Helping Sick Kids with Extra Life 2012

The annual Extra Life charity has come around again and two of our writers will be doing gaming marathons this weekend, from 20th October.

Donate to Pippa or donate to Mat. You can also watch Mat livestream his marathon.

Mat Jones

Extra Life is a charity that merges my two favourite things: playing a ton of games and attempting to stop children from dying. It’s an event that takes place for 24 hours on October 20th, where people around the world will be raising money for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.

This’ll be my third year doing Extra Life, and as much as I’d like to stop doing it because staying up for 24 hours isn’t exactly a peach, we haven’t found a cure for death yet.

I know, it’s ridiculous.

Last year I spent the entire run playing Dark Souls, intending to frustrate myself as much as possible through repetition: I succeeded; it sucked. This year will be very similar, but potentially more entertaining to watch. I plan to play a heap of games that’ll get on my nerves (Think stuff like Xcom, FTL and DayZ) and I’ll provide a live-stream so you can watch me do it.

So, if you’d like to help me raise some money, you can donate here. and if you’d like to see the livestream, pay attention to The Average Gamer twitter account, who’ll keep you informed of when it starts.

Pippa Hall

I’ve been starting the countdown to this year’s Extra Life event by trying to compile a list of games I intend to play as part of this well known 24 hour video game-athon. Being held on the 20th October, thankfully a Saturday, thousands of people across the world will be gaming for charity and hopefully having fun at the same time.

Having thought about what I’ve agreed to do a little further I’ve realised that twenty four hours is a long time, a really long time, so careful preparation is vital. Making sure the desired games are purchased and downloaded is a must with a wide selection and platforms (if possible) to allow for moving around the house or trying to kick start my brain when it’s in meltdown.

So far I’ve decided on an attempt at a complete replay of Skyrim (I’ve still not completed the main quest line), a little bit of Civ V for when I’m feeling cerebral, Guild Wars 2 for when I have the patience to play with other people and a selection of silly games to load on my iPad for snuggling up in bed with. Should I happen to be feeling especially masochistic then I have DOTA 2 languishing untouched on Steam. I’ve been too scared to start it up but this could be the weekend I (wo)man up.

Then we’re on to sustenance, the corner stone of all video gaming sessions. I’ve not got to planning this part as yet but it’s going to involve caffeine and snacks, with massive quantities of both. I’ll also be making sure that a man is on hand for emergency comestible runs, moral support and fetching / carrying duties.

Crossing all my fingers that I’ve not forgotten anything else vitally important, having plagued my friends and family with requests for donations I’m now 100% geared up to complete the challenge and earn those pennies promised to charity. If you’d like to support me as well, you can donate here.