Epic's Gears of War 3 Shirt Campaign Raises $150K for Child's Play

Epic Games announced yesterday they've raised $150,000 for gaming charity Child's Play through the sale of real and virtual shirts surrounding the eventual fate of a character in the upcoming Gears of War 3. Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski and Rod Fergusson announced the haul via a pre-recorded video shown at the G4 panel at this weekend's Penny Arcade Expo. The T-shirt campaign, which ran from July 29 to Sept. 1, let gamers purchase shirts reading "Save Carmine" or "Carmine Must Die" either for themselves or for their Xbox Live avatars. It's currently unclear how the total sales were distributed between the virtual shirts or the real ones -- with the physical shirts distributed at San Diego Comic-Con and online via merchandising company NECA. Each purchase was used to register a vote on whether new character Clayton Carmine will live or die in the next game in the series. In the video announcement, Bleszinski played coy on the final outcome of the voting. "Although the fate of Carmine has been sealed, we can't tell you right now," he said. The announcement comes as worldwide virtual good sales are expected to bring in over $3 billion for the year.