Extra Life

We are almost two weeks out from the Extra Life gaming marathon, and the money is still coming in!  This past weekend was the official make up day for those who couldn’t get their gaming in on October 17th.  On November 7th, Team VGEvo will be putting in their hours. Extra Life keeps going and going and going!

It is important to note that today is the deadline to meet your goal of $192 to receive an Extra Life t-shirt.  The t-shirts will be ordered this weekend and should be landing in your mailbox in the next few weeks.

Thanks again to everyone who did their part to make this an epic success!  We are well on our way to hitting $160,000.  A special thanks to our friends at Kotaku for doing a follow up story on Extra Life.

Have a spooky and fun Halloween!

The dough is still rolling in!  Extra Life has so far generated $143,000.  We surpassed our total from last year.  Congratulations!!!  This was a team effort, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of every single one of you!  We have truly made a difference in the lives of children battling pediatric cancer.

This Saturday is the official make up day for those who have not completed their 24 hours of gaming.  The website will be open for donations until October 31, so you will be able to direct people to your personal fundraising page while you are putting in your hours!

Everyone who reached the $192 mark will be receiving the official Extra Life t-shirt!  All the cool kids are going to have one, so you don’t want to miss out!  There is still time to make your goal!

Thank you for your dedication and support of Extra Life and Sarcastic Gamer!

UPDATE: Thanks to the incredible Houston Street Team, who threw a FANTASTIC live event last night at Alegria in H-town, Extra Life has officially passed the $140,000 dollar mark. Simply AWESOME.

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We are blowing the total from last year out of the water! As of 11:00 p.m., the total for this year is $137,000. Thank you so much to everyone who participated and donated and volunteered and promoted and put their hearts into Extra Life! We have four and half more hours to go here in Houston. I hope you guys who have already put in your 24 hours are getting some well deserved zzzzzz’s.

Stay tuned to Sarcastic Gamer for updated totals, as the money is still coming in! The website will be accepting donations until October 31.

There is still time to meet your fundraising goal of $192. Everyone who reaches this amount gets the official Extra Life T-shirt (pictured above) designed by our very own Yamster and Undead Dog.

We are now over 12 hours into Extra Life.  I hope everyone is hanging in there!  Things are in full force at Alegria Dance Studio in Houston.  We are rocking out with Rock Band, enjoying arcade games,  old school consoles,  360s and PS3s and even playing some ping pong.

There is some serious gaming going on all over the world right now…all in the name of fighting pediatric cancer.  Limit Break Radio and Destructoid are broadcasting live for all 24 hours of Extra Life an they have raised almost $10,000 between the two of them!

Stay hydrated.  Enjoy some junk food.  Stretch out your trigger fingers.  Game on.

Doc will be making an announcement at midnight central time with the total money raised so far, so be sure to stay tuned to Sarcastic Gamer.

This morning, approximately 1800 gamers began a 24 hour odyssey to play video games while raising money for pediatric cancer research and treatment.  That’s more people than were signed up for the famous Ironman triathlon last year.

While we didn’t have to train, we probably won’t get hurt, and some of our games have foul language, our contribution towards the fight against pediatric cancer is no less noble than any other.

This morning, we put kids first.

Over the past months we’ve held kids with cancer close to our hearts as we reached out beyond our close circle of friends and family members, past those we work or go to school with, and well into the immense social network colelctive to enlist others to stand with us.

I’ve been privy to some of the initial totals, and while WE DO NOT MEASURE SUCCESS IN DOLLARS, the numbers are pretty frickin awesome.

You don’t need a pep talk to play video games all day.

But I want you to know how proud I am of this community, and its amazing brother and sister sites from all corners of the world, who rallied for the cause.  Today, I feel like I have 1800 new friends.

To our donors, our players, and our co-conspirators… Thank you

All my Best,

Doc

I hope you are all planning on turning in early tonight!  Extra Life begins bright and early on Saturday morning, which is quickly approaching for our UK friends!  Make sure you have all your supplies ready.  Food.  Drink.  Games.  Some people are taking their preparations very seriously.  Andy at This is My Joystick is making sure all his ducks are in a row.  Check out his survival guide.

I will be spending my evening setting up for the big Extra Life event in Houston. Limit Break Radio is gearing up for their lock in in Michigan.  Numerous other events and parties will be happening around the world.  This is so freaking exciting!

Stayed tuned to the Sarcastic Gamer site and Forums for up to date information on what everyone is playing and Extra Life donation totals.

Good luck!

I have a new favorite website, 29-95.com.  They have the scoop on everything we hold dear;  food, music, art, comics, games and even sex.  They took the time to show us some love this week.   Check out the article they posted about Extra Life.  They also printed up some flyers and posters to help us spread the word.  For this we are grateful!

We also made some new friends at Joystix Classic Games and Pinball.  They hooked us up with a sweet deal on some arcade games for our Extra Life lock-in in Houston.  Love me some Pacman!  If you are looking for a pinball machine, slot machine, foosball table or pretty much anything else, these are your guys! Check them out.

Welcome to the last second. The nick of time. The skin of our teeth.

Extra Life is nearly here.

In this special episode of the Sarcastic Gamer Podcast we focused on our personal reasons for getting involved in Extra Life, and the ways that people around the world are making this event their own. We’re just days away from the 2nd annual event, that raises money for pediatric cancer research and treatment.

(We also got talked games… Demon Souls, Brutal Legend, and even hinted at something hysterical coming up on the next episode.)

But more importantly, we’re going to let you meet a child you would love to have known.

It’s a special episode of the Sarcastic Gamer Podcast, with an ending you don’t want to miss.

To get involved in Extra Life (There’s still time) just decide whether you’d like to SIGN UP to play on Saturday or simple DONATE.

FINALLY, here’s the link so that you can get the embed code for last year’s video, created by our friend TempleDog. See how many sites you can get to post it. Time is running out. Every bit helps.

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Where will you be Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m.?

In your jammies playing your new copy of Uncharted 2?

Eating cereal as you boot up Brutal Legend?

Drinking your first Red Bull of the day and looking for some friends on X-box Live?

I will be at Alegria Dance and Performing Arts Center with other gamers in the Houston area eating donuts and playing games, games and more games!

No matter where you are or what you are playing, you are making a difference!

Saturday, October 17th 8:00 a.m.

Play Games.  Heal Kids.

When is enough, enough?  When will you have had ENOUGH that you decide that pediatric cancer DOES involve you?

Will you wait until cancer takes a child in your life?

I hope not.

While our 2^nd Annual Extra Life Video Game Marathon might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is symbolic of the hundreds of opportunities we are presented with each year, to stop treating cancer like a spectator sport.

Did you know that each day, cancer claims a classroom full of children in the United States alone?  Do you realize that the money that comes to help find a cure for cancer in kids, comes almost completely from private donations?

There is NO bailout coming for our kids with leukemia, lymphoma, sarcoma or any of the disgusting variety of cancers that children face.

One problem is that kids with cancer aren’t comfortable to think about.

It can be pretty darned intimidating to look at a child whose lost her hair, or a little boy who is permanently lopsided after losing a round and a leg to bone cancer.

Look, I know.

I also know that these days you can’t fill up with gas without being hounded for a buck.  You can’t even buy yogurt without someone telling you to buy more to help fight this that or the other.

Out of this chaotic cacophony of charity and marketing, however, a single undeniable need remains.

We need a cure.

And a cure… takes money.

Enter YOU.

YOU are presented, at this moment with a choice.  It’s simple really.

Either you do what most people will do, and click back on your browswer to whatever led you here to read this…

Or you decide to stand for something today.

If you decide to be a member of the latter group, I want you to know 2 things.

First, thank you.  On behalf of the families for whom I advocate at any opportunity, thank you for putting these kids first.

Secondly, congratulations.

You’re about to feel incredible.

When Extra Life 2009 wraps up, and the final check is presented, you’re not going to feel like the person who kicked in 24 bucks.  You’ll be the proud owner of the feeling that comes with having raised a grand total and the hopes of countless kids.

Don’t worry that you’ve come too late to dance.  Get signed up now.  Go raise some money.  Remind your friends and family that despite plans to send people to Mars, despite advances in robotics, despite talk of cloning humans…  That kids still face cancer, and not all of them win.

This does involve you.

If you let it.

Let something wonderful consume you today.

Be part of something amazing this Saturday.

Play Games.  Heal Kids.

Extra Life 2009.

We’re all in this.