Posts Tagged ‘charity’

This past Halloween, Harmonix had the first of what may appear to be several future livestream events, with the latest event occurring today. The livestream event will feature several Harmonix employees interacting in real-time with fans, all while answering fan-submitted questions. This time around, in addition to what occurred in the previous livestream, Harmonix is teasing employee interviews, DLC reveals, as well as Xbox 360 and PS3 DLC giveaways, all while accepting donations benefiting Child’s Play!

There may even be more, as HMXHenry stated in the thread to expect “Other crazy announcements! There’s some exceptionally rad stuff going on in the RB world beyond the DLC and we’ll be talking about those things on the livestream for sure.” This probably is in relation to the new Facebook app, but (GET YOUR HOPES UP EVERYBODY) it could also be construed as a new title announcement!

Running from 5PM to 8PM (Eastern) on their Twitch.TV channel, you will be able to check out all of the above goings-on. In the run up to the livestream during the day today, you can submit questions in their announcement thread.

[Details at RockBand.com]

This coming Sunday, November 20th, Reggie’s Rock Club on 2109 S. State St. in Chicago, Illinois will be sponsoring a Rock Band 3 tournament with entry fee and ticket proceeds benefiting Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital, in partnership with Child’s Play. There’s not much time left to register, but since this is a Rock Band 3 competition, you can utilize up to SEVEN performers! If you’re in or near the area, and that’s not enough to sway you, for the first time in over six years, gamecore rock masters the Minibosses will also be in attendance and judging the competition!

For more info, check out the Chicago Loot Drop’s site, or hit them up on Twitter or Facebook.

[via ChicagoLootDrop]

Harmonix is lending a helping hand to the Japanese community after the March 11 earthquake and aftermath that has left the country devastated by participating in game industry efforts and, thanks to one employee, even starting one of their own.

The company is participating in “Gamers Heart Japan”, a 60-minute special that will premiere April 3 online and on broadcast networks G4 in the United States and Canada, SCI FI Australia, as well as Musique Plus and SPACE in Canada. Alex Rigopulos, CEO and cofounder of Harmonix, is featured in an interview on the special, which is filled with veteran game industry journalists from all over the world, as well as some of the top game makers on the planet, sharing their thoughts on the incredible work and talented creators from the Japanese videogame development scene in an effort to encourage donations to the Red Cross. Donations for The Red Cross can be made through the GamersHeartJapan.com website.

Additionally, one Harmonix employee has taken it upon himself to develop his own fundraising efforts in the video game community. Quality Assurance Lead Steven Bailey founded Healing Pack as a way for employees of Harmonix and other video game developers to help. What started as an individual effort quickly turned into an industry-wide initiative.

“When I saw the tragic disaster that hit Japan recently, I wanted to do something,” Steven said. “I knew however that I didn’t have enough money alone to make the impact I wanted. I decided to gather up all of my Harmonix swag that I had collected over my five years working there and sell it for charity. Then, I thought that maybe other game companies might also want to help, so I started sending emails and contacting other developers. I have to say that the response I got was far more supportive than I ever expected.”

In only two weeks, Steven was able to gather more than 80 auctions worth of gaming merchandize from various developers, including many items that were made available only to employees of those developers. The items will be auctioned on eBay.com, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund – a GlobalGiving Project.

There are FIFTEEN different Harmonix-centric packs up for bidding over at eBay! Items included in each pack include things like apparel, signed games going all the way back to Antigrav, and even some Harmonix employee only items that even I’ve never seen before! Head over to the healing packs page to see links to all the auctions.

The auctions from other developers feature such items as an electric neon Fallout: New Vegas sign, a copy of Civilization V signed by creator Sid Meier, Deus Ex: Human Revolution concept art signed by artists, a signed Infinity Blade poster, and much more from companies like Bethesda, Majesco, The Behemoth, Blue Fang, Owlchemy Labs, Dejobaan, Irrational Games, Demiurge, TimeGate, Fire Hose, n-Space, Gearbox, Epic Games, Aspyr, QUICKHIT, Eidos Montreal, 38 Studios, Big Huge Games, Capcom, Uber Entertainment and others.

“More than 20 developers have joined this charity auction effort, and they’ve shown an amazing generosity that has made me prouder than ever to be involved in this industry,” Steven said. “A lot of the items in these auctions are rare or one of-a-kind gaming merchandise that you can only get through this effort. Beyond just getting amazing gaming swag though, you’ll be helping a great cause.”

[via Harmonix]

For those who may have been visiting the site for awhile and have an odd case of deja vu, it is justified. A little over a year ago, there was a very similar auction for two Roger Daltrey signed Mad Catz Fender Stratocaster Replica Rock Band guitars. This year, Mad Catz is upping the stakes a little bit and having both Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend from The Who sign one of two Candy Apple red finished guitars, to be auctioned off on eBay.

Not sure who got their hands on the guitars from last year, nor did I find out the final winning bids, but this would make one hell of a present for the fans out there who are still waiting on The Who: Rock Band. All proceeds of the autographed guitar controllers will go to the Teenage Cancer Trust.

To bid, head on over to the first auction here, or the second auction here! Don’t delay, however, as bidding ends on April 3rd!

For more details, head on over to MadCatz.com.

[MadCatz]

While discovering and playing new music via the Rock Band Network is one of the primary goals of allowing the community access to the music creation tools for Rock Band, it is always a welcome sight to see some artists and authors try to do something more. RBN authors Chart Toppers Authoring worked with Pink Dragonfly Publishing and Rebel Rose Music to recently bring country music artist Kylie D. Hart to the Rock Band Network to do just that. A portion of the proceeds of the track will go to directly support the mission of The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in its ongoing search for a cure.

“We’re really glad we could help bring this track to Rock Band and support this cause,” said Paolo Viteri, owner of Chart Toppers Authoring, LLC. “We were contacted around Christmas with the idea to put this song on the Rock Band Network for this purpose, and in the spirit of the season, we agreed to author this track completely free of charge. All proceeds from this song will go directly to Kylie and to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.”

“Mr. Viteri was immediately responsive to the idea of putting Kylie’s song, ‘Firehouse Bar,’ out there for RBN,” said Elizabeth Hart of Pink Dragonfly Publishing and Rebel Rose Music. “We couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to raise awareness of both CF as well as the indie country music scene! RBN is turning a page with the inclusion of independent and unsigned artists since early 2010 and Chart Toppers has been right on their heels with providing the skills to get those indie RBN authoring projects up and running!”

“Paolo and the guys over at Chart Toppers have done a fantastic job with this project and we are so grateful for their support!” said Kylie D. Hart, singer/songwriter. “Firehouse Bar is an easy to relate to rockin’ fun country tune – one of my favorites to perform and I hope that Rock Band gamers have as much fun with it as I do!”

‘Firehouse Bar’ is from Kylie’s new “Hard Luck” CD. It’s an upbeat country tune that will keep your entire band moving, and will make you an instant fan of Kylie D. Hart’s unique brand of stylings. The album “Hard Luck” is now available for purchase directly from the Kylie D. Hart website as well as on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and other such music distribution sites. ‘Firehouse Bar‘ is now available on Rock Band Network for Rock Band 2 and Rock Band 3 on the Xbox 360, available for only 80 MSP. And since it’s for a good cause, why not at the very least download a FREE sample of the track to play in Rock Band!?

Included directly below is a sample of what to expect from her song in Rock Band.

I’ve designed my in-game character to look like me, but this band took it to the next level.  They designed THEMSELVES to look like their Lego Rock Band counterparts at last night’s Umloud event!

And they get bonus points for the T-Rex on drums!!!