Tyler Hunt

Cancer is a bitch. I don’t actually have it, but I’ve been fighting it all weekend. A nine-year-old boy named Ben is now in remission from Leukemia, but he had an idea for a game where you could fight against cancer cells. It’s a way for kids with cancer “to fight back and relieve some of the pain and stress involved with treatment.” The Make-a-Wish Foundation has made Ben’s idea a reality, thanks to Eric, a generous game developer at LucasArts. Working together, Ben and Eric have come up with a game that’s challenging enough to make you see just how horrible cancer really is. As you shoot the cancerous cells with various weapons, they continue to regenerate and spread at a practically unbeatable pace. The goal is defeat seven monsters, each representing a different side effect of chemotherapy, like Robarf the barf monster, and the Big Chicken Monster of chickenpox. Ben’s Game is still in beta testing, but it’s playable enough if you can put up with the frustration of playing a game that you can’t win.