make-a-wish
Latest
Morhaime says moonkin hatchling available this month
Yes, that's right. During the ATVI earnings report conference call today, Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment, announced that the Moonkin Hatchling will be available for purchase later this month, as he had already stated at BlizzCon. In addition, 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale will go to charity. The last time Blizzard did something similar, it raised $1.1 million for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Can the hatchling possibly dethrone the Pandaren Monk as the most adorable charity money generator? Gregg's speculation on whether or not we'd see more charity pets seems confirmed. Were you already planning on picking one up, and if not, does this news make it any more likely?
Blizzard donates $1.1 million to Make-A-Wish from Pandaren pet sales
Blizzard made a donation of over $1.1 million to the Make-A-Wish Foundation yesterday in a special presentation held in Irvine, California. This was 50% of the total sales of the Pandaren Monk Pet in November and December of last year. Blizzard invited 15 Wish children and their families to the ceremony and also to hang out with the WoW developers and learn how the game is made. Blizzard has a long standing relationship with Make-A-Wish. The story of Ezra is heartwarming, though tragic. Mike Morhaime also thanked the players: This donation also reflects the spirit and generosity of our players -- their enthusiasm for World of Warcraft and for supporting a good cause made this possible. Purchasing the Pandaren Monk pet no longer donates money to the cause, but is still available at the Blizzard Store.
12-year-old Make-A-Wisher designs GameStop's holiday gift card
Rather than choosing something selfish like the opportunity to ride Donald Trump like a pony or a trip around the Moon with the original Apollo 11 astronauts, 12-year-old Make-A-Wish Foundation wish recipient Emily Adkins instead chose to give back to the foundation. In designing the Holiday 2009 GameStop gift card, Adkins secured $1 per card purchased (up to $100k) for the Make-A-Wish coffers. Though the design will be featured amongst other gift cards this year, GameStop is offering the donation deal across all card designs. Any gift cards purchased from now until December 26 will go towards the donations, though none of the proceeds will bring Emily any closer to riding Donald Trump like a pony. Isn't that just a crime?
Pandaren pet "sold out" on Blizzard store [Updated]
In an unexpected and strange twist in Blizzard's latest microtransaction saga, the Pandaren Monk vanity pet has apparently sold out on the Blizzard pet store. A mere week after the in-game pets were announced for sale on Blizzard's new pet store, the Pandaren Monk can no longer be purchased on US realms (as of this writing, it is still available on the Blizzard EU and Blizzard KR stores). That the Pandaren Monk would sell out comes as a surprise because, well, it's a virtual item. It's like Agent Smith. It never runs out. Unless, of course, Blizzard designed it that way, in which case there must have been a massive failure of communication somewhere down the line because it doesn't say anything about the Pandaren Monk being a limited item anywhere. It's also notable that Blizzard had committed to donating 50% of all proceeds from Pandaren Monk sales to the Make-a-Wish Foundation all the way through December 31. If the Pandaren Monk were to disappear, it should at least be expected to last until the end of 2009, right? We think this is an inventory error, where some number had to be inserted into the Blizzard Store's inventory management system, like some number "over 9000". Likely this will be easily corrected, and when it is, we'll update this post accordingly. UPDATE 11:30am ET: Blizzard is looking into the matter, which should assuage most people's fears that the item is indeed sold out. UPDATE 2:00pm ET: The Pandaren Monk is now back in stock and available for purchase! It was just a glitch in the Matrix, people. Nothing to see here. Thanks to Papa Shok for the tip.
ArenaNet grants wish to heart transplant patient
Emily is a high school junior diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, who is having a pretty good 2009 in spite of that. She received a heart transplant earlier this year, as well as a little pick-me-up from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Emily became a Guild Wars fan last year while waiting for her heart transplant and during her recovery afterward. She spent a lot of time in Tyria while living in the hospital. Just last week Make-A-Wish arranged for Emily to travel to Seattle and visit the ArenaNet offices, making her the envy of a few million fans. She spent her morning touring the offices, meeting the staff, learning about what they do, and even meeting with the section heads to discuss her likes and dislikes about Guild Wars. After lunch, time to spend a few hours playing Guild Wars 2 with the ArenaNet team. That's right, Emily got an up close and personal look at the game, giving feedback and making suggestions from a fan's point of view. The best part came at the end: "They pulled us aside and asked if she could stay a couple of extra hours. They convened a group of their eight senior designers and Emily, and they asked Emily to help them design an "Event" for the game." So when we finally get our hands on GW2, there will be a little something from Emily in there. Congratulations from Massively, Emily, and we wish you continued health.
Ezra "Ephoenix" Chatterton passes away
The news had been encouraging overall. Ezra "Ephoenix" Chatterton, the Make-A-Wish recipient who had visited the Blizzard offices and been granted a lot of wonderful World of Warcraft gifts, seemed to be doing better until he had a stroke in August. Even still, the family remained hopeful. But this past Monday, in a sad turn of events, Ezra lost his valiant battle with cancer. Gamers the world over have posted messages, sent emails, and taken the time in-game to commemorate his passing, and to remember the courage and determination with which he'd faced his battle. Blizzard has also offered their condolences. As part of his Make-A-Wish trip, the folks at Blizzard had granted Ezra the ability to design and voice his own quest ("Kyle's Gone Missing!" available to all Horde players in Mulgore), worked with him to design his own weapon (Merciless Gladiator's Crossbow of the Phoenix) and he was given the world-first player-owned (Ashes of Al'ar) Phoenix mount. As time passed, a World of Warcraft TCG card was also created for him, showing off Ezra's beloved Tauren Hunter, with the name Ezra Phoenix. Further, Ezra was also credited for giving Blizzard the idea for the broom mounts now familiar to those who have celebrated Hallow's End in WoW. Ezra's father, Micah Chatterton, has been in contact with this blogger on occasion, letting us know about young Ezra's love of video games, his son's desire to become a developer when he grew up, his progress and his undeniable spirit. After Ezra's passing earlier this week, Micah sent along a message to us for the World of Warcraft community as well. In honor of Ezra and his family, we are reprinting it in full behind the cut.Note: Comments are disabled for this post.
Ezra Chatterton passes away
You may remember the story of Ezra Chatterton. He and his father played together in Azeroth, using the World of Warcraft to spend quality time with one another. Ezra had a brain tumor. Thanks to help from the Make-A-Wish foundation and Blizzard, Ezra was able to live out some of his dream of being a game developer. You can see his influence in the Merciless Gladiator's Crossbow of the Phoenix, which is finely crafted to ePhoenix's specification. Ezra was the rider for the first phoenix mount in game. But, only a few months ago, we heard the frightening news that Ezra had suffered a stroke. Reader Sedna directed us to Ezra's web site for the saddening news. Ezra passed away on Monday, October 20th, at 10PM pacific time. We at WoW Insider would like to offer our sympathies to Ezra's family. Both they and Ezra are in our thoughts. His story was an inspiring one, and we will not forget ePhoenix. (Edit: We are turning off comments for the evening. We thank everyone for their positive thoughts, and are happy to see so many warm feelings from the community for someone who deserves them.)
Rock Band competition sponsoring Make-A-Wish in Vancouver
The Make-A-Wish foundation, in conjunction with a slew of sponsors, will be holding a Rock Band competition in Vancouver, Canada, starting Oct. 4. The $100 entry fee, along with pre-purchase tickets for the finals at the Roxy Nightclub, go straight to the Make-A-Wish foundation. The first round of the competition will be held at the EA studios located right outside of Vancouver in Burnaby. From that event, the five finalist bands from each of the four divisions will then compete at the Roxy Nightclub on November 6 for prizes.There are four divisions for competitors to register their groups: Competitive, Social, Corporate and 18 & Under. There are currently no details about prizes, but it sounds like a cool charity event. Isn't that enough?
Ezra Chatterton suffers a stroke
Some time ago, Blizzard helped Make A Wish fulfill the wish of Ezra Chatteron, young boy with brain cancer, to be a game designer for a day. He was able to design Ahab Wheathoof and his quest, as well as get his character name on an arena crossbow. It's a nice gesture, and good proof that Blizzard does have a heart. Unfortunately, things have not been going so well for Ezra lately, as OC Register reports that he recently suffered a stroke. Micah, Ezra's father, reports that he was doing well up until the stroke, and was enjoying playing around with possible new talent builds for his character in Wrath of the Lich King. He can communicate again, but is plague by pain, vision problems, lethargy, and weakness on his right side. While his outlook is currently grave, both he and his father are hoping that a new round of treatments will work. We here at WoW Insider would like to wish Ezra and his father all the best and a swift recovery, and like Gadgetress, we hope to one day interview him as a developer on a future Blizzard game. If you'd like to send him your own well wishes, you can do so at ephoenix at earthlink dot net.
Support a wish with the Epic Head
Whether it's through donations of money or items, taking to the streets with your running shoes, shaving off your hair, or purchasing items at a markup or from fair trade companies, almost everyone contributes to charities in one way or another. Here at WoW Insider, we like to highlight the efforts of gamers everywhere who choose to support their charities in creative new ways, allowing them to reach out to the gaming community to engender participation. From the charitable auctions and the infamous raffle held by the folks at the Bronze Kettle prior to Christmas 2007 in support of Child's Play, to gaming-themed merchandise like calendars, there are a myriad of routes that gamers are taking to contribute in a way that is also significant to our subculture. Now, Krystofar, often spotted over at Gun Loving Dwarf Chick, has something epic up his sleeve to raise funds for the Make a Wish Foundation. How could we not support this?
Blizzard and Make-A-Wish give child ultimate WoW experience
Blizzard Entertainment teamed up with the Make-A-Wish foundation to give 10-year-old Ezra Chatterton, who suffers from a brain tumor, the ultimate World of Warcraft experience imaginable.Ezra, an avid World of Warcraft fan with a heart-wrenching backstory, told Make-A-Wish that he wanted to visit Blizzard to see if they would make a character for him. Blizzard obliged, and not only did Ezra create his character (Ahab Wheathoof, pictured), they recorded his voice for the character and also let him add his dog Kyle to the game, in addition to creating a very unique (and very powerful) flaming crossbow for his now maxed-out character. All in all, Ezra spent seven hours with the Blizzard staff as was reportedly very thrilled and equally exhausted. Kudos to Blizzard for granting for this boy what was his biggest wish.[Via WoW Insider]
Blizzard & Make A Wish bring WoW to life
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Blizzard_makes_a_WoW_wish_come_true'; I've spent some time working with charities over the years, and I've been in many companies that donated time and effort towards a charitable cause. That said, this is the first time I've seen anything like this done. (And pardon me if I gush a bit, but this is one of the reasons I'm a devoted Blizzard fangirl.)Recently Blizzard had the honor to have a 10-year old join their Development team - if only for one day. You see the boy, Ezra Chatterton, has a brain tumor. The diagnosis is not too good. But despite the news, and facing a lot of treatment, Ezra's wanted one thing and one thing only since he woke up in the hospital -- to be allowed to play World of Warcraft.
Brain tumor victim makes-a-wish for PS3
The St. Albans Messenger has a heartwarming story about a recovering brain tumor patient that got a pretty sweet deal courtesy of the Make-A-Wish foundation. Eighteen-year-old Ryan Kubas came home from a limousine trip to Wendy's (his favorite restaurant) to find a widescreen LCD TV, a new sound system, and a PlayStation 3 that had been donated by an anonymous IBM employee. To be completely accurate, Ryan didn't get the PS3 until just after he got home, and was reportedly "a little disappointed" to find just the sound system and TV upon arriving. When Make-A-Wish volunteers brought the system from their car, though, they produced "a chorus of cheers from everyone inside the house." Kubas' initial review of the PS3 reveals that it is "very realistic, much better than the PlayStation 2," and also "awesome." Related: Valve lets fan tour studio, play Portal