Video games are not always just about financial muscle and suffering the slings and arrows of fanboy-fueled drama. Sometimes, just sometimes, they're about making the world a better place. Such is the case today, as Nintendo has partnered with Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation to place Wii kiosks featuring such games as Super Mario Galaxy and Wii Sports in hospitals across both the US and Canada to help lift the spirits of seriously ill kids.

The move echoes a similar effort by Microsoft last month, which saw the company link up with NHL vet Pat LaFontaine's foundation Companions in Courage to bring hundreds of Xbox 360 kiosks to children's hospitals in the US. According to a statement, Nintendo plans to manufacture some 1,250 new Fun Center kiosks as part of the partnership, with the charity hoping to have around 500 of these in hospitals by the end of 2008. The first pair of Fun Centers will be donated later today to the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles during what Nintendo describes as a Super Mario Galaxy-themed launch event, while Mario will also be on hand, no doubt to discourage Bowser from crashing the party.

Our brothers-in-arms over at Engadget are proudly hosting a charity auction for Ben Heck's one-of-a-kind PlayStation 3 laptop. If you're interested, you've got one week to scrummage up the coin for this Blu-ray equipped beast. 100% of the proceeds will go to the National Cancer Coalition, so you know it's a good cause. If you've got PS3 laptop-level income and PS3 laptop ambitions, stop over at Engadget to place your bid. Good luck!

[Update: Cancel that. Apparently some clever folks couldn't take an auction for charity seriously, so Engadget has temporarily postponed things. We'll let you know if and when it goes back up. It's back-up and hosted at eBay now.]

OK, we've said it before, but other than the constant threat of dying, one of the things we know troops serving in Iraq or Afghanistan suffer from is boredom. So, when Peter Gallagher sent us a tip about his site GamesForHeroes.com, we felt the least we could do was give it some attention.

The Games for Heroes charity, which has a registered donor number with nonprofit MarineParents.com, is simply looking to collect handheld games and systems (Game Boy, DS, PSP), which will be sent to troops serving in a place of war. Information on where to send items or make cash donations can be found on the site. A similar charity called "Fun for our Troops" began last year, but without the portable gaming focus.

Sony hosted a pretty awesome Buzz! charity event at the PlayStation lounge last night. Sixteen players from various media outlets (Joystiq included) partook in the competition. The winner would be able to send $5,000 to a charity of their choice, courtesy of Sony.

Total PlayStation's Sam Bishop took first place with his serious movie trivia skills and will forward Sony's money over to the SPCA: the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Fun was had by all, even if some of us (sob) lost pretty early on ...

Ever wonder what devout followers of Cheap Ass Gamer do with their saved cash? From the looks of it, they give to charity. Last year, site owner (and wonderful Tokyo tour guide, if you must know) CheapyD raised $10,000 through CAG for Tycho and Gabe's Child's Play Charity, and in this year it only took four days to beat that record.

This year's fundraiser is a raffle: for every $5 you donate, you received one raffle ticket for one of 38 prizes (one grand prize and 44 runner-ups - there are some duplicates, read carefully). $11,300 has been donated as of this writing; excluding CheapyD's initial $1,000 donation, that's 701 people who have given $10,300, or an average of almost $15 per person. The fundraiser ends December 31, although CheapyD has declared he might extend the contest a week.

Care to donate a few extra dollars to a good cause, and perhaps walk away with some nice gaming gear? Head over to the CAG page and use the widget to donate for eligibility. The bar has been set pretty high for next year's fundraising.

Those looking to be charitable can check out this year's Funde Razor event in Brooklyn, New York and Denver, Colorado on December 12. At each event, gamers will be rocking out to Guitar Hero and Rock Band, vying for one of the two plush Weighted Companion Cubes shown above, designed by Diane Koss and made possible by a grant from the Bond Street Group. All proceeds go to Child's Play charity; check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Last week in Warcraft: November 18th - November 24th
Reminder: Win a $5K gaming PC from Falcon Northwest
Today's worst video? One word: Kwari
Wii Fanboy Weekly: November 22nd, 2007 - November 28th, 2007

News
PSP Extended Life Battery Kit gets priced, dated
Nintendo enjoys its biggest sales week ever in U.S., breaks record
Activision CEO wants Xbox 360 & PS3 at $199
Calif. Sen. Yee urges parents not to buy M-rated games
GripShift to race to XBLA sometime this year
Xbox Video Marketplace in Europe soon, limited release
Playlogic wins copyright battle over Ancient Wars: Sparta
Rockstar drops GTA IV box art video, dates new trailer
EA preparing ninja party game for Wii, DS
Artie Lange provides voice in next Leisure Suit Larry game
Guitar Hero III PC/Mac hybrid done, shipping out Dec. 10
Discovery's Meerkat Manor video game announced
Nintendo DS sets new UK sales record
Nintendo estimates $33 million earned from Virtual Console
Blu-ray sales dominate HD war in Europe
Boom Boom Rocket update live, joined by five free tunes
EA replacing borked Rock Band guitars

Culture & Community
Can rap find a place in music games?
Broken Pixels takes on Space Pirates, Marky Mark
British Army head commends 'PlayStation generation'
Active camouflage Spartan from McFarlane toys
Annual reminder: Xbox Live trash talk is vile
Popular Mechanic's game gift guide has chutzpah
Zero Punctuation boos F.E.A.R. expansion

Today is the last day (following a two day extension) to purchase MMOPortal.com's second-annual MMO Calendar benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Just like last year, all proceeds will go directly to helping children, and even our jaded and bitter blogger hearts have nothing mean to say about that.

The calendar is $12.95 and features 13 different MMOs and prizes available for those who purchase (list found after the break). But it's not about the prizes, right? It's about helping the kids, right?! Think of it as gaining rep and becoming exalted with the Humanity faction.

The guys behind LoadingReadyRun have a very unique way of contributing to this year's Child's Play charity: they're playing one of the worst games of all time.

Desert Bus is one of several mini-games included in the never-officially-released Sega CD game Penn and Teller's Smoke and Mirrors. The Desert Bus mini-game challenges players to drive Penn and Teller's tour bus from Tuscon, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada... in real time... and at a maximum speed of 45 mph.

It's a task that takes 8 hours to complete, and earns players one point in the game. The task can be completed back and forth as many times as the players can stomach, each time earning one point. The LoadingReadyRun team has pledged that the more money they receive, the longer they will sit and endure this painful, painful game. Over $1,000 USD have already been donated, which guarantees the masochists at least 64 hours of play-time. To see just how crazy they are, check out the gameplay footage after the break.

[Thanks, Graham]

Microsoft has teamed up with the Entertainment Software Association to offer a special three-pack of Xbox 360 games this holiday season. The pack, which retails for $29.99 USD, is comprised of Cars, Open Season, and Fuzion Frenzy 2 -- three E-rated games which are notable for tepid reviews across the board.

It's definitely for a good cause, so we really shouldn't be complaining. All retail fees for the three-pack have been waived, meaning that the entirety of each $29.99 purchase goes directly to the ESA Foundation, which raises money to support groups like the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Penny Arcade's Child's Play event, and HopeLab, the developers behind the serious game Re/Mission.

The charity three-pack is currently available in retail stores, as well as on online sites such as Amazon.

From what we've heard, the biggest headache for soldiers serving in Iraq (besides, you know, the constant threat of bodily harm) is the boredom. One soldier's wife, unwilling to let her husband go without entertainment, has mounted an effort to get games to those like her husband. That, friends, is real love. The group is called "Fun For Our Troops," and it's trying to raise cash to purchase games for soldiers abroad.

It's a great effort, and one we'd encourage everyone to participate in if they're so inclined. We'll be interested though to see what games they'll be purchasing. Will they go with first-person shooters? Or titles that feature rapping about terrorism? Or will they find the terrifying place where the two intersect? Even so, it would still be better than their last care package.

[Via GamePolitics]

Ever feel you're wasting your time with games? Feel like you should be doing something to better yourself or the world around you instead of staring at a screen? Well, with Poverty.com's Free Rice game, you can do your part for personal and global fulfillment without ever stopping the gaming.

The self-betterment in Free Rice comes from vocabulary identification questions that automatically adjust to your skills so they're challenging but not impossible. The world-improvement comes from the eponymous free rice, ten grains of which are donated through the UN's World Food Program and the site's advertisers for each right answer you provide. In the past month, over 856 million grains of rice have been donated, with the total rising exponentially day over day.

We love the idea, and think this model has potential for all sorts of games. Every Halo headshot can net a donation to Amnesty international (sponsored by Mountain Dew). Every five star Guitar Hero performance could give money to Save the Music (sponsored by VH1, of course). Bill Gates could add few bucks to his foundation for every Achievement point earned. The possibilities are endless.

[Via Gene. Thanks Michelle]

Child's Play organizers have announced that the annual charity drive is now underway. The drive was first launched some five years ago by Penny Arcade masterminds Gabe and Tycho as a fundraiser for the Seattle Children's Hospital, and has since grown to become a global hub of good will for those in need, while simultaneously demonstrating that gamers by and large are not the anti-social jerkwads the media would make them out to be.

Those interested in contributing to the drive, which now includes hospitals in more than 25 states and five countries, can easily donate items though purchases made via Amazon, and officials note that the tax deductible gifts will be sent directly to those hospitals in need.

In addition, the annual Child's Play Fundraider Dinner is scheduled to take place on December 11 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, and will as always include both a silent and live auction, with all proceeds going towards the charity.

Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post has written a touching piece on how soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center have been using video games as both mental and physical therapy.

The story opens on a monthly gathering scheduled by soldiers aid group Cause and highlights how video games have helped soldiers socialize -- both as inpatients and on the battlefield. Said Chuck Ziegenfuss, an Army Major who spent six months at the hospital after being wounded in 2005, gaming in Iraq "gives [soldiers] back a sense that they're normal."

Army Spec. Juan Alcibar has suggested to physical therapists that the use of games like Guitar Hero to help soldiers rebuild hand strength and dexterity. The article, published in time for Memorial Day, exemplifies how video games as an interactive medium can and have contributed to society.

Those who wish to help Cause and Soldiers' Angel, another organization cited by the piece for its game-related donations, can do so at the embedded links. It couldn't hurt to donate any games you have lying around.

[Via Evil Avatar]

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]

Proving that video game players aren't the cold, robotic androids that most media reports like to portray them as, gamers in Kaukauna, Wisconsin held an event yesterday to raise money for a classmate who was struck by a drunk driver. The result? Over $14,000 raised, which impressed even the organizers. All of the money will to go the hospitalized Tiffany Pohl as part of her recovery.

Tony Bushner of the Kaukana Gamer's Club said, "It was successful to a degree that none of us even dreamed of, and we are all deeply touched by the community's involvement." Pretty impressive for an event that sold $1 raffle tickets for things like a Nintendo Wii and 50 cent tickets to play games like Guitar Hero, DDR, and Super Smash Bros.

This is the kind of story we'd love to see on every media outlet, rather than "Guy who played a video game shot someone" pieces that TV stations seem to love. Great work, you Wisconsonites! That warms the cockles of our gaming hearts.