The Generosity of Gamers

Written by TheBBPS

Monday, 17 December 2007 08:01

Child's Play Annual Charity Dinner Auction is a swanky fundraising gala held each year that benefits sick kids in childrenâ€™s hospitals all around the world. This year's festivities managed to raise an astounding $225,000. The first part of the evening includes hors d'oeuvres, wine, and a silent auction while the second half of the evening consists of a delicious sit down dinner paired with a live auction. This formal event is one of my favorite gaming activities to attend each year, primarily because it supports such a worthy cause but also because they have truly phenomenal items to bid on. Plus, you get to dress up which is always fun. (I believe I saw the 8-bit tie on at least three different people.)

This year there was an amazing amount of concept art up for grabs. My personal favorites were the three Halo Wars-themed pieces but other games represented in concept art were Fable, Uncharted, Age of Empires, and Age of Mythology. There was also a Valve Art Print and a Limited Edition Guild Wars Print along with some Penny Arcade memorabilia. The entire row of signed gaming related art gave me visions of the most amazingly decorated gaming room ever.

The autographed items did not end with the art. There are always simply amazing bundles put together, sometimes full of an ungodly amount of games for a specific platform, other times featuring packages of games matched with accessories, and occasionally just your favorite game boasting the signatures of the people who created it. The Rock Band bundle for the 360 featured a box almost completely covered in signatures and it eventually sold for a very pretty $550. The Assassin's Creed Game and Accessory Pack was beyond awesome, especially the case that held the console. There was an impressive Age of Empires Package that featured way too many things to list. The gal watching that item loved the leather jacket that came with it. Also available to the highest bidder was also an Xbox 360 Elite signed by Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb.

A few cool custom items made an appearance during the silent auction as well. I fell in love with the Pac-Man Guitar Hero Controller. Does it get much cuter than a bright yellow plastic guitar shaped controller adorned with one of the most iconic video game characters ever? I think not. An absolutely amazing Legend of Zelda Custom DS was already over $500 by the time I had wandered over to that particular table.

After the silent auction wrapped up, it was then time for the formal sit down dinner accompanied by the live auction. There were several items that ended up going for thousands of dollars. If my memory serves me correctly, the Appearance in a Star Wars comic drew the most money (over $15,000) with a NAMCO Ms. Pac-Man & Galaga Arcade Cabinet coming in a close second nearing that same mark. Bungie provided several high profile items including a Big Ole Bag of Swag (which contained pretty much every Halo 3-themed item ever known to man from the console to figurines to accessories to MREs) and also a mutliplayer pizza party at their studios on the next batch of new maps before they come out. Each of those went for several thousands of dollars of course.

If you ever have the opportunity to attend this amazing charity event, I highly recommend it. While tickets don't come cheap, they are worth every single cent and then some. Until next year.

Comments (3) Add Comment

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written by Mott, December 17, 2007

This is a fantastic event and your writeupmakes me feel like I was there. Since I'm on the bottom coast I doubt I'll ever be able to go but reading this was fantastic anyway.

thanks so much!

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written by Katana, December 17, 2007

If I lived out on the West Coast I would love to go to that event.

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written by bs angel, December 18, 2007

My flight over there is only an hour so it is well worth the trip. The Penny Arcade guys know how to throw an awesome party for a great cause, that's for sure. The only other gaming event I look forward to as much as Child's Play is PAX and they run that as well. Definitely good times!