DS charity auction raises $23,000 @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on January 27, 2005

News: Three one-of-a-kind DS systems started a bidding war at the Sundance Film Festival.

A charity auction at the Sundance Film Festival of three one-of-a-kind DSes netted $23,000 after a celebrity bidding war.

A swirling bue metallic DS went to the great Jay Mohr for $10,000, which he will donate to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Nintendo will add an additional $5,000 to his addtion.

Elsewhere, Poppy Montgomery of the TV show Without a Trace bid $2,500 for a green DS with gold graffitti patterns and Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler from X2: X-Men United) bid $1,500 for a brown and copper DS. Both of their donations will go to the tsunami disaster relief charities along with an addtional $4,000 from Nintendo.

"Nintendo DS is already a hot system, but the one-of-a-kind DS units really created a bidding frenzy among the celebrities," says Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing & corporate affairs. "And best of all, along with Nintendo's contributions, two very worthy charities will benefit from their generosity."

The auction took place in the Nintendo DS Lounge at the popular film festival, which Nintendo is using to show off the DS to the hip Hollywood crowd.

To learn how you can donate to the tsunami relief fund, vist the American Red Cross website.