Players of the long-running (and still popular) Jagex MMO RuneScape have raised $90,838 for charity by donating their in-game currency through a magic well located in the game called the "Well of Goodwill." The money raised through this community initiative will go to such charities as the Willow Foundation, SpecialEffect, Action For Kids, Games Aid, Internet Watch Foundation, HART and the DEC Philippines Typhoon Appeal.

AbleGamers Charity has launched the 2013 AbleGamers Holiday Gift Guide for Gamers with Disabilities. This year's guide offers recommendations on which games were the most accessible and which assistive devices are the best solutions for helping disabled gamers. In addition to all that, the guide offers recommendations on several items you may want to avoid altogether.

A YouTube channel called "Give8-Bit" officially launches today, with the goal of showcasing the video games industry's ongoing charitable efforts and to raise awareness in general about the good deeds of the industry and gamers when it comes to helping. The channel is being curated by Playmob and promises to host submissions from companies or organizations raising money for charities via games-related activities.

Military gaming charity Operation Supply Drop passed along word today that during the month of November it managed to raise what it called a record-shattering $302,187 worth of games and swag for soldiers and sailors deployed overseas as well as recovering in military hospitals. Much of that tally for the month of November came from game developers and corporations.

Operation Supply Drop has raised nearly $300,000 in games and gear for Veterans Day through its 8-Bit Salute drive. The military gaming charity surpassed last year's $58,000 in games and gear raised by over five times with the grand total of $282,721. Donations are still coming in, so that figure is sure to continue trending upwards. The donations will be sent out as a part of Operation Supply Drop's end-of-the-year 8-Bit Salute fundraising drive to build video game care packages for soldiers deployed to combat zones and recovering in military hospitals.

CCP Games announced today that its PLEX for GOOD initiative will help fund relief efforts for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. On November 8th 2013, Typhoon Haiyan (Typhoon Yolanda) struck the Philippines, leaving a trail of destruction and loss whose effects continue to be felt in the region. In response to this tragedy, CCP and their community of over a half million players will again host a PLEX for GOOD drive to aid survivors.

SOA Games announced this morning that it will be running donation events for its fantasy anime action MMORPG, Luvinia World, to benefit relief efforts in the Philippines. The events, which will run three weeks, will let players purchase three items that will be on sale exclusively during this time. One-hundred percent of the proceeds from these items will go to help victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines through Philippines Red Cross.

Gamers Outreach passed along word to us this morning that it will be hosting its Gamers for Giving 2014 LAN gaming event for charity February 8th and 9th at the Eastern Michigan University Student Center. The group says that its full schedule of activities is currently in the works, but the tentative schedule of activities will include:

- BYOC LAN party for PC and console gamers (size of the LAN, tournaments, & activities TBA).

- Console gaming tournaments hosted by Gamers Outreach Foundation (titles TBA).

The latest Bundle in a Box offers a bunch of nifty indie strategy and war games for PC and mobile platforms for a low, low price - and DRM-free. The bundle includes Us & Them - Cold War, Storm Over The Pacific, AI War: Fleet Command, Creeper World, Strategic War in Europe, The Trouble With Robots, Age of Conquest III, and Droidscape: Basilica.

You can pay as little as $0.99 for all these titles, but if you pay more than the current average price of $4.94 you'll get Mayhem Intergalactic, Project Aftermath, Fall Weiss, Creeper World 2, and AI War: The Zenith Remnant.

A day late and a dollar short would be the best way to describe Episode 76. It was recorded a few days after Extra Life (which admittedly messed with our scheduling and mental stability in the early part of the week). Add to that some technical difficulties with editing the show and you have an episode that is a week late. Nevertheless the topics we talk about on the show are timeless enough that you'll still enjoy it.

Trion Worlds announced that last week's participation in the Extra Life charity marathon and a promotion related to it helped give its MMORPGs RIFT Online and Defiance a record-breaking week last week. The company said that over a quarter of a million new players joined their online games, RIFT and Defiance. Bookended by the relaunch of RIFT as a free-to-play game on Steam and the charity marathon for Extra Life, Trion’s celebration week included promotions, in-game special events, and giveaways across both games to celebrate both new and veteran players.

Military-based gaming charity Operation Supply Drop has received the promise of 30 4 inch-by-4-inch micro computers from Intel. The chipmaker will build and donate the absurdly small and powerful Intel NUC computers to the charity to be given out to troops deployed in combat zones in places like Afghanistan and to soldiers recovering from injuries in military hospitals.

Over the weekend a core group from Team ECA based out of our headquarters in Wilton, Connecticut, spent 23 hours setting up and playing video games to support the Extra Life charity. They managed to contribute a substantial amount of the $3,200 in total donations (so far, donations are still coming in) for the Connecticut Children’s Hospital and the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Westchester, NY - both Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

GOG.com is taking part in a fundraising campaign that lets consumers donate a minimum of $5 to one of three charities to get three games. The charities include the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Gaming for Good, and Worldbuilders. The games players can choose from include FTL, Waking Mars, Incredipede, The Whispered World, Driftmoon, PID, Darwinia, Creature's Village, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, and Botanicula.

There's no rule against donating to all three charities, which means that you could pick up nine of the ten games listed above.

GameStop has partnered with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to raise at least $500,000 in charitable donations for the annual St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign, which involves a number of companies and personalities including celebrities, media, retail and corporate brands. They all come together to ask consumers to donate while they shop during the holiday season and join St. Jude in finding cures for sick children.

Despite its web site being the target of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, the folks at the Extra Life charity managed to raise a decent amount of money (with the help of thousands of gamers) over the weekend. The charity sent out multiple emails over the weekend keeping Extra Life members in the loop as the events unfolded.

While we don't recommend game binging to the extremes (we've written plenty of stories about people being found dead in cyber cafes in Asia over the years), sometimes - if it is for the right reasons - binge gaming is necessary. When you find yourself in such a situation where it is necessary, you need some rules.

Jagex Games Studio has launched a month-long charity campaign that uses virtual gifting in its games like RuneScape to provide real-world donations to support disadvantaged, at risk or seriously ill young people. Launching today, the Well of Goodwill will offer RuneScape players across the world the chance to gift some of their in-game wealth to charity.

Andrew Eisen's latest video tells you all you need to know about his plans to support the Extra Life charity. Beginning on Saturday, Nov. 2 at noon PST Andrew will be playing various games to support the charity, and he'll be broadcasting live on Twitch.

Defense Grid series creators Hidden Path Entertainment has donated one thousand codes for their nifty Defense Grid: Containment Bundle on Steam. The codes are equivalent to a $20,000 donation.

The AbleGamers Charity announced that its first annual AbleGamers Day will be held on October 26. The festivities begin on the 25th with the largest online streaming event in the charity's history, leading up to an Accessibility Arcade in Loudoun County, VA. The Accessibility Arcade gives disabled gamers access to the charity's assistive technology experts for one day along with all of the various cutting-edge assistive technology available on the market today.

Scientists at the University of Washington have been trying to decipher the complex structure of an enzyme that "exhibits behavior similar to that of an enzyme key in the development of AIDS from an HIV infection" for the last decade. They believed that it likely played a critical role in finding a cure for the disease. But gamers playing spatial game Foldit have managed to collectively determine the enzyme’s structure in a mere ten days.

This Thursday, October 17 the gaming group Cloudboat Armada will kick off its third annual Indie Games for Good charity marathon benefitting Child's Play Charity. The Indie Games for Good marathon will be broadcast live over the internet on Thursday and will run around as long as the donations continue to come in. The marathon could span multiple days if people open their hearts and their wallets for those playing games for the children's charity.

Sony has joined in on helping to promote the Extra Life charity by offering some much needed real estate to promote it on PlayStation Network. In a blog post this morning, the folks at Extra Life announced that Sony is helping to promote the charity to the 78 million PlayStation 3 owners around the world and to help them find a local Children's Miracle Network Hospital to support.

While the lawmakers haggle over ideologies and leave the government unfunded, Operation Supply Drop gets things done. At least, that's what they are telling supporters in a new mail-out today.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) and members of GamePolitics will be taking part in this year's Extra Life event on November 2. Since 2008, tens of thousands of gamers have joined together to raise money for local kids' hospitals in a celebration of gaming culture and gamers doing good works through charity.

I thought this story about people criticizing former Suite Life of Zach and Cody co-star Dylan Sprouse for taking on a job as a host at a New York City restaurant was mildly amusing. Sprouse, who is currently attending New York University, talked to US Magazine in an attempt to combat the wild speculation that he is now "broke" and had to take the job out of necessity.

After a year of small sales of some great indie game titles, IndieGameStand is going big. The digital storefront dedicated to selling the best indie games becomes a full blown indie game digital store front, joining the ranks of Steam, GOG.com, and the Humble Game Bundle. The store now has a permanent and dedicated store front with a full catalog of indie games - in addition to the 96 hour indie deals it has become famous for.

Playmob has revealed the first details on its Peace Games Live initiative, taking place - appropriately enough - on "Peace One Day," the annual day of global unity on September 21. Playmob's mobile platform enables gamers to give to global causes while playing their favorite games.

The AbleGamers Charity has opened the very first-of-its-kind "AbleGamers Lab" for gamers with special needs. Located at its headquarters just outside of Washington DC, the AbleGamers laboratory features all of the latest top-end gaming devices and assistive technology set up to enable those with disabilities to play video games. Use of the lab is free but by appointment only, with the average appointment lasting 1 - 2 hours depending on the case.