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Summer is watching people beat games ridiculously fast for charity
Video game speedruns are always impressive feats of memorization, skill and flawless gameplay -- but twice a year they're also a conduit for altruism. Next week is one of those times. Starting on July 26th, Summer Games Done Quick will kick off seven full days of Twitch-streamed speedrunning. The goal? Raise as much cash as possible for Doctors Without Borders and have a ridiculously good time.
Doomed Indiegogo campaign hopes to crowdfund Greece's debt relief
Can crowdfunding do something better than make a beer cooler with a built-in Bluetooth speaker? That's what Thom Feeney believes after setting up an Indiegogo campaign to pay Greece's $1.7 billion loan fee that it owes to the International Monetary Fund. The project is hoping to raise the cash by encouraging all of Europe's 503 million citizens to kick in a few bucks for a postcard, a Greek salad or vouchers for a bottle of Ouzo. The page has been up for just over two days and already the figure stands at €200,000 ($223,000), although that's still less than a tenth of a percent towards the final figure.
Tesco trials app for donating unsold food to charity
It's strange to think that in an affluent nation like the UK, there are people going hungry while shops and eateries throw out masses of perfectly good food every day. Charity organisation FareShare has tasked itself with saving this unwanted food from the bin out back and distributing it to other charities that can use it, and under a new partnership with Tesco, it's turned to technology to grease the wheels. With the FoodCloud mobile app, Tesco store managers can log items earmarked for disposal, informing FareShare of the potential donation which the charity can then arrange to collect. Born from ongoing partnerships with FareShare and FoodCloud, Tesco's kicked off the UK pilot in its Surrey Quays store, and will expand it to a further nine locations in four cities under a wider trial. FoodCloud is already in use across all of Tesco's supermarkets in Ireland, so there's definite scope for the pilot to become a widespread initiative. And hopefully, Tesco will inspire other businesses to take part, too.
Gaming legend Sid Meier auctions his SNES kit for charity (update: not him)
Want a rare piece of video gaming history? We hope you're a quick-draw bidder. Legendary game developer Sid Meier is holding a charity auction for a Super NES developer kit (which is hard to find by itself) used during his MicroProse days. Yes, there's a real chance that you could be using a system that helped build an early console version of Civilization. Don't think that you can just take on some credit card debt to get that nostalgia kick, though. Meier is only selling the kit to trustworthy eBay users with verified PayPal accounts, and bidding starts at $5,999 -- it's worthwhile if you want to help St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, but you're paying for a lot more than someone's second-hand console. Update 5/7: 2K tells us that it's not Meier selling this system. That doesn't mean this is bogus gear, but it certainly loses some of its luster.
Charity ads subvert Facebook to highlight the UK's lonely elderly
If you live in the UK, you've probably seen Facebook's new "Friends" ads on TV or the London Underground. They're refreshingly simple and focus on what the goliath social network was originally designed for -- staying connected with the people that matter most in our lives. However, soon you might see some new billboard ads, featuring a few subtle but incredibly powerful tweaks: namely, the use of the phrase "No Friends." They were designed by the J. Walter Thompson London communications agency for the charity Age UK, and highlight the loneliness experienced by many older citizens. We suspect more than a few passersby will do a double-take after seeing these, and hopefully they'll raise awareness for an important issue and the organisation trying to tackle it.
Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate his fortune to charity
Tim Cook has big plans for his vast wealth: It's all going to philanthropy, he revealed in a Fortune interview. The Apple CEO -- who's currently worth around $112 million, and holds restricted stock that could be worth up to $665 million -- said he's already been making donations quietly, but he's also looking forward to taking a deeper approach to the whole endeavor. That could involve starting something similar to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Microsoft co-founder's non-profit which manages his philanthropic efforts. Cook also plans to cover his nephew's college education, like the rich uncle that he is. Cook's open approach to philanthropy differs from his predecessor Steve Jobs, who was widely criticized for not donating enough. His wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, revealed after his death that the family actually donated tens of millions anonymously for over two decades.
Play 'Space Invaders' for charity while waiting in Swedish airports
Take a mind journey with us: You step off of an international flight and walk to the baggage claim areas in Sweden's Stockholm Arlanda Airport or Göteborg Landvetter Airport. You're tired, you're waiting for your luggage, and you have a pocketful of foreign coins. Usually, you'd drop them off in the Red Cross donation box, which takes any type of currency, and you'd continue standing, waiting. Now, the Swedish Red Cross and Swedavia Swedish Airports have turned those donation boxes into classic arcade cabinets -- drop in any currency from any country and start playing Pac-Man, Galaga or Space Invaders before grabbing your bags. It's better than letting those coins collect dust, and classic video games have been scientifically proven* to help travelers shake off that "I've been sitting for 18 hours" look.
PlayStation charity gives you a chance to play with superstars
Think that downloadable game content is normally a waste? Sony will soon give you a good reason to splurge on those virtual goods. It's launching PlayStation Heroes, a PlayStation 4 app that encourages you to contribute to charities like Make-A-Wish, the USO and the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Pay between $1 and $15 to buy a dynamic game theme (or $20 for a four-theme bundle) and you'll not only donate to a good cause, but get one or more chances at playing games with a superstar. In March, you could win a shot at partnering with snowboarder Shaun White in Destiny; other celebs in future months will range from Snoop Dogg to Dodgers center fielder Yasiel Puig. Heroes won't go live until February 24th, but you can pre-order the app now to get ready.
Behold: The power of watching pros play video games
Awesome Games Done Quick is a yearly charity event starring the gaming industry's best and brightest speedrunners -- people who play games very well, with truly superhuman quickness. This January after 160 hours of live streaming on Twitch (a live video service dedicated to gaming), Awesome Games Done Quick raised $1.58 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Yep, people playing video games on camera raised nearly $1.6 million to help fight cancer. Sometimes, the world can be a great place.
Contactless charity donations could mean the end of 'chuggers'
Charities play an important role tackling all manner of medical and societal issues, but without donations many would cease to operate. To ensure a steady stream of funding, some send representatives into Britain's high streets to encourage giving, generally annoying people in the process. In a bid to move away from "chuggers" (charity muggers) and collection boxes, Cancer Research UK has looked to contactless payments. In four outlets located in Brighton, Kensington, Guildford and Marylebone, the charity has placed a contactless payment point in store windows, letting people passing donate a fixed fee of £2 by tapping their contactless card against them.
The best and fastest: Highlights from Awesome Games Done Quick 2015
The annual Awesome Games Done Quick marathon is one of the biggest charity events in gaming, with this year's show raising more than $1 million in charitable donations for the Prevent Cancer Foundation over a grueling week-long campaign. During the course of the event, gamers from across the globe gathered to complete classic and modern games at lightning speed, producing amazing playthroughs and earning thousands of viewer donations from the collective atmosphere and camaraderie. This year's event was the most financially successful to date, and we've already covered highlights like this ultra-quick Pokemon Blue playthrough and an unlikely Mischief Makers marriage proposal. With more than 100 hours of speedruns to sift through, however, it may be tough to find the best of the best. With that in mind, here are our favorite runs from AGDQ 2015, with links to the original Twitch archives provided by this Reddit thread. You've got a lot to catch up on if you missed out on this year's event, so let's dive right in.
Awesome Games Done Quick concludes with more than $1 million raised
The Awesome Games Done Quick marathon, where speedrunners solicit donations for charity while blazing through video games as fast as they can (only pausing to get engaged) has concluded. This year, the event has raised more than $1 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, with donations still being accepted and a themed Humble Bundle still available for purchase (though at time of publication, that bundle will only be available for a few more hours). The Games Done Quick Twitter account announced the good news early Sunday morning, quoting a figure of "over $1.1 million," but that number has since climbed to nearly $1.3 million (as of this writing). For comparison, the Awesome Games Done Quick 2013 marathon raised $1,031,189. We said it then and we'll say it again: good job, internet. [Image: Awesome Games Done Quick]
Speedrunners get engaged on Awesome Games Done Quick
They met on Twitch, so getting engaged on Twitch is wonderfully romantic. While blasting through a cutscene in the Nintendo 64 game Mischief Makers, Awesome Games Done Quick speedrunner Jackafur took a moment to thank his friends for their support over the years, and then he turned his attention to Kittyrawr, his girlfriend seated right next to him. He said he would love her forever, pulled out a ring, got on one knee and popped the question – and she said yes, all live on Twitch. Onions, guys. Onions. Awesome Games Done Quick has so far raised more than $500,000 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and last year the group raised more than $1 million for Prevent Cancer. They're streaming through January 10 – watch it live right here. [Image: Awesome Games Done Quick]
RuneScape player raises over $1200 for a pizza delivery tip
Charlie McCormick wasn't having a particularly good holiday season. For starters, he was a pizza delivery driver, which isn't a grand ball of fun at any point of the year. His mother had also recently passed away after a prolonged illness, meaning that even if he had somehow felt festive, there wasn't money to be festive with. At least, not until he made a delivery to Joey DeGrandis and was given a $1,230 tip for his service. DeGrandis is an avid RuneScape streamer who wanted to do something nice for a deserving delivery driver, as he feels the job isn't particularly respected for its hard work. Over the course of an 18-hour streaming marathon, his viewers raised the money for McCormick's tip while DeGrandis played, with more donations coming in even after McCormick got his initial tip. Sure, it plays into the stereotype that MMO players all sit at home and eat delivered pizza constantly, but if that stereotype includes being exceptionally charitable tippers, we can probably live with it.
Get games, streaming tools, apparel with Humble Awesome Games Done Quick Bundle
There will undoubtedly be dozens of cool gaming moments streamed during Awesome Games Done Quick's week-long charity event (which started today!), but why let strangers on the internet broadcast all the fun? Never mind if you don't have the necessary subscriptions – You can just pick up the Humble Awesome Games Done Quick 2015 Bundle, which features tools to help you get started with streaming as well as Steam keys for several games included within AGDQ's schedule (Mac and Linux support varies with each game). Those that celebrate the Humble Bundle series' pay-what-you-want pricing option by paying less than $6 will receive Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition, Shadow Warrior Classic Redux, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and Volgarr the Viking. Once $6 or more is contributed, Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut and SpeedRunners (along with its YouTuber packs) will be added to that, as well as a 30-day subscription to Twitch Turbo, which allows broadcasts to be archived for sixty days and is mostly ad-free.
Reminder: Help us build a gadget room for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital!
#enGIVEget means you give and they get -- "they" being the brave and wonderful kids going through life-saving treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. And knowing you're busy with the holidays, let us take a moment to remind you about our sweepstakes ending this Friday, December 19th.
Humble Bundle milestones: $50M to charity, $100M to devs
Humble Bundle has raised more than $50 million for charity since launching its first sale in May 2010 – the Humble Indie Bundle, as it was called back then. That bundle introduced the idea of "pay what you want" pricing and offered customers power over the allocation of their payments, plus the chance to do something good for charity. Specifically for that first promotion, it was the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child's Play Charity. "When my co-founder Jeff [Rosen] first contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child's Play for our first promotion, no one knew who we were," Humble co-founder John Graham tells Joystiq. "After pitching the confusing idea, in probably too much detail, he was cut off: 'So let me get this straight, you are basically asking if you can give us money? Sure!'" Humble Bundle now supports a roster of more than 50 charitable organizations and has expanded with weekly bundles, ebook bundles, mobile bundles and the Humble Store, which by itself raised $1 million for charity by June 2014. That very first Humble Bundle raised roughly $400,000 for charity – $200,000 each for EFF and Child's Play – at the time an "incomprehensible" amount to John Graham. "It produced a lot of pressure to keep going," he says. "Our potential to raise another $400,000 for charity felt like a moral obligation. Raising more than two orders of magnitude beyond that goal was not something we ever considered."
Indiegogo's new service lets you quickly raise funds for personal causes (updated)
Crowdfunding sites are typically meant for companies with bright ideas, but they don't work so well for personal fundraising -- there's a lot of setup involved, and the fees you'll pay could be better spent on the cause in question. Indiegogo wants to make those personal campaigns relatively painless with its new Indiegogo Life site. The service is designed to get you raising funds for medical bills, school and similar causes in a matter of minutes. There also aren't any platform fees, so the money you collect is typically what you'll keep.
Google asks for donations through charity 'portals' in 'Ingress'
Google's augmented reality exploration game, Ingress, has had a pretty eventful 2014, including an iOS release back in July and the addition of user-created missions a few months later. Now, developer Niantic Labs is closing out the year by getting in the holiday spirit. In a recent blog post, the Ingress team announced its #MissionsForGood campaign, aiming to entice players on both sides of the augmented reality conflict to give back to their respective communities during the holidays. Using the recently added user-created missions feature, verified agents (level 8 and higher) can designate portals at or near local charities and add the #MissionsForGood hashtag in mission titles. The team also added a unique medal for the campaign.
Adopt new pet Argi for charity
Like in-game pets? Like helping people? Then Blizzard's latest charity pet, the goat-like Argi, is perfect. The pet is available in the Blizzard Store now for $10, 100% of which goes to support the American Red Cross's Ebola relief efforts. Argi is tiny enough to get lost in the tall grass of Shadowmoon Valley, occasionally trips over herself and falls face-first when running, and when left to idle too long will prance and leap in circles to burn off energy. In short, Argi is an adorable addition to any battle pet army. If adorable isn't your thing, however, Blizzard is also offering Argi bundled with a new mount: the Grinning Reaver. This reaver-style mount wears a skull mask (or at least we hope it's a mask) and will drive fear into the hearts of your enemies. (And possibly also your allies.) You can get Argi and the Grinning Reaver for $30 ($10 of which goes to charity) or the Grinning Reaver alone for $25.
