St. Jude, Twitch, Blizzard, and GameStop Team Up to Raise Money

In a world where major media portrays the gaming industry and gamers in nothing but a negative light, here’s a story to warm your heart. Major players like Twitch, Blizzard and GameStop; along with help from some of the top streaming gamers, including Johnathan Wendel (Fatal1ty), “Ellohime,” “CohhCarnage,” Danielle Mackey (Panser), actress Zelda Williams, have joined up for a video game charity to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

In what is being called "St. Jude PLAY LIVE," gamers are having the chance to use their skills to defeat virtual enemies in order to raise funds to help kids battle cancer and other diseases. St. Jude is launching the summer gaming season to engage players to "zerg" (defeat) childhood cancer by having several known gamers, equipped with their controllers, to visit the kids at the hospital demonstrating their passion for gaming.

"St. Jude PLAY LIVE" is a 12-week program that kicks off on June 13th, in concert with Twitch, ending at midnight on September 1st, featuring games like League of Legends, Dota 2, Minecraft, StarCraft II, and a host of indie games. During the first weekend, single players or clans can play their game of choice, with the goal to get as many people streaming as possible. During the June 20th weekend Riot Games’ League of Legends will be featured. Throughout the three weeks dedicated to Blizzard’s collection of games, the Top streamer will have a chance to earn tickets to the sold out BlizzCon 2014 and other rare prizes.

GameStop is offering the Grand Prize Package, an all-expense paid trip for two to their highly anticipated 2014 GameStop Expo on September 10th in Anaheim, California to the top fundraiser. The top four fundraisers will receive an all-expense paid trip for one to the 2014 GameStop Expo on September 10th in Anaheim, California.

Registration for St. Jude PLAY LIVE is now open and fundraising begins June 13th.

Schedule of Events:

• June 27th: Sports Cup for the Kids, featuring a variety of sports titles
• July 4th: Indie Games Explosion, focusing on smaller game studios
• July 11th: The Zelda-thon Adventure and an old–school games marathon
• July 18th: Valve’s Dota 2
• July 25th: Blizzard in the Summer: a three-week long focus on Blizzard’s library of award-winning games
• July 25th: Hearthstone
• Aug. 1st: StarCraft
• Aug. 8th: World of Warcraft
• Aug. 15th: Next-Gen Drag Race
• Aug. 22nd: Minecraft Buildathon
• Aug. 29th: Final weekend with a live-streamed 90-hour marathon from 8 a.m. Friday, August 29th until midnight Monday, September 1st

“St. Jude PLAY LIVE marks our first real foray into the video game world to raise awareness and funds for children battling cancer and other deadly diseases at St. Jude and around the world,” said Richard Shadyac Jr., CEO of ALSAC/St. Jude. “The willingness of these online competitors to invest their time and considerable talents to meaningfully impact the lives of some of the world’s sickest children and their families has been remarkable. We are honored that so many are eager to join our lifesaving mission.

Being a part of the gaming community and also a family member to someone who has lost their fight to cancer, stories like these really hit home for me. So many good deeds are done by the gaming community and yet you hardly hear about it on the major news channels or newspapers. It's up to us to get these stories in the light.

If you're interested in helping to "zerg" childhood cancer, make sure to sign up. This is a charity that is worth the time, effort and dollars!