Japan publishers donate to tsunami effort

A number of Japanese publishers have donated significant sums of money to help relief efforts following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country on Friday, leaving thousands dead and many, many more homeless.

According to an Andriasang round-up, Nintendo has donated ¥300m (around £2.26m), SEGA Sammy has given ¥200m (around £1.5m) and Sony has offered ¥300m as well as 30,000 radios.

Namco Bandai has stumped up ¥100m (around £760,00) and closed arcades to conserve power, Tecmo Koei has contributed ¥10m (around £76,000), while 5pb has slashed the price of its iOS Memories Off 6 T-Wave app from ¥2,000 to ¥350 with all proceeds going to disaster relief until March 31.

As previously reported, a number of publishers have also turned off game servers to help save power. Square Enix has temporarily shut down its Final Fantasy MMOs, while Konami has turned of Metal Gear Solid 4's online modes.