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.

We got a little note today from Ensemble Studios, best known for the Age of Empires series and currently creating Halo Wars, stating that the company created an auction on eBay with all proceeds going to Child's Play. The auction involves everything you see above (essentially the whole Age of series), signed by the Ensemble development team. Estimated value is $300 and as of this writing the bidding was at $280. You guys can push that up -- it's for charity!

We spoke with Ensemble Studio's Producer Brian Lemon to find out why the company decided to do this. He explained that the studio already donated something similar to the Child's Play auction which occurred in Seattle, but wanted to give its fans around the world a more public opportunity to win the package. To show its commitment, Ensemble made worldwide shipping of the bundle free. A nice idea for a good cause.

While shopping for your loved ones (or for yourself), don't forget to think about donating to Child's Play Charity, Tycho and Gabe's (of Penny Arcade fame) effort to give video games, movies, and toys to children's hospitals worldwide. We could laud the charity for a thousand words, but we'll spare you and just say this: donate, donate, donate.

Without further ado (donate!), here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomic; be sure to vote for your favorite!

	... it is a falsehood
	Versus the end boss
	New Games Journalism
	Nintendo Defense Force
	And I am the overachiever!
	Space for rent

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

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]