Happy news in the gaming world! The heads of Penny Arcade">Child's Play recently announced that they've been able to get over US$ 495,000 in toys and other assorted goodies for children's hospitals. This announcement was well-timed as one more event is expected to occur before year's end; hopefully the announcement should be able to up the number significantly.

The guys at Penny Arcade, the creators of the Child's Play charity organization, are quite pleased with the turnout. As Mike Krahulik, otherwise known as Penny Arcade's Gabe, put it, "I’m not joking, you guys donated more than $230,000 in one f***ing week!"

The final event for the year, the annual charity dinner, will also be a crowd-pleasing event, as various organizations have also put up items for auction during the dinner. Of these, perhaps the most noteworthy would be a Wii unit autographed by Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's head honcho, a PlayStation 3, an appearance in a future Penny Arcade strip, and an actual speaking role for Bungie's upcoming Halo 3. Boy, will that last one be fought over.

"The generous support of the game community has allowed Child’s Play to grow each year, reaching more children in more cities around the world," said Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo. We can definitely say he's right, because gamers aren't the corpse-teabagging, line-standing, know-nots that others have made us out to be. At least, six days out of seven.