ESA's mediocre game pack raises $2.6 million for charity
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jul 28th 2008 at 9:00PM }
The charity pack included software donated by Disney, THQ, Ubisoft, Sony Pictures, Microsoft and Pixar. It was sold by 17 retailers and organizations agreed to waive associated fees and royalties, meaning as much cash as possible went to the children. No word yet if something similar will be done this year, but imagine the cash the charities could get if the games were actually good?!
The recipients are:
- Web Wise Kids
- Work, Achievement, Values & Education Inc. (WAVE)
- Hopelabs
- Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
- Computers for Youth
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chase @ Jul 28th 2008 9:04PM
I suspect more than half of the sales were by people buying it on the cheap and flipping it for store credit.
Deadpool @ Jul 28th 2008 10:13PM
Or it was a gift from parents that don't know anything about videogames.
Parent: "Well looky there! Three Great games for the price of One. Now that's a bargin. Timmy will love this and my level of coolness of a parent will skyrocket to OH SO Jolly Great Cool Daddyo."
Now imagine the face of Timmy....it's so sad....and kinda funny...in a sad way. Heh Heh.
Wiinterfang @ Jul 28th 2008 10:15PM
Ohh man it suck when I was a kid and my dad will by some of the worst Dreamcast games ever.
I asked him for Resident evil and he got me Urban Chaos, I ask for Marvel vs capcom 2 and I got Mortal Kombat Gold..
good times though.
Saria the Cat @ Jul 29th 2008 1:27AM
At least some kids even GET games bought for them. I had to buy mine all on my own and never expected them as a gift since my mom was opposed to me playing games. Heck, back when I was a young'n, I'd take anything if someone else was willing to pay for it!
xGeneral DEATHx @ Jul 29th 2008 8:55AM
My parents were the same way, Saria...they were vehemently opposed to my gaming habit, so they made me pay for it all myself. I had to save for almost a year to get my hands on the Sega Genesis bundled with Sonic 2. Ironically enough, when I moved out to go to college, they didn't mind me gaming so much because it kept me out of trouble, for the most part.
Saria the Cat @ Jul 28th 2008 9:13PM
"Imagine the cash the charities could get if the games were actually good?!"
That's EXACTLY what I was thinking. Mediocre or not, though, it's great to see stuff like this happen. And I don't care if it's all for PR; the charities don't know the difference between honest good-deed money and publicity money.
Deadpool @ Jul 28th 2008 10:13PM
Turning the bad into something good. I see. Except, they meshed 3 bad things to get something good. This reminds me of the "KFC FAMOUS BOWL". Mmmmmmmm....heartstopping.
Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Jul 28th 2008 9:15PM
Ironically enough, all proceeds went directly into the prozac funds for the children who have been victimized by this bundle. Pope Benedict was heard saying, "See? Suddenly child rape is not so bad by comparison."
j.howlett @ Jul 28th 2008 9:29PM
that just ain't right
fred @ Jul 29th 2008 12:03AM
I laughed out load unapprovingly.
I feel so conflicted.
BPM [MSN: BPMdotEXE @ hotmail.com] @ Jul 29th 2008 1:02AM
Geebus, Shep... I don't know how to respond to that beside a simple "lol"...
xGeneral DEATHx @ Jul 29th 2008 8:56AM
I need a change of pants after that one...wait, that sounded bad...
Infidel @ Jul 28th 2008 9:16PM
Its because the games are so rubbish that they are donated by the publishers at all. If all games were good and sold well, the publishers would never give them to charity and the children would never get the money.
See, bad games do have a purpose!
john @ Jul 28th 2008 9:23PM
Except Cars, and Open season sadly sold tons...
syrik zero @ Jul 28th 2008 9:17PM
Great photoshopped cover!
mj @ Jul 28th 2008 9:20PM
Anyway to draft the orange box? Or... should it be more of a children's game!?
juju187 @ Jul 28th 2008 10:57PM
thank you for clearing up the false advertisment left on the box by the careless printing company...
joystiq +1
Lijik @ Jul 28th 2008 11:17PM
Open Season wasn't that bad of a game. I know, I played through the whole thing 100% so I could record the sound track (big fan of Shawn Clement's work).
chimp o death @ Jul 29th 2008 12:13AM
Now there's a confession I never thought I'd read when I woke up this morning...
xGeneral DEATHx @ Jul 29th 2008 8:58AM
Lijik:
Seriously?!?! I'm not hatin' on you for it, but why would you need to play through the whole thing to record the soundtrack?
Lijik @ Jul 29th 2008 12:28PM
When you collect badges you unlock little short clips of concept art and movie stills. Just to be sure that there wasn't any unique tracks composed for one of them (which there was actually, one of them expanded on the Skunk mission-get theme) I had to collect all of the badges.
If you mean recording the soundtrack in general, its because I'm pretty awful at deencoding music streams. Its much easier for me to play through a five hour game and record the music as I go.
forestofdeath @ Jul 28th 2008 11:47PM
psychonauts couldn't even DREAM of making a sliver of that pot. :(
BPM [MSN: BPMdotEXE @ hotmail.com] @ Jul 29th 2008 1:02AM
I'd buy Halo 3 for charity... and I don't even like Halo in the least!
DiRT @ Jul 29th 2008 6:00AM
Cars isn't bad, especially if your son (or daughter) loves the movie (like mine does).
Karen @ Jul 29th 2008 8:50AM
Cars is a good game. I've said this before on this site.
It's a miniaturized version of Forza and it's well done even though it's a licensed kids game.
Mr.ESC @ Jul 29th 2008 11:02AM
Well looking at the bright side those are like 3000 easy gamerpoints that requiere no effort whatsoever.