Hey guys! Welcome to my live blog of my participation in Extra Life 2014. The goal is to try and play video games for 24 hours and raise some money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in the process.
We’re still accepting donations for the event! If you want to learn more see my original post explaining what the event is here or head straight to my donation page here!
10:00 AM PST
We made it! 24 hours of gaming later we are all pretty exhausted. Everybody woke up around 9 to join me and we ended the day by playing Fibbage on XBOX One. It’s a really fun party game that supports up to 8 players. All you need is a smartphone or a tablet to participate. This was a great and fun way to end the day. This event was a lot of fun overall. It’s also really tiring. I’m not as young as I used to be and staying up all night requires a lot of energy. I really enjoy the event and it’s something that I’m going to continue due for as long as I can. As of today I raised $115 for Children’s Hospital Central California. I’m still short of my $200 goal but I can continue to raise money for a few more weeks. I did raise more than I raised last year so that’s awesome. All in all it was a successful event. Thanks for following along guys!
6 AM PST
Only four more hours to go! As was the case last year we all got pretty tired around the 2 to 3 o’clock range and ended up in what I call relay mode. Basically take turns making sure at least one of us is awake and playing some games to keep the team going while the rest of us sleep. So I had a nice little nap from 3 to 6 am. I think I’m going to stay awake the next four hours and try to unlock the rest of the characters I’m missing in Smash Bros for 3DS. By coincidence the NFL game between the Lions and the Falcons being played in London will take place at 6:30 am PST so I’ll probably put that on to help me stay awake.
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2:00 AM PST
Hour 14. We finally suffered some casualties. I knew things couldn’t continue perfectly for so long. We lost Tony first. Being a spectator while we introduced a friend to PT on PS4 was too boring for him and the boredom put him to sleep. We all endured the madness of PT for almost 2 hours before the cyclical gameplay and our inability to trigger the final sequence of events forced us to give up on seeing the Silent Hills trailer hidden in the game. Kevin tried to soldier on the but extended time sitting in a foldout chair eventually wore him out and he could no longer continue to grind for loot on Borderlands. He settled down on the floor with his 2DS and a pillow. The comfort of this position proved to be his undoing and he fell asleep with his 2DS still clutched in his hands. Now David is slowly dosing off. I fear I’ll be next. A bowl of cookie dough ice cream has given a momentary boost of energy, but who knows how long that will last. My younger brother is still going strong. He continues the journey through Megaman 8 on PS1 he began so many hours ago. I’ll try to keep going for as long as I can but if I fail, I’m confident he can make it to the end.
9:30 PM
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Full disclosure: we took a break to eat pizza. However we were able to call in a pinch hitter to visit for a bit and play Smash Bros on 3DS so I think we’re ok. We are nearing the halfway mark at 10 PM and morale was starting to dip. Luckily Kevin inspire us by breaking out some specialized hardware. He busted out the racing wheel and a Japanese import of Initial D: Extreme Stage. Let’s hope we can keep going strong into the second half. We may take a turn into board gaming to tear away from the tv’s and change it up a bit.
5:00 PM PST
The final team member finally arrived! We now have three tv’s going in one living room. Madden Ultimate Team action continues. Kevin is about 7 hours into his Borderlands run. We’ve set up a Wii U one of the tv’s and are taken advantage of the feature to play games on the gamepad screen. It’s a really useful feature in a setting like this where the tv is already taken up. Now that everyone is here I think we’re going to try and get some multiplayer games going. We’re probably going to get some Mario Kart 8 action going or give the couch co-op mode on Diablo 3 on PS4.
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2:00 PM PST
The gaming continues! We’ve started a Madden Ultimate Team session going to see what the best team we can make in a few hours. Early highlights are Aaron Rodgers and Sammy Watkins. Other than that our team consists of players who I think would be surprised they are in the game. Meanwhile my buddy Kevin has started a run of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequal and is seeing if he can complete it in one go. Here’s a pic of our set up as it stands now.
10:00 AM PST
I’ve gathered some friends together and we’re to kick things off with some Smash Bros for 3DS action as we try and set up some other consoles. I’ll be checking in here and posting some pictures and hopefully some video of the event.
My brother came back from college to hang out and participate. He’s one of the reasons I decided to begin participating in this event last year. About 5 years ago he had some serious health problems and we were fortunate enough to have him treated at Children’s Hospital Central California. All the money we raise goes straight to that hospital so they can keep treating kids, even those that can’t afford to pay.
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