The winner of this little Sporelebrity contest would have $15,000 donated to the charity of his or her choice. Going up against such truly famous people as Carlos Santana, Emeril Lagasse, Richard Branson and Stan Lee, I know I don't stand a snowballs chance in hell of winning. But if by some bizarre twist of fate people selected my TickleMeKotaku creature (which has a prehensile Tickleme Elmo tail) then $10,000 would be donated to Child's Play and the remaining $5,000 would be donated to Jennifer Ann's Group.

Since most of my competitors are absolutely crushing me I have no problem urging you to vote and vote often, really often, for TMK. They announce the winner on July 18, I'm told.

Spore Vote

The $1,000 winning design "Escape Your Boyfriend's Room" by Jorge Goyco is an interesting point and click game that manages to get both the warning signs of an abusive relationship across as well as how you can get yourself out of the relationship. I loved the look of the game and its approach to the subject matter really impressed me.

The first runner up $100 prize was handed out to "A Walk in the Park by Jared Sain." I loved the look of the game. My only suggestion is that maybe the game could do a better job of explaining how to get out of an abusive relationship. The final $100 runner-up was "Decisions, Decisions by Mark Kakareka"

Judges for the contest were my brother, Drew Crecente; Simon Carless, director of the Independent Games Festival; Stephen Totilo, of MTV and huge brain fame, Georgia Tech prof Ian Bogost and Dr. Elizabeth Richeson, a psychologist, Texas Psychological Association Board member, and my mom.

The winning entries were quite innovative, but more importantly I think this particular contest reiterates the mantra that video games can deal with important and delicate issues appropriately.

My understanding is that Drew plans to run the contest again next year. I hope it has just as many good entries. Hit up the site to check out the winners.

Jennifer Ann's Group

My brother just launched a Flash game design contest that I'll be one of the judges for. The object of the Life Love Game Design Challenge is for people to create a Flash game about teen dating violence prevention and to do so without violent content or a violent theme.

Quite a brain teaser, but having played innovative Flash games for years now, I'm pretty sure the design community is up to the challenge.

First prize is $1,000 and judges, besides myself, include Simon Carless, director of the Independent Games Festival; Stephen Totilo, of MTV and huge brain fame, and Dr. Elizabeth Richeson, a psychologist, Texas Psychological Association Board member, and my mom.

When my brother first contacted me about this, he said he wasn't sure that it was a good idea, he didn't know if a Flash game could deal with so serious an issue, but I pointed out that people like Ian Bogost do that for a living.

Life Love Game Design Challenge

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the auction will go to Jennifer Ann's Group, the charity my brother started in the wake of his daughter's murder to help others through the education and prevention of teen dating violence.

Hit the jump for a listing of each auction and the ballpark on where the bids stand.Brian Crecente

The Wii Pack
Price: $610
A brand new still-in-box Wii (which comes with the Wii console, a remote controller, a nunchuk, a stand, a sensor and a copy of Wii Sports.)
An extra nunchuk controller
Wii Play game (which comes with Wii Play and an extra remote controller.)
A Wii Messenger Bag
WarioWare Smooth Moves game
Excite Truck game
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess game
A Nintendo notebook
Nintendo paper shopping bag

The DS Lite Pack
Price: $242.50
A brand new still-in-box black DS Lite
A DS Lite carrying case
A Nintendo WiFi USB Connector
Elite Beat Agents game
Wario Master of Disguise game
Brain Age game
New Super Mario Bros. game
A Nintendo notebook
Nintendo paper shopping bag

The Nintendo Swag Pack
Price: $162.50
Brand new Nintendo Collector's Edition of Monopoly
Mario Kart DS 3D puzzle
Resizeable red Mario ballcap
Resizeable white Wii ballcap
Wii Rock sticker
Green Zelda Triforce T-shirt size Large
Pink Princess Power T-shirt size X-Large
Glow in the dark Mario Power-Up Boxer short size Large
Nintendo noisemaker which makes the "Start" sound
Nintendo noisemaker which makes the "Big" sound
Two blue rubber "Player" bracelets

Seagate Harddrive
A Seagate 750GB Pushbutton Backup External Hard Drive
Price: $235.50