Be a Hero! - Relief Effort for Haiti Quakes by Bungie

 Bungie fans, we're asking you to step up, "Be a Hero," and help us help Haiti.

At 4:53pm on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake swept through the Republic of Haiti and shook the nation to its knees. We’ve watched in shock, horror, and sadness as men, women, and children scramble amidst the rubble looking for friends, family, and loved-ones. We struggle to make sense of it and can’t help but feel helpless as we witness their struggle for survival from afar. Sadly, the situation is only getting worse.

For some of us, this is a grim reminder of our own tragedies. We hear echoes of the ocean spilling into the streets of New Orleans. We recall broken buildings slipping away from our skylines, falling into dust. And as shattered families in Haiti begin their own relief and rescue effort, we are reminded that the divide between our nations and our peoples is not so wide, that we are not so different, and that we are not so helpless.

We can do something. We can make a difference. But we can’t do it alone. We’re calling on the Bungie community. We’re asking for your help.

Right now, in the Bungie Store, you’ll find a special edition of our Superintendent tee. Pick one up and we’ll donate 100% of our profits directly to the relief efforts through the American Red Cross. 



In addition to the special shirt, from now until the end of February, we will be donating all of Bungie's profits from theBungie Store directly to the American Red Cross. If you had your eye on a sweet Bungie hoodie or bag, there’s never been a better time to buy than now since that money will go right to supporting a great cause. Please note that this really only applies to Bungie apparel and accessories in our online store – if you wanted to add an HD TV or Xbox 360 game to your cart at checkout, Bungie doesn’t actually see any real proceeds from those 3rd party items.
So, you want to help but don’t have a way to get one of our shirts or make a monetary donation? Not to worry, we’ve got you covered with the easiest possible way to be a hero – playing Halo!

We are rallying our fan community to show their support by playing Halo 3 or ODST online next Wednesday or Thursday while wearing a special emblem signifying your commitment to the cause. For every thousand heroes that participate, we will make a $100 donation on behalf of Bungie and our fan community to the Red Cross for Haiti relief efforts, up to a maximum of $77,000. All you have to do is don a special emblem and play a game online and know that you’ve done a small part to help those in need. 

Please mark your calendars and help spread the word! 

Here are the specifics:

1. Round up all of your friends and hop online with Halo 3 or ODST any time next from 00:01AM PST Wednesday, 1/20, through 23:59PM PST Thursday 1/21.

2. Edit your appearance settings so your character is wearing the RED HEART emblem. 

a. Press START
b. Select “SETTINGS” / “APPEARANCE”
c. Select “EMBLEM”
d. Select “Hearts” ICON, “Circle” BACKGROUND
e. Back out to the APPEARANCES menu and select “COLORS”
f. Set “EMBLEM PRIMARY” to RED (or MAROON / BRICK / ROSE depending on which game you’re playing!)
g. Set “EMBLEM SECONDARY” to WHITE

3. Once your emblem is set, play! This can be a custom game or a matchmaking game, just make sure it’s played online, on Xbox LIVE, or we can’t track it. 

If you keep playing more games through midnight on Thursday, 

KEEP THE HEART EMBLEM ENABLED

 or you may not get counted. 


We’ve got our hearts on and we’re looking for a fourth. Will you join our cause on Xbox LIVE? (for screenshot example purposes we’re on system link, your network needs to be “Xbox LIVE” though!)


But wait, there’s more! We want to see your screenshots and hear the stories about your experiences. Take screenshots from your games and tag them on Bungie.net with “HERO” so we can capture the moment. We’ll go through and find screens we like and send some of you the special “Be a Hero!” Superintendent t-shirts we’re offering at the Bungie Storeas a small token of our gratitude for your support.
These are but three small ways you and your friends can do your part to lend a hand to those in need. If you would simply like to make a cash donation, we urge you to visit the American Red Cross website, or any other charitable organization you’re comfortable with, and do just that. For more information about various charities, check outhttp://www.charitynavigator.org/.
In light of these recent events, there will be no update on Halo: Reach's development this week. No poorly wrought prose or corny jokes. No Blame Stosh. It just doesn't feel right. I’ll make it up to you in the future. I promise.

For now, we ask that you focus on spreading the word to all reaches of the community. In 2005, we asked for your charity in our “Fight the Flood” campaign to help fund relief efforts in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and we were floored by the overwhelming outpouring of charity and support you put on display. Let’s do it again.

Love, Bungie.    

 Bungie fans, we're asking you to step up, "Be a Hero," and help us help Haiti.

At 4:53pm on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake swept through the Republic of Haiti and shook the nation to its knees. We’ve watched in shock, horror, and sadness as men, women, and children scramble amidst the rubble looking for friends, family, and loved-ones. We struggle to make sense of it and can’t help but feel helpless as we witness their struggle for survival from afar. Sadly, the situation is only getting worse.

For some of us, this is a grim reminder of our own tragedies. We hear echoes of the ocean spilling into the streets of New Orleans. We recall broken buildings slipping away from our skylines, falling into dust. And as shattered families in Haiti begin their own relief and rescue effort, we are reminded that the divide between our nations and our peoples is not so wide, that we are not so different, and that we are not so helpless.

We can do something. We can make a difference. But we can’t do it alone. We’re calling on the Bungie community. We’re asking for your help.

Right now, in the Bungie Store, you’ll find a special edition of our Superintendent tee. Pick one up and we’ll donate 100% of our profits directly to the relief efforts through the American Red Cross. 



In addition to the special shirt, from now until the end of February, we will be donating all of Bungie's profits from theBungie Store directly to the American Red Cross. If you had your eye on a sweet Bungie hoodie or bag, there’s never been a better time to buy than now since that money will go right to supporting a great cause. Please note that this really only applies to Bungie apparel and accessories in our online store – if you wanted to add an HD TV or Xbox 360 game to your cart at checkout, Bungie doesn’t actually see any real proceeds from those 3rd party items.
So, you want to help but don’t have a way to get one of our shirts or make a monetary donation? Not to worry, we’ve got you covered with the easiest possible way to be a hero – playing Halo!

We are rallying our fan community to show their support by playing Halo 3 or ODST online next Wednesday or Thursday while wearing a special emblem signifying your commitment to the cause. For every thousand heroes that participate, we will make a $100 donation on behalf of Bungie and our fan community to the Red Cross for Haiti relief efforts, up to a maximum of $77,000. All you have to do is don a special emblem and play a game online and know that you’ve done a small part to help those in need. 

Please mark your calendars and help spread the word! 

Here are the specifics:

1. Round up all of your friends and hop online with Halo 3 or ODST any time next from 00:01AM PST Wednesday, 1/20, through 23:59PM PST Thursday 1/21.

2. Edit your appearance settings so your character is wearing the RED HEART emblem. 

a. Press START
b. Select “SETTINGS” / “APPEARANCE”
c. Select “EMBLEM”
d. Select “Hearts” ICON, “Circle” BACKGROUND
e. Back out to the APPEARANCES menu and select “COLORS”
f. Set “EMBLEM PRIMARY” to RED (or MAROON / BRICK / ROSE depending on which game you’re playing!)
g. Set “EMBLEM SECONDARY” to WHITE

3. Once your emblem is set, play! This can be a custom game or a matchmaking game, just make sure it’s played online, on Xbox LIVE, or we can’t track it. 

If you keep playing more games through midnight on Thursday, 

KEEP THE HEART EMBLEM ENABLED

 or you may not get counted. 


We’ve got our hearts on and we’re looking for a fourth. Will you join our cause on Xbox LIVE? (for screenshot example purposes we’re on system link, your network needs to be “Xbox LIVE” though!)


But wait, there’s more! We want to see your screenshots and hear the stories about your experiences. Take screenshots from your games and tag them on Bungie.net with “HERO” so we can capture the moment. We’ll go through and find screens we like and send some of you the special “Be a Hero!” Superintendent t-shirts we’re offering at the Bungie Storeas a small token of our gratitude for your support.
These are but three small ways you and your friends can do your part to lend a hand to those in need. If you would simply like to make a cash donation, we urge you to visit the American Red Cross website, or any other charitable organization you’re comfortable with, and do just that. For more information about various charities, check outhttp://www.charitynavigator.org/.
In light of these recent events, there will be no update on Halo: Reach's development this week. No poorly wrought prose or corny jokes. No Blame Stosh. It just doesn't feel right. I’ll make it up to you in the future. I promise.

For now, we ask that you focus on spreading the word to all reaches of the community. In 2005, we asked for your charity in our “Fight the Flood” campaign to help fund relief efforts in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and we were floored by the overwhelming outpouring of charity and support you put on display. Let’s do it again.

Love, Bungie.    

This is a great initiative by bungie and if I didn´t live in europe I would have bought a t-shirt. But I will definetly play halo on wednesday

I was going to post this myself, good to see someone else did. Bungie are doing a fantastic thing here, like you said hats off to them.

Id is missing out on a great opportunity.  
 
That's awesome of them. I'll order a shirt. :)

I'm surprised that it was John Romero leading this. *ba dum tish* Seriously, though, pretty good, except for one thing: if I don't play Halo 3, I look like an asshole. Yes, it sucks that lots of people were made homeless by the quake, but....actually, I don't have any follow-up for that. Just that I can't overcome how much I don't like the game. Besides, even if I did like it, I don't have Gold, so it's a moot point.

The Red Cross?  The same organization that bungled the 9/11 donations and had to change their policies after the pr disaster?

Awesome job Bungie!

That's pretty good of them. If I had Halo... or an Xbox 360 I'd definitely take part in this. 
 
Infinity Ward could really do some good if they started something like this. 

Guess I'll be playing on Wednesday then.

" I'm surprised that it was John Romero leading this. *ba dum tish* Seriously, though, pretty good, except for one thing: if I don't play Halo 3, I look like an asshole. Yes, it sucks that lots of people were made homeless by the quake, but....actually, I don't have any follow-up for that. Just that I can't overcome how much I don't like the game. Besides, even if I did like it, I don't have Gold, so it's a moot point. "

" That's pretty good of them. If I had Halo... or an Xbox 360 I'd definitely take part in this.  Infinity Ward could really do some good if they started something like this.  "

This is great! Bungie have done something really good here.. But sadly i don't have halo, and nor do i live in the US

" This is great! Bungie have done something really good here.. But sadly i don't have halo, and nor do i live in the US "

" @DanielJW said:

" That's pretty good of them. If I had Halo... or an Xbox 360 I'd definitely take part in this.  Infinity Ward could really do some good if they started something like this.  "

You see, it takes a certain something to do this. Only people with a heart. You'd think Infinity Ward, after being able to wipe a sneeze with $100 bills from Modern Warfare 2 would do something. Instead you have Bungie. You have Popcap. You have The Behemoth.  "

" @armaan8014 said:

" This is great! Bungie have done something really good here.. But sadly i don't have halo, and nor do i live in the US "

Well I live in the US & don't plan on buying a t-shirt. Obama already promised $100 million in aid & today they were talking about 5 billion over 5 years.  I feel my future tax dollars have already contributed to the cause. "

Bumbing this since there is 11 hours left of this. All you need to do is log on go into halo 3 multiplayer and change your emblem as stated above. If you haven't done this you should.

ill do this havent played halo in a while.

That's very noble of Bungie. I'd certainly jump in and play Xbox Live with that emblem, if only I could get on Xbox Live! Anyway, uhh.. honestly, I think I'd rather just straight up donate money than buy that shirt. The shirt would just be a waste for me. Maybe I should donate money through some other company.

The results are in and bungie raised $100,000 with be a hero.