As announced earlier this month, SpecialEffect—a charity we're proud to have teamed up with before—is running a special stream to help raise money for physically disabled gamers.
Samantha Béart is the voice of Karlach in Baldur's Gate 3, an exceptional talent who lent their voice to a beloved big tiefling lady (who just so happens to be our favourite to date). Then there's Alex Jordan, a storied voice actor in his own right who, uh, also made all the sex noises in Larian's groundbreaking RPG. Béart announced a concrete time for the event on Twitter today—and the whole video's definitely worth a watch.
Thu 29th Feb 7pm GMT: Playing #BaldursGate3 #GameBlast24 for @SpecialEffect with @AEJORDAN @carebecc and @PaigeHHarvey. What a line up - don't miss it! https://t.co/w0fUd2sYBt https://t.co/VFUdmsXPCq pic.twitter.com/iodWUUEMHrFebruary 22, 2024
"I spent hundreds of hours with the team to craft Karlach into the character you all know and love," Béart proudly announces, before Jordan chimes in: "And I spent a couple hours in a booth. Kissing the back of my hand." While Béart talks about the good SpecialEffect does for physically disabled gamers, Jordan spirals into what I can only describe as a smooch-induced existential crisis.
The event will be streamed live on the charity's Twitch channel on February 29 at 7pm GMT as part of GameBlast, a yearly fundraising event that's already gathered thousands for gamers in need, and promises to be a "very special, chaotic" Baldur's Gate 3 livestream. Both actors will be joined by Chelsea Rebecca (Isadora in Fire Emblem Heroes) and SpecialEffect's community manager Paige Harvey.
As for the cause itself, SpecialEffect is a UK-based charity dedicated to providing physically disabled gamers with specialised gear and tailor-made setups, as per its site: "Our team of occupational therapists and gaming specialists in the UK create bespoke control setups for hundreds of individuals each year, while our R&D team use what we learn in the field to develop freely-available resources and solutions to help level the playing field for gamers with physical challenges all over the world."
SpecialEffect is able to provide specialised help to physically disabled gamers who contact it via its online form, but it also develops software for people with such challenges. EyeMine, for example, allows players to play games with their eyes—with specialised titles tailored to a vision-based control scheme.
It also provides assistance to people suffering from traumatic injuries in the form of its StarGaze service, as well as BubbleBusters: A currently-small pilot program that lets children isolated from their school for medical reasons rejoin the classroom via a nifty robot.
All in all, a whole party's worth of good causes. You can tune in starting February 23, or donate now via Tiltify or JustGiving.
