BioWare Auctioning Off Exclusive Goods for Japan Relief

[Tom Goldman]

BioWare Auctioning Off Exclusive Goods for Japan Relief

BioWare has put signed hoodies and custom consoles on eBay to raise money for Japan.

Japan was hit hard by an earthquake in mid-March, but the country thankfully isn't without supporters trying to raise money to help bring it back to normalcy. Companies such as Valve [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108789-S-O-E-Rewards-Online-Gamers-Who-Help-Japan] have done their part, and now it's BioWare's turn.

BioWare has put 4 custom game consoles and 10 hoodies on eBay to raise money for the Red Cross to help Japan. The 14 auctions will expire on April 19.

The hoodies are the Dragon Age II [http://biowarestore.com/mass-effect/mass-effect-hoodies/commander-shepard-full-zip-hoody] paint job.

All 4 consoles are signed by BioWare founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, while the hoodies are signed by the Mass Effect team. If you'd like to help out, the auctions can be found here [http://shop.ebay.com/bioware-edmonton/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562].

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/15/buy-biowares-wares-for-japan-relief/]

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[Art Axiv]

<color= blue>"I'm Commander Sheppard and this is my favorite hoody on the Citadel!"

... besides that, I also imagine all the grimaces on peoples faces when they see its a Dragon Age II paint job on those consoles. Hopefully they will find wealthy owners who will support Japan though!

 

[Mrsoupcup]

Dragon Age 2 paint job? Well it is for charity....

 

[thenumberthirteen]

That Hoody looks nice. If a bit OTT.

Though I'd rather have this T-Shirt:

http://biowarestore.com/core/media/media.nl/id.2138/c.862287/.f?h=aab666c837ad6f5b1b63

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

They've hardly pushed the boat out have they, I mean it's not exactly premium stuff.

4 consoles they'd have trouble getting rid of anyway and 10 hoodies of the type that you NEVER actually see anyone wearing.

If they're lucky they'll raise maybe $3000, exactly what is that meant to accomplish except a headline grab?

Really... Im almost left speechless... And to compare this with NCsoft and SOE, good god.

 

[RanD00M]

Why don't they give their own fucking money? It's not like they don't have enough of it.

 

[Veldel]

10 hoodies of the type that you NEVER actually see anyone wearing.

Id wear it but then id need to be a fan of bioware since there games are only meh to me minus KOTOR.

 

[Vrach]

<color= blue>"I'm Commander Sheppard and this is my favorite hoody on the Citadel!"

Hehehe

Anyone else think the consoles would sell better if they had the sign of something other than Dragon Age 2? I get it's their newest property, but kinda not the favourite one.

Also, any higher resolution pictures? Those things are tiny and you can't really see what they look like at all :\

 

[Phlakes]

Someone I know knows a guy at Bioware, so she had one of those hoodies. And I have to say, they're just as badass in person. Plus you can see through those eye things.

 

[Defense]

Are they going to give us Mass Effect 2 free with these as well?

 

[Zeraki]

That Hoody looks nice. If a bit OTT.

Though I'd rather have this T-Shirt:

http://biowarestore.com/core/media/media.nl/id.2138/c.862287/.f?h=aab666c837ad6f5b1b63

Wait... that shirt actually exists!? I'll take eight!

 

[SirCannonFodder]

They've hardly pushed the boat out have they, I mean it's not exactly premium stuff.

4 consoles they'd have trouble getting rid of anyway and 10 hoodies of the type that you NEVER actually see anyone wearing.

If they're lucky they'll raise maybe $3000, exactly what is that meant to accomplish except a headline grab?

Especially since they're only shipping to the US. This is looking less and less like a gesture of goodwill and more like a carefully calculated PR ploy. I mean, this'll cost them what, $1000, at most? Hardly the $6.3 million and $3.6 million NCSoft and SOE donated, now is it?

 

[Kilgengoor]

I seem to be the only one to say this, but that hoodie is probably the most awesome thing I've seen in a while, and moreover it'll be infinitely useful when I'll go snowboarding next season. The only thing holding me back is that I already spent 120? in a Guitar Hero 5 Superbundle last week, so I'll probably wait a little (NOFX's playing here in a couple days too, and I don't wanna get crazy with the spending), but no doubt I'm gonna grab it. From the store, of course, since I don't live in the US and besides, I don't have neither disposable income nor use for a signed sweater.

The standard hoody is almost stylish. With the stripe it's subtle enough that only people who've played the game would remark it.

Believe me when I say nobody will ever have a fucking clue what the hoodie is from in my city or surroundings. It WILL look flamboyant, mind you, but looking like a fanboy isn't my primary concern.

 

[tekdeath]

To all the naysayers, I think it's awfully rude that you even criticize them for donating anything. You get some cool gear and the money goes to a good cause. Maybe they saw an opportunity to get sell some of their harder to sell items but I really don't think that matters. They aren't obligated to donate a penny in the first place. The companies that donated the most were the ones with employees and offices in Japan so why don't we criticize them for being selfish and wanting their local operations to return to normal ASAP? I think we should take it for what it is; a gesture of good will and the chance to get some sweet gear. Boy do I want the armor hoodie. Might be weird in the US, but I could get away with wearing that in Japan.

 

[tekdeath]

RUDE?

I can't work out if you are being stupid, or just plain naive.

This is an insult at best. Second rate shoddy crap that no one in their right mind would buy ordinarily.. AND the fact that it's supposed to be US that makes the actual donation.. what's Bioware's contribution, huh? a few seconds with a sharpie and some crap they have kicking around the office, than in the end will make an such utterly inconsequential amount that it basically amounts to nothing at all.

This is nothing but a headline grab. Quite frankly they would have been better keeping their nose out of this particular ring if this is their best action... They're not even willing to stump up a few dollars more in order to ship the stuff world wide.

It's nothing more than yet another nail in the reputation of a formerly well regarded development house. With all of the SUPPOSEDLY intelligent people they have working for them, what idiot thought that this was a good idea?

What moron thought up this ill concieved 'contribution', that EVEN IF IT WAS AS WELL REGARDED AS THEY WOULD HAVE HOPED, would have succeeded at ABSOLUTELY NOTHING except be a PR coup for them.

Charity is obviously the last thing on their mind.

PR or not, if the money goes where they say it goes, I ain't complaining. It's a chance for them to get rid of some product that might not be the best selling and it'll help my friends (once the Japanese government figures out how to allocate the money, but that is another issue). As part of the US-Japan council in Miami, we recently raised $4500 to be directly sent to our sister city, Kagoshima, to make sure the aid gets directly distributed. Are we just taking advantage of the situation to looks good in the eyes of the city of Miami or Kagoshima? I would definitely say that is not our primary concern, but it definitely looks good, doing our "global civic duty". What have you donated?