PopCap’s doing something for the community again. If you head to eBay, you’ll find a PopCap Charity Auction eBay Store page filled with rounds of exclusive art. Buy it and you’ll not only get the joy from owning an original piece of game-inspired artwork. You’ll also get a warm feeling that comes from knowing your money just went to help out the Starlight Children’s Foundation and SpecialEffect.

That’s because all of the money PopCap earns from this four week long auction will be going straight to those two charities…

With the dozens of auctions that have recently occurred to help the people of Japan, it can be easy to forget that there are countless other worthy causes in the world. One is by Share Our Strength called the “No Kid Hungry” campaign, whose goal is to end childhood hunger by the year 2015. Actor Jeff Bridges is the national spokesman for the organization and has offered his TRON-inspired painting for auction to raise money for this cause.

Quite a number of game companies have had specials offers to help out Japan, but Paizo’s offer would have me reaching for my wallet even if it wasn’t for a good cause.

Looks like Sackboy is also lending a burlap-covered helping hand to the people of Japan, as developer Media Molecule has announced that they’re conducting five auctions. Four of them involve original works of art, while the fifth is an in-game item coveted by many LittleBigPlanet fans.

Sega has teamed up with Play for Japan to create auctions that will help relief efforts in Japan. Sega has put up 20 items from some of its best franchises on eBay. Every dime made from the auctions will go to the American Red Cross. In the event that the American Red Cross receives more money than necessary, the funds will be put towards helping victims from other natural disasters.

Many people from the videogame industry, whether they’re on the development side or not, are doing what they can to assist Japan in these troubling times. All this week, proceeds from many games are being donated to aid in the recovery effort. Yesterday, we told you about auctions for two Nintendo DS consoles autographed by industry icons. The current bid for one of these units has exceeded $2,500. Every dime earned from these auctions are being donated. Today (March 19, 2011), we’d like to tell you about a site called Play For Japan that also puts rare gaming items up for bids.

It seems that everyone is doing his or her part, no matter how large or small, to donate money to aid the victims of Japan’s double disaster earthquake and tsunami. Even gaming journalists have gotten in the picture. Both Peter Rojas and Meagan Marie are auctioning off their autographed Nintendo DS handhelds in the name of charity.

First there was an original NES system selling for over $13,000 and then two vintage comics, featuring Superman and Batman, selling for 1 million each. Recently there was another auction involving an unusual collector’s item and, again, it left the owner with an impressive profit.

The auction was for a 1987 NES video game cartridge but this one in particular turned out to be one of the rarest available. The video game in question is Stadium Events, which is rated one of the top ten rarest games. In addition to being a collector’s item, this particular copy was not only in mint condition, but it was still in its original package with the price sticker…

I guess many of us have our old NES system lying around somewhere. Mine is in a closet gathering dust after a failed attempt at resurrection a couple of years ago. I tried every hack in the book to make it work but in the end it just gave up the ghost.

One lucky resident of North Carolina, US, experienced a totally different story. Not only is her NES working perfectly, but she managed to sell it online for an amazing profit.

She put the console up for auction on eBay and included five games in the package. She thought there was nothing special about her stuff but when she checked the auction, the bids had reached $6,000. After a while, the winner took the console and the games for a little over $13,000…

As you may remember, we were pretty skeptical that little known game magazine Hardcore Gamer would find a bidder in its eBay auction.

Not only did Doublejump Books find a buyer, but the New York Times covered the story. The new owner, not named in the Times article because the deal is still being finalized, swooped in an hour before the listing expired. He offered publisher Tim Lindquist more than…