August '12 News Roundup

So summer's over, although it's still warm around here, which is frankly all we deserve after all that rain. Let's loiter for a moment in the rosy limbo days before autumn descends and recap some of August's web updates and surrounding activity.

Two main events, as far as Rare was concerned: firstly the emergence of an even bigger crowd of Rare characters in the second Skin Pack for Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, once again staggered across the month from the first Jo Dark and Pretztail reveal on the 10th, through the mid-month surprise arrival of the Jet Force Gemini team and further Perfect Dark and Viva Piñata party additions, to Skin Pack 2's eventual launch on the 24th.

Meanwhile, Kinect Sports: Season Two got back into action for G3 2012 (Gaming and Giving for Good) in aid of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. It saw some heavy play during the Celebrity Game with Fame event at the G3 Miracle Lounge in West Hollywood, while we encouraged people to Play to Give and raise sponsorship money in the associated Extra Life gaming marathon. Still want to donate through G3? You can: check out the Play 2 Lose campaign, ongoing until October. Throw money at them!

That was the heart of it for August – see below for related links and additional nuggets of coverage. And if you find yourself needing a recap of whatever joys September brings our way, mosey on back in a month's time and we'll deliver.

News
• Rare Minecraft Invasion: Second Wave – surf it with Piñatas and sci-fi heroes
• Play to Give with G3 2012 – exercise those charity muscles

Blog Posts
• Minecraft Skin Pack 2 Reaction Rundown – headlines and hearty shoutouts
• July Social Jumble Sale – nearly new social media shop front

The World Wide Web
• [PlayXBLA] Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Skin Pack 2 Now Available!
• [Facebook] G3 Miracle Lounge 2012 photo album
• [YouTube] G3 (Gaming and Giving for Good) Miracle Lounge 2012
• [Washington Post] John Wall meets fans, plays video games
• [Eurogamer] Retrospective: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
• [Destructoid] GoldenEye 15th anniversary retrospective