Hawty McBloggy Invites You to Play

If you have a thing for machinima, have always had a secret desire to be on Bungie’s favorites, or just enjoy the camaraderie of the Halo 3 community, reserve the fourth weekend of May for the third annual Red vs. Blue CanWest community event. Taking place in the beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, this Rooster Teeth machinima screening event has a plethora of activities going down on both Saturday, May 24th and Sunday, May 25th. Saturday’s festivities include a screening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Sunday is the actual CanWest event (which is a mix of community and industry panels, selected machinima, and also some music). Of course bar festivities will round off both evenings for all interested attendees. A weekend pass for both days of activities will only run you a paltry $25 CND (the proceeds of which will be generously donated to everybody’s favorite gamer charity Child’s Play).

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My tendency to accidentally betray my teammates while playing Halo 3 is well documented. My File Share contains only betrayals and it gets fuller each and every day. I never intend to team kill, I just get overzealous with “protecting” my friends. When I see them in battle I immediately rush over, frantically throwing grenades in a feverish attempt to save their lives. Unfortunately I typically blow them to pieces but it’s the thought that counts, right? If you would like to be on the receiving end of my betrayals (you don’t have to worry if you are on the other team, for some reason I can only kill people who are the same color as me), join me on the new Halo 3 maps on Saturday night, April 26 from 6:00 – 8:00 P.M. Pacific time (9:00 – 11:00 P.M. ET).

From Xbox.com :

The Cavegirls are a group of women who enjoy gaming with other gamers in a casual environment. The Cavegirls began as a small group on Bungie.net and slowly grew in size and popularity as the years went on. They’ve created many friendships with gamer communities, started a successful annual charity tournament, and most importantly, made a place for gamers to just get together, hang out, and play!

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Planning a charity tournament takes a lot of manpower and a huge investment of time. You have to manage the finer details of sign ups and donations. You need to figure out what gametypes will be played and what rules will be enforced. You also have to organize multiple brackets. On top of all that, the people hosting them volunteer their hours and do it all for free, simply because they care. Such is the case with this Halo 3 charity tournament.

The Help RagingJellyBean Finish the Fight Tournament, proceeds of which will be used to help fund a fellow gamer’s much needed kidney transplant, will be held the afternoon of Saturday, March 22nd (2008). Included in this Halo 3 charity tournament are two different events, FFA and also 4×4 Team Slayer. Participation is a mere $10 per person (you may donate without participating as well).

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[Child's Play Charity Dinner Auction]

[Assassin's Creed Game and Accessory Pack]

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Child’s Play Annual Charity Dinner Auction, a formal fundraising gala that benefits sick kids in children’s hospitals all around the world, raised just over $225,000 Tuesday evening. Just like the year before, Bungie had a strong showing with their generous donations that were auctioned off both during the silent auction and also during the live auction. Much to the chagrin of my bank account, the Halo 3 items were the highlight of my evening of course.

An entire wall of the silent auction floor was lined with stunning gaming art, most of which were autographed by the people behind the respective games. Amongst the beautiful artwork were three pieces of signed Halo Wars framed concept art. My favorite one featured a giant scarab with flames erupting around it and soldiers running into battle. The colors were dark and smoky with spots of brilliant reds and oranges.

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Child’s Play Charity Dinner Auction is an annual event hosted by Penny Arcade, the same people who bring us PAX each year. This swanky fundraising dinner includes a silent auction with hors d’oeuvres and wine and then moves into the dining room for a formal dinner and live auction. Gabe and Tycho emcee the live auction and if you have ever had the pleasure of seeing them in person, you know it is quite an entertaining event. I had the pleasure of attending this function last year and it was an amazing experience. The highlight of course was the bidding on the voice lines in Halo 3 which Red vs. Blue ended up winning!

This event raises money for Child’s Play which is widely known as the gamer’s charity. What is Child’s Play?

Since 2003, over 100,000 gamers worldwide have banded together through Child’s Play, a community based charity grown and nurtured from the game culture and industry. Over two million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since our inception.

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Today is the 2nd Annual Fight Like a Girl Halo Tournament where all the proceeds go towards the fight against breast cancer. Thank you to everybody who signed up and/or donated! This cause is a very worthy one. Here are some eye opening statistics for you :

What are the estimated numbers of new breast cancer cases and deaths for the year 2007?

An estimated 178,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the United States during 2007. An estimated 40,460 women will die from breast cancer. It is estimated that 2,030 men will be diagnosed and 450 men will die of breast cancer during 2007. In addition to invasive breast cancer, 62,030 new cases of in situ breast cancer are expected to occur among women in 2007. Of these, approximately 85 percent will be ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

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I played in the Cavegirl’s Fight Like a Girl tournament last year and had an incredible time. Not only is it fabulously fun but it supports a wonderful charity as well. All proceeds go towards the fight against breast cancer. Not some of the proceeds, not the majority of the proceeds, but every last cent raised from this tournament goes to charity. Make a difference, and have fun playing your favorite video game doing it.

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I had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people at PAX. The entire three days were nothing short of a pleasure. I will attempt to list the people that are affiliated with sites and I apologize in advance if I forgot anybody (I have a terrible memory). I know I met other people but can’t recall either their name or their site. Feel free to shoot me an email with your specifics if I neglected you for whatever reason. Off to the link lovin’!

Avid and Godfather of 360style.net

These guys go first because I am pretty sure they put a tracking device in my bag so they could find me whenever they wanted. Every time I turned around during the long three day weekend, they were there. I walked in the door to PAX and there was Avid. I show up at a private party on Saturday night and there were Avid and Godfather. I turn around at the final round of the Omegathon and there were Avid and Godfather again! They were both so nice and friendly in person. Avid and I got to play some Guitar Hero together, which was a blast. They are awesome guys with an awesome site. They are always doing neat contests and fun things so if you haven’t discovered their website yet, you should plan a stop there in the near future.

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[The Cavegirls at the Girls and Games Panel]

[The Destructoid Dude]

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