to some more fun news now. Our friend Jason McIntosh (the Warbler’s Nest) wrote a great piece about us scrapping (get it? get it?) the early designs for our game here, and it’s a terrific read.

Also, next week I’ll be posting a 5 part series on the design process behind SBS, with each day Monday – Friday exploring in depth a different iteration of the game, what we cut, and what we kept. If you care about game design at all you’re going to love it, so be sure to come back next week! We’ll have videos, images, and lots of details on the tough choices we had to make.

Finally, did you know that there is a fantastic twitter account for Professor Farnsworth? Apparently it’s just a bot that retweets any tweet that starts with “Good News, Everyone!” and it’s awesome.

It’s the season of giving! And in that vein we’re trying to help out with Child’s Play, a charity which raises money to get sick kids video games to play while they’re in the hospital (among other things). It’s a really worthwhile cause, and we’re holding an auction to help.

What are we auctioning off, you ask? The most valuable thing we can think of – NAMING RIGHTS TO THE CHARACTERS IN OUR GAME. That’s right, the winner of the auction will get to name one our main characters whatever they’d like – they can name it after themselves, after a loved one, or after their pet dog for all we care.

Sound great, right? But I’m sure you’ve got questions. Let’s answer them here.

Q: How do I bid on the naming rights of a character?
A: Go to our eBay auction page and bid there. Alternatively if you are planning on going to the Child’s Play Charity Dinner in Seattle you can bid on an auction there (we are holding two separate auctions).

Q: Naming a character sounds cool, but how do I know people will see it?
A: Our game opens up like a standard fighting/brawler game, where you get to choose your character. Your name will be visible here! So every time someone starts up the game they’ll be able to see it.

Q: Sounds awesome! Can I name the character anything I want?
A: More or less, with a few restrictions. The names can’t be inappropriate, corporate, infringing, or excessively long. So no “Butthead”, no “Pepsi McViagra”, and no “Michael Jackson”. We also get veto power over names but that’s just to cover our collective asses.

Q: I like the idea of naming a character, but I’m not convinced. Give me more stuff!
A: That’s not a question, but fine, we’ll hook you up anyway. The winner bidder will also get a kick ass framed poster signed by the entire team. You can see the image below, it looks AWESOME. Jacques really did a kick ass job with this one. Oh, and did we mention THERE ARE ONLY TWO OF THESE POSTERS IN THE WORLD? You’re getting a really awesome, rare, and (almost) unique item here.

Q: I want even more stuff!
A: Fine, we’ll throw in a copy of the game too. Happy?

Q: Yeah! Sounds great. I’m gonna go bid now! But I’m suspicious; how much of this auction are you pocketing?
A: Not one cent. Every penny of the winning bid will go to Child’s Play. That also means this is tax deductible if you care about that sort of thing.

Q: I can’t afford to bid, the price is too high and I’m poor.
A: You can still donate to Child’s Play directly from their website! Even kicking in a couple of bucks helps, and it’s a really worthwhile cause.

That’s it everyone. Thanks for helping us support a great cause! This will really mean a lot to some sick kids.

Yeah, I just did a blog post about this last week, but it’s a good cause so here it is again. The Complete Game Completion Marathon is this weekend and they (we?) need your support! As of writing this we’re just above $2,200, well away from our rock star goal of $10K. Donate if you can afford it! And then check out the website and watch us make fools of ourselves for you and the rest of the intarwebs this weekend.

Not sure how to donate? Click this big link below! Want to see what we’re doing? Check out last week’s blog post.

We’re taking part in the GAMBIT Complete Game-Completion Marathon in two weeks, it’s a fund raiser with all proceeds going to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. Over one weekend we’ll be spending tons of time playing some crazy games and trying to get people to donate to the cause. Here’s what we’ll be up to!

Games: It’s the Three Ring Circus!
1. Final Fantasy, All White Mage Run (NES): We will complete the entire Final Fantasy with the worst party possible, four white mages. No partial credit here; we only get points if we finish the game and defeat Chaos.
2. Mega Man 9 Challenge Run (XBLA/PSN/WiiWare): Mega Man 9 is a ridiculously hard game with 50 insane challenges that make the game that much harder. We will attempt to finish AT LEAST 40 of the 50 challenges, with extra credit for each achievement beyond 40.
3. Mario Kart Extravaganza (SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii): We will play through every 150cc cup in every console Mario Kart game. Our success will be based on the LOWEST trophy level we get; thus if we get 19 golds and 1 silver then our performance is rated silver. We will be trying for all golds!

Bonus: While we play we will blog, pontificate, and generally do interesting stuff in front of the webcam for people following online.

Extra New Bonus! World famous Fire Hose artist extraordinaire Jacques Pena will be making incredible video game art of the games we are playing and taking requests during the weekend. Contributors who donate a certain amount (probably $100) will be getting free one-of-a-kind art as a thank you! Details coming soon.

If you want to donate go to our page on Partners in Health, or just click on the big thermometer up top!