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Blizzard raises over $330,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Were you lucky enough to get a server blade? What's a server blade, you ask? Server blades are pieces of hardware, and in the case of WoW, they're pieces of hardware that once housed realms from World of Warcraft. In October of last year, it was announced that Blizzard would be auctioning off these collectible and frankly, awfully pretty items via eBay. As for the proceeds, they were headed toward St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for cancer and other catastrophic diseases that affect children. It was an amazing fundraiser for an equally amazing cause, and today Blizzard posted the results of the auctions. Over $333,000 was raised for the cause, and Blizzard has posted a heartfelt thank-you on the official site. $330,000 is a pretty astonishing number. Frankly, it's moments like this that make me step back, smile just a little and take a whole lot of pride in the gaming community.
Last chance to bid on retired server blades for charity
Blizzard's charity auctions of retired server blades seemed to go pretty well, with each blade going for several hundred dollars on eBay (and all of that money going to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital). Most of them ended before the holidays, which is unfortunate for those of us who missed grabbing the physical representation of a server community near and dear to our heart. But if you play on a European server, you might just be in luck -- Blizzard is offering a series of last-chance auctions for EU server blades starting today! Each server blade comes mounted in a nice case with an engraved plate ensuring authenticity and signed by members of the WoW dev team. The full list of servers and end dates is available on the official Blizzard site. Good luck and happy bidding, EU folks!
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital charity auction ending soon
Blizzard is currently auctioning off old server blades from days gone by in WoW's history for the best cause you could possibly support -- saving children's lives. Starting today, the last two waves of the server blade auctions are beginning, with all proceeds from the charity auction going to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the immensely important research it does. Even some WoW Insider readers have stories of their own from St. Jude's. If you'd like to own a real awesome piece of World of Warcraft history and donate to an important cause, check out all the details on the server blade auction information page and on Blizzard's own community blog. The full blue post announcing the last two waves, after the break.
Blizzard auctioning server blades to benefit St. Jude's
We posted about this a week ago, but a reminder can't hurt now that the auctions have actually gone live. If you're attending BlizzCon this year and have the chance to visit Hall A, you'll see one of the original World of Warcraft HP server blades that Blizzard is auctioning this year to benefit St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. But even if you're not going to BlizzCon, you still have a shot at bidding: All of the available server blades (from both North American and Europeanrealms) are listed on EBay, and you've still got time to bid on them all. Most of them are older realms that Blizzard has upgraded recently as part of server maintenance, and -- judging from the bids on some of them -- my guess is that a lot of players are interested in owning their old servers. Better yet, each auctioned server will have a plaque with the server's name, dates of operation, and Blizzard developers' autographs inscribed on it. If you want to see an example of what it'll look like, scroll down on Blizzard's charity auction page. If you're interested in owning a piece of World of Warcraft history in addition to benefiting a great cause, you can find general information and Blizzard's two EBay listings for the server blades here: General information on auction dates and servers available North American realms European realms Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Get ready to kick off the weekend with the WoW Insider Reader Meetup, cohosted by Wowhead and Gamebreaker.tv, and look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Blizzard auctioning off retired WoW servers for charity
What do you do when you upgrade your MMO's servers and end up with a bunch of hardware you don't need any longer? If you said, "Hold the world's geekiest garage sale," then you're absolutely right. Recently Blizzard upgraded its fleet of World of Warcraft servers and has decided that instead of mothballing the old ones, it will auction them off and donate the proceeds to a worthy charity. The auctions will be handled by eBay, as any interested parties can place a bid on the actual server shard that hundreds of thousands of players used for years. Each of the auctioned server blades is a self-contained unit and will have the World of Warcraft logo emblazoned across it, with a plaque attached detailing the server's usage dates and the signatures of the development team. Bidding will begin on October 17th and proceed through November 14th as Blizzard auctions the dozens of HP p-Class server blades off in groups, and the winnings will be given to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which helps combat pediatric cancer and other diseases that affect young kids. If the thought of owning a piece of MMO history appeals to you -- or if you're looking for an interesting Christmas present for that WoW friend of yours -- then check out the auction dates on eBay.
