Category Archives: SpecialEffect

Train2game News GameBlast16

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Donations to GameBlast, the UK’s biggest charity gaming marathon weekend, have smashed the £120,000 raised during last year’s event.

More than £170,000 has so far been pledged in online and offline donations, with more still to come. The final total will be announced next week.

Last weekend saw over 400 individuals and teams from across the world undertake hundreds of events and gaming marathons to raise money for Oxfordshire-based charity SpecialEffect, who help people with physical disabilities to be included in the gaming community by creating personalised technological solutions.

Headline streaming events were hosted by GameBlast partners Jagex and GAME, attracting thousands of viewers and raising over £120,000 between them. A further £50,000 was raised by individual streamers and teams, comprised of friends and colleagues.

The madness began at 12.00 on Friday 26th February, with Jagex staff undertaking a series of extreme challenges during a 24 hour livestream at their Cambridge HQ, including plenty of gunge action from ‘Get Your Own Back’ presenter Dave Benson Philips! Real-world auction items, such as signed merchandise and a tour of the Jagex offices, combined with contributions of in-game wealth via the RuneScape Well of Goodwill mechanic, encouraged their generous community to pledge over £100,000 in donations, more than triple what they raised in 2015.

The baton was then passed to GAME, who hosted their own 24 hour livestream at their Basingstoke offices from 10.00 Saturday 27th February. Guests included Wheelchair Basketball European gold-medalist Mark Fosbrook, Microsoft’s Graeme Boyd (aka. Acey Bongos) and comedian John Robertson. GAME stores across the country also joined in with their own events and collections, including auctioning off fifty ‘life size’ Vault Boys for bids upwards of £250 each (the highest price paid being £1,500)! In total, GAME have so far raised over £20,000 and counting, more than double what they achieved last year.

In one of the most heart-warming stories to come out of the event, the William Merritt Disability Living Centre in Leeds staged their own 24 hour GameBlast event, with many of the young people who took part using accessible controllers created by SpecialEffect. Other partners who contributed to the unprecedented success of GameBlast16 include ukie, Multiplay, Insert Coin, Face-It and Twitch, alongside many more companies and industry figures from as far afield as India, Norway and LA.

Summing up their experience of Game Blast, one team commented: “This is the first time we’ve ever been involved in the event. It was fun for all of our community and the staff were brought closer together by taking part too!”

Mick Donegan, CEO of SpecialEffect, said: “Once more, I’ve been completely amazed by the awe-inspiring generosity of the gaming community and the games industry. The money raised will enable us to make an immense and immediate impact on the lives of many more disabled people by enabling them to play mainstream video games. A huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone involved – I can’t help feeling both proud and humbled at the same time.”

The dates for GameBlast17 have just been announced as 24-26 February 2017.

Train2game News SpecialEffect Accessible Games Room

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David Cameron opens Accessible Games Room at Oxfordshire Charity SpecialEffect

Witney MP David Cameron officially opened the SpecialEffect Accessible Games Room at the charity’s headquarters in Charlbury, Oxfordshire, on 12 February.

The facility, the first of its kind in the UK, will allow the charity to welcome people with disabilities from across the UK and help them benefit from the fun and inclusion of video games and other forms of leisure technology.

The room was established thanks to a £130,000 donation from the inaugural Twin Town Car Challenge Event, organised by Witney businessman and SpecialEffect Vice-President Brendon Cross of STL Communications.

Mr Cameron was joined by SpecialEffect Vice-Presidents Justin Tomlinson MP, Minister for Disabled People, and Tom Watson MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, along with senior figures in the UK video game industry and the local business community.

He described SpecialEffect founder and CEO Dr Mick Donegan as “one of the most inspirational people I have met”. He said: “You are making an enormous difference to lots of people and I will do anything I can to help.

“It is also bringing together the things I am passionate about, because it shows business can be a force for social and economic good.”

“I would urge games companies to join in whatever way they can to back this man, to back this great charity that is doing such extraordinary work.”

Minister for Disabled People, Julian Tomlinson said: “We are very proud to see how quickly SpecialEffect is growing and we will do all we can to get it support from the industry.”

Tom Watson MP, deputy leader of the Labour Party added: “It is a great pleasure to be on the same side as Mr Cameron for once and I am deeply honoured to be involved with the charity. I hope more and more people will support them.”

“We’re delighted and honoured that Mr Cameron is here for this launch,” said Dr Mick Donegan, the Charity’s Founder and CEO. “Leisure technology is an amazing medium for fun, inclusion and quality of life. To be able to level the playing field and extend that medium to people that would otherwise not be involved is a real privilege.”

“The response to our work from Oxfordshire businesses and, increasingly, the video games community has been overwhelming so far. Their support will be pivotal to the success of the SpecialEffect mission to help more people worldwide experience the very real benefits that this technology can bring.”

Train2Game News GameBlast 16

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Gamer’s charity SpecialEffect today announced GameBlast16, the UK’s biggest gaming marathon weekend. People of all ages are invited to play video game marathons or hold gaming-related events to help people with disabilities benefit from the fun and inclusion of video games.

The charity is calling for teams of friends, family members or work colleagues to sign up to undertake their own sponsored video game marathons or gaming-related events anytime during the weekend of 26-28 February 2016.

“It’s the best reason to game ever. Gamers can enjoy doing what they love best and level the playing field for people with disabilities at the same time,” said Mick Donegan, the charity’s Founder and CEO.

“People like Ceyda (LINK), who’s always wanted to join in with her friends and family, but her cerebral palsy meant that she couldn’t use a standard controller. The funds raised through GameBlast16 will help us change the lives of many more people like Ceyda through the gift of gaming fun and inclusivity.”

GameBlast is the charity’s biggest annual gaming event. Over £120,000 was raised through GameBlast15 last February, and SpecialEffect are aiming to reach a target of £150,000 in 2016.

Teams and individuals can sign up for Gameblast16 at
http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast

Train2Game News GameAid raises huge funding

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UK games industry charity GamesAid has smashed its funding record for the eighth year in a row.

£564,000 has been raised by the UK games business over the last 12 months, an increase of 29 per cent over previous years. This money will be split between eight charities – more than ever before.

Accuro, Action for Kids, The Clock Tower Sanctuary, Lifelites, MAPS, Safe @ Last, SpecialEffect and Jigsaw 4 U have all received £70,500 each.

“2015 has been another incredible year for GamesAid” commented GamesAid Chair Emily Britt. “Once again we’ve raised more money, supported more charities and distributed bigger individual cheques than ever before.

She added: “Before I step down after my three year tenure as a Trustee at Christmas, I am happy to say that GamesAid has never been more supported, stronger and positioned to make a massive difference to the lives of kids and young people throughout the UK.  We’re now support the work of eight diverse children’s charities. I’d like encourage anyone involved in the video games industry to become a member today and see what we can achieve next year!”

“GamesAid only exists thanks to the energy, passion and fundraising efforts of the UK video games industry. Thank you so much for your support. You are simply amazing.”

GamesAid has raised £1.7m in its eight-year history.

GamesAid charity initiatives this year have included the Stand Up For GamesAid comedy night, the GamesAid Golf day, the Brighton Poker Night and a variety of Humble Bundle initiatives. Games industry members are welcome to join the charity for free by signing up at gamesaid.org.

Train2Game News GameBlast15 break last years record

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GameBlast, the UK’s largest charity video gaming marathon event, has raised over £120,000, smashing the £70k raised by last years’ fundraiser.

Gamers from across the world took on gaming marathons of up to 48 hours over the weekend of 20-22 February to raise money for gamers’ charity SpecialEffect, who help people with physical disabilities to experience the fun and inclusion of video games.

As well as the hundreds of individuals and teams that took part, over 50 games companies backed the event including GAME, Ginx, Twitch, Jagex, SEGA, Bossa, KING, Gamer Network, Frontier, Team17, Radiant Worlds, Fragers and Insert Coin.

Mick Donegan, SpecialEffect CEO, said, “We are genuinely blown away by the huge amount of support that we’ve had from gamers and the gaming industry all over the world. Everyone who contributed will make a massive difference, changing the lives of hundreds of people with disabilities who can only watch everyone else experience the many benefits of video games. A huge, heartfelt thank you from all the SpecialEffect team.”

Jagex, the developers and publishers of RuneScape were the biggest industry fundraiser. Their 24-hour marathon at their Cambridge offices raised £50,000.

The biggest individual total came from BBC Technology Correspondent and SpecialEffect VP Kate Russell, who raised £12,000

The dates for GameBlast16 are 26-28 February 2016

Donations for GameBlast can still be made at http://www.justgiving.com/gameblastlive

Train2Game News SpecialEffect raise money at Twickenham

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A fundraising lunch, with rugby legends Paul Wallace, Simon Shaw and Zinzan Brooke, raised £22,484 on the day through donations, raffles and auctions for the gamers’ charity, SpecialEffect.

The three former International players were the guests of honor at the inaugural Legends Lunch in aid of SpecialEffect, held at Twickenham Stadium last month, and they entertained an audience of 120 guests with tales of sporting and not-so-sporting experiences on and off the rugby field.

Paul (former Ireland International and British & Irish Lion), Simon (former England International and British & Irish Lion) and Zinzan (former All Black International) were delighted to be able to assist the charity which provides life changing support through the use of leisure technology, to enhance the quality of life for people with severe physical disabilities. 

“We’re honored that Paul, Simon and Zinzan have made such a difference to our fundraising,” said SpecialEffect Fundraiser Nick Streeter. “The money raised from this superb event will help us meet the growing demand for our specialist services including our video games loan library and our StarGaze project, that provides the loan and support of eye controlled technology to those that really need it “

Matt Hampson, a former England International and Patron of SpecialEffect, suffered a major spinal injury while training with England in 2005 and is the inspiration for the StarGaze project;

“When I regained consciousness I couldn’t move and I couldn’t speak – all I could do was move my eyes. It’s impossible to explain the fear, desperation and helplessness you feel when you are totally unable to communicate.”

“SpecialEffect were there for me with an eye-controlled computer that allowed me to speak using an artificial voice. I know first-hand the difference that SpecialEffect can make”

The event was organised by Limelight Interactive, and it is hoped to be an annual event.

Train2Game News Jagex GameBlast funds raised

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Jagex Games Studio, custodians of the long-running fantasy MMORPG, RuneScape, is pleased to announce that £50,000 was raised during the recently held 24-hour GameBlast15 marathon for SpecialEffect.

The figure compares favourably against the £48,000 raised by RuneScape and Ace of Spades during last year’s inaugural GameBlast event.

On 20th February, around 90 people – both staff and players – embarked on the challenge to play RuneScape, Block N Load and many other games in Jagex’s permanent LAN arena and the attending Fragers GamersBus. The marathon, which included a series of outrageous challenges, was livestreamed on the official GameBlast15 channel on Twitch.tv and watched by tens of thousands of people online.

In addition to making direct donations, the community also utilised RuneScape’s ‘Well of Goodwill’ to bequeath in-game gold, items and Bonds to SpecialEffect. These were then converted into a real world contribution on behalf of the charity.

“We were thrilled to host SpecialEffect and kick off GameBlast15 with our telethon-style livestream. It not only showed off the dedication of our players and staff, but also highlighted the crazy antics people are prepared to do in the name of charity,” said Jane Ryan, director of community and events at Jagex. “I think that after a second successful year of fundraising to help people with physical disabilities play videogames, both Jagex and the wider community are looking forward to offering our support for GameBlast16!”

“The support and enthusiasm of Jagex and their communities in supporting GameBlast has been truly staggering. Being personally present during their livestream was an amazing and humbling experience, and on behalf of all the staff of SpecialEffect I’d like to pass on my heartfelt thanks to everyone who took part or donated,” said Dr Mick Donegan, founder and director of SpecialEffect. “Yet again they’ve raised the lion’s share of the overall GameBlast total, and it will make a huge difference in ensuring we can continue to bring the magic of video games to those who would otherwise be excluded from their many, many benefits.”

A number of companies supported the Jagex hosted marathon, including We Got Game, Multiplay, CoolerMaster, and Fragers, as well as local franchises of Domino’s Pizza and Subway.

Train2Game GameBlast15 exceeding previous years

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Donations to GameBlast, the UK’s biggest charity gaming marathon weekend, have already exceeded the £70,000 raised in the 2014 event.

Over £80,000 has already been pledged in online and offline donations, with more still to come. The final total will be announced at the beginning of March.

Last weekend saw thousands of gamers from across the world take on gaming marathons of up to 48 hours to raise money for gamers’ charity SpecialEffect, who help people with physical disabilities to be included in the gaming community.

Hundreds of individuals and teams across the world took part, and over 50 companies from the games industry backed the event including GAME, Ginx, Twitch, Jagex, SEGA, Bossa, KING, Bethesda, Gamer Network, Frontier, Team17, Radiant Worlds, Fragers and Insert Coin.

SpecialEffect’s own 24 hour livestream event, GameBlast LIVE, comfortably broke its £5k target. The event saw UKIE CEO and SpecialEffect vice President Jo Twist beat BBC technology presenter Kate Russell in an eye-controlled racing game challenge. Kate then played Elite Dangerous for 12 hours and raised £12k, including a £10K donation from BT.

Jagex ran a spectacular 24 hour livestream from their Cambridge HQ that attracted thousands of Twitch viewers, as did the streams from GAME and Ginx.

Nick Streeter, Fundraiser at SpecialEffect, said “We’ve been absolutely blown away by the generosity of the gaming community and the games industry. The money raised will change the lives of hundreds of people with disabilities who can only sit and watch everyone else experience the fun and inclusion of video games. A huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who took part or donated from all the SpecialEffect team.”

Donations for GameBlast can still be made at http://www.justgiving.com/gameblastlive

Train2Game News GameBlastLIVE Stream

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SpecialEffectGameBlastLIVE, a Children in Need style 24 livestream, will be anchoring SpecialEffect’s GameBlast gaming marathon event this weekend.

Streamed from the London headquarters of industry trade body UKIE, the show will feature interviews with top gaming figures, playthroughs of new game content, gaming merchandise giveaways and regular updates from the hundreds of teams across the world taking part in the charity fundraiser.

The livestream starts at 10am on Saturday and can be seen at http://www.twitch.tv/gameblastlive

Highlights of the stream include:

  • The Oliver brothers from SkySaga, who will be reflecting on 20 years in the industry before a gameplay session.
  • Kate Russell will be battling through hyperspace with some top Elite antics.
  • PocketGamer will be on the sofa talking and showing the best of mobile entertainment.
  • Team17 will be live from their headquarters, scrambling their way out of The Escapists.
  • The team from Bossa will be slicing through I Am Bread, before things get messy with Surgeon Simulator.
  • Go8Bit will be creating mayhem in the studio with gameshow and forfeit challenges.

GameBlast, the UK’s largest charity gaming marathon, swings into action on Friday with the aim of raising over £100,000 for gamer’s charity SpecialEffect.

The challenge event, which will run from 20-22 February, has attracted over 250 individuals and gaming teams from across the world. They’ll be running their own gaming marathons at times over the weekend – some up to 24 hours in length – and asking for online sponsorship to hit their fundraising targets.

Big names in the gaming industry are involved, including retail giant GAME, online games developer Jagex and global video streamers Twitch. In total over 50 companies from the industry are involved in various ways, from hosting their own 24 hour staff marathons to contributing to the prize giveaways.

The aim is to raise money for the work of SpecialEffect, who help people with physical disabilities to benefit from the fun, friendship and inclusion of video games.

For more details about GameBlast, see http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast

Train2Game News GameBlast15

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The gamers’ charity, SpecialEffect, is aiming to build on the success of its inaugural GameBlast gaming marathon weekend in 2014 by calling on the UK games industry and gaming community to sign up for GameBlast15 as they look to raise over £100k towards the charity’s work.

The event, the UK’s largest game-based fundraiser, takes place 20-22 February and already has some of the UK’s top games industry names behind it including Jagex, the company behind the hugely successful Runescape. Jagex is SpecialEffect’s original GameBlast partner and last year raised almost £50k for the charity’s work in helping people with disabilities to access video games.

Along with a major marathon stream from Jagex from Friday to Saturday, the UK gaming trade body, UKIE, is supporting the SpecialEffect fundraising effort by hosting GameBlast LIVE, a 24-hour gaming broadcast from its headquarters in London. This will run from Saturday to Sunday.

Dr Jo Twist, SpecialEffect Vice President and CEO of UKIE, explained why she is so keen to get behind the SpecialEffect fundraiser, ‘They [SpecialEffect] were one of the first groups I met when I started my Ukie role in 2012 and I was bowled over by their dedication, their passion and their love. The innovative work they do to enable young people enjoy the games they love is incredibly inspiring. Games and the ability to play can enhance and enrich people’s lives in so many ways and everyone should have the right to play.’

The event, hosted by Matt Cuttle, promises 24 hours of unadulterated gaming and madness as BBC Click presenter and SpecialEffect Vice President, Kate Russell, builds on the £7,500 she raised through her Elite:Dangerous livestream at Christmas by flying a 12 hour Elite marathon alongside other enthusiasts of Frontier’s iconic space travel game. But Kate will be taking a break from space travel to battle it out with Jo Twist using SpecialEffect eye-control technology as they compete live on Twitch for the fastest lap in Codemasters’ popular Dirt 3 motor racing game. 

Kate explained why she has done so much to raise money and awareness of the charity’s work, ‘Ever since I found out about Special Effect a couple of years ago – a charity dedicated to helping those with physical limitations through illness or injury have fun playing computer games – it has been my pleasure and honour to be able to help raise funds and awareness about their tireless and dedicated work’.

If you’d like to join industry names like Jagex, Gamer Network and Multiplay and join hundreds of other gamers across the UK in raising money for SpecialEffect through the GameBlast15 gaming marathon go to:

http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast-about