New York Videogame Critics Circle hosts charity stream with Sam Lake on August 16

The New York Videogame Critics Circle (NYVGCC) is hosting a 14-hour charity stream on Saturday, August 16, to raise funds for charity.

The group is raising money for the Playing with Purpose writing program. Programming for the stream includes special figures from the video game industry, such as Sam Lake (Creative Director, Remedy Entertainment), John Eric Bentley (voice actor; Final Fantasy 7 Remake), Samantha Béart (voice actor; Baldur’s Gate 3), Alix Wilton Regan (voice actor; Mass Effect 3) and more.

Starting at 5 a.m. Pacific time/8 a.m. Eastern, NYVGCC will stream on the official NYVGCC Twitch channel. Audiences can enjoy a range of content from game streams to Q&A sessions. All proceeds from the charity stream will provide underserved students across New York City with video game writing classes and workshops. To learn more about Playing with Purpose, please visit nygamecritics.com.  

NYVGCC Charity Stream Lineup (all times in ET):

  • 8:00 a.m. – Hearthstone Battlegrounds with ESPN’s Arda Öcal
  • 9:00 a.m. – Coffee Talk with Sam Lake and Alyssa Mercante
  • 10:00 a.m. – Baldur’s Gate 3 with Samantha Beart and Alyssa Mercante
  • 11:00 a.m. – Tower Unite with Giant Bomb’s Jan Ochoa
  • 12:00 p.m. – Final Fantasy 7 Chat with John Eric Bentley and the Iron Lords Podcast
  • 1:00 p.m. – Mass Effect Legendary Edition with NYVGCC member Adam Siddiqui
  • 2:00 p.m. – Q&A with Alix Wilton Regan and Kotaku’s Kenneth Shepard
  • 3:00 p.m. – Conversation with Game Critics hosted by Jake Steinberg
  • 4:00 p.m. – Tales of the Shire with Camilapanda
  • 5:00 p.m. – Game stream with John Stein
  • 6:00 p.m. – Rematch! with KarimCheese
  • 7:00 p.m. – 2-hour Predecessor stream with Spawn On Me’s Kahlief Adams
  • 9:00 p.m. – Fuser set with Sam Greszes

About New York Videogame Critics Circle 

Based in Manhattan, the New York Videogame Critics Circle is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit multicultural organization comprised of 40 of the finest videogame critics, writers, reporters, and bloggers in the nation. Members of the NYVGCC give back to their communities by providing scholarships, mentoring, after-school classes, and community outreach to NYC school students.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.