Gamers and Game Wizards Open their Wallets for Japan
It is interesting to note that whenever a natural disaster occurs in the world America and the United Kingdom are almost always the first to respond, offering aid and comfort, and saving lives. The International Red Cross is almost always the point-agency with relief efforts, because it is what they do, and they are very good at it -- but invariably within hours of the disaster two things happen...
Newspapers in the UK and America begin publishing instructions on how to contact the local Red Cross to make donations, and as we do not want to appear singular, here are the instructions you need if you want to donate:
UK/Ireland: To donate through the British Red Cross cheques should be made payable to British Red Cross and sent to British Red Cross, Japan Tsunami Appeal, Ref: ON2011, Freepost NAT21787, Paisley PA1 1BR.
USA: The the American Red Cross is taking donations via SMS -- which the Red Cross piloted after the earthquake in Haiti last year. For donations from the US, text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.Alternatively, donations can be made to the Japanese Red Cross through Google's Crisis Response site, http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html which also offers resources and information about the disaster.
Now that bit above is for those of you who just want to donate money and are not gamers -- gamers on the other hand will be pleased to learn that their lot have done quite a bit to help out all on their own!
Oh yes, and the second thing that happens is that the government announces it is diverting naval ships to the region to offer aid -- and the healing begins.
AppRelief.com
Initially started after the crisis in Haiti last year, AppRelief raised over $32,000, which was donated to the Haitian relief effort through the Red Cross. With the recent earthquakes and tsunami in Japan, AppRelief is once again working with mobile app developers to raise money to help the people of Japan recover from the devastation.
All developers participating in AppRelief have all agreed to donate 100% of their earnings from their included apps to the Red Cross while participating in AppRelief. The AppRelief website lists the applications and games that are contributing to the effort, and provides direct links to the iTunes App store and Android Marketplace for contributors to download each app, thereby also making a donation to the Red Cross.
When news of the tragedy in Japan spread, Joshua Hernandez, CEO of Chicago-based Tap Me, and Ken Carpenter, President of Mind Juice Media, the creators of AppRelief, began to reach out to their network of iPhone and Android developers, to once again band together to donate towards the Red Cross relief efforts.
One of the goals of AppRelief is to encourage unity in action from the growing sector of independent mobile developers. It aims to show the Heart of the App Store and Android Marketplace, where people are working together to help each other, around the world.
AppRelief is still accepting developers who are interested in joining the effort. Information on how to participate can be found on the AppRelief website.
Website: http://www.apprelief.com
Global Agenda Weekend
In response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, Hi-Rez Studios pledged to donate 100% of last weekend’s website game sales to Red Cross' Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami relief effort:
Effective 1pm EST last Friday (March 18th), running through midnight on Sunday (March 20th) the Shooter MMO Global Agenda was discounted to $9.99 US on the Hi-Rez Studios web store (down from the regular price of $29.99) and all game sale proceeds were donated toward relief activities.
The promotion and donation opportunity was available to gamers world-wide via the website -- www.globalagendagame.com/japanrelief -- with marked success, which shows that even shooter fans are there when the chips are down. If you missed your chance to participate, the folks at Hi-Rex hope you will pop on over to the Red Cross website and make a donation on your own.
It's a Paradox
One of the foundation publishers for strategy games in the world is Paradox Interactive -- and you will see us covering their games all the time -- and we were not surprised when Paradox Interactive launched its hat into the relief ring, with all of their games included in a charity campaign in conjunction with Direct2Drive which donated $1 for every game sold between 18th and 21st March.
Not satisfied with that effort, Paradox declared that it would match Direct2Drive's $1 per game donation,
meaning $2 for every game sold was given to victims of the Japanese catastrophe via the Red Cross.
"Enormous relief efforts will be required to help Japan recover and rebuild and we are happy for this opportunity to contribute," the Paradox Spokesperson said.
Mastiff Passes the Word and $25,000 in Like Money
Bill Swartz, President, CEO and Head Woof of Mastiff issued an open letter to the world, announcing that his studio would take part in the relief efforts, saying:
"Mastiff's thoughts are with the millions affected by the immense disaster suffered by Japan this weekend. I am relieved to report that Mastiff's staff and friends in Tokyo are all safe and accounted for.
"The United States and Japan have accomplished great things together. The videogame industry in particular owes much of its success to the partnership of our two countries. Our work at Mastiff would not be the same without our Japanese employees, partners, and supporters.
"I have loved Japan since before my first visit there in 1977. My wife, and my second language, are Japanese. I have spent more than 12 years of my life in that great country. I owe my career to the Japanese games industry, which gave me my first job out of college, working in product design for Koei (now called Tecmo Koei Games), located outside Tokyo in Yokohama. The Japanese industry continued to support me during a ten year stint as Managing Director at Activision Japan, a subsidiary of US game publisher Activision.
"I hope that you will join Mastiff and me personally in helping Japan's recovery. In addition to the funds that Mastiff and I are personally contributing already, Mastiff pledges that for every 100 people who like us on Facebook between now and the end of April, Mastiff will donate $100 to the Red Cross for Japan relief, up to $25,000. The Mastiff Facebook page can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mastiff/198432740174274"
Gamers Get It
Other game companies responded to the plight of the victims of the natural disaster -- Square Enix is giving a million Yen plus, Sony Corporate stated it is giving US $3.6 million as well as 30,000 radios to the earthquake relief. Nintendo stated it is also contributing $3.6 million. Joining Nintendo is Namco Bandai, which is donating $1.2 million. Sega is giving $2.4 million and Koei Tecmo is giving $1.2 million, even Microsoft has committed to donate $2 million -- though that aid includes $250,000 in cash and $1.75 million in terms of contributions like software and services. NCSoft gave $6.3 million, and the list goes on.
That gaming companies are writing checks and sending resources to the badly hurt region is a good thing -- but the Tsunami of donations from individual gamers is an incredible wave of caring that the Red Cross was not expecting.
From clicking on links to send money directly to purchasing in-game items whose costs are sent to the Red Cross, gamers from Farmville to practically every MMO on the 'net have been donating small and large, so in case nobody has said it to you, you lot did good! Thanks! We are sure that the Japanese appreciate your help and your kindness!
Oh, and boss, the reason that the tea jar is empty is because we sent the money to the Red Cross.
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