Child’s Play is once again doing amazingly, and is already just shy of the half a million mark – with plenty of time still to go.

But this comes as no surprise, really, considering its past success. It’s good news to be sure – but it isn’t what caught my attention in the latest Penny Arcade news post.

GameTrailers.com is having a promotion. You earn some virtual money on their site – via watching trailers, writing reviews, rating games, etc – and you can turn that virtual money into a donation from them to Child’s Play. They’ve got a cap on it – their goal of $10,000 – and at the rate the donations are going, it seems likely they’ll easily meet that within the day.

I find this vastly intriguing. The virtual money idea in general is pretty cool, and certainly makes for a solid way to forcibly build community. More than that, I like the way that gaming entities are working just as hard as individuals to contribute to Child’s Play – while in many ways this isn’t really any different than other companies directly donating money to the charity, I like the way it lets people help make a difference, even if they can’t directly donate themselves.

Sorry there isn’t anything of more substance today (or even this week) – I’ve got a ton of things that I’ve been wanting to review, and just haven’t had the time to really sit down and do them justice. Hopefully next week will be a bit less hectic.

Till then, do what you can to help Child’s Play, even if it’s nothing more than continuing to spread the word!