Extra Life Update

Hi everyone. Time to check up on how we are doing for Extra Life! Now if you do not know what Extra Life is, I can explain it easily enough. In fact it started in 2008 to honor the life of a young lady who lost her fight to cancer. Back then it was a single gaming website (and perhaps the only site I ever saw as my online home) who's efforts all went to the hospital that had taken care of her and her story in full can be seen in a video on the site for the event. Doc, who ran the site, is a personal friend of the family and was absolutely devastated. I still remember listening to the podcast on my way into work that week, and it wasn't easy to hear him break down.

In her honor,  a day was chosen where the site would get together and run a 24-hour gaming marathon, the goal of which was to raise money to help these sick kids. How could I say no? I am still honored to have been there from the beginning, to support the cause, to be a part of this community coming together, and just to be part of that moment.

But that would just be the beginning, for everyone wanted to continue this work, and so we did. Long after the site was gone, we continue as a gaming community to come together every year to help these kids, and help we do. Since my last update we finally have the final numbers for the 2020 marathon, and despite everyone staying home and even the number of jobs lost because of of the pandemic, we still managed to break records and raise $17,400,000 to help! We still have yet to have a year that didn't break a record for the previous one. You can see a complete breakdown that's been shown off on Facebook here.

And so here we are again, moving froward to the next big marathon in November, my team included. For my own, we have managed $220 already, and while that isn't impressive compared to some of the big numbers out there, we are humbled to bring anything to the table, and we ask you to help as well. If you are inclined there are two major ways you can.

First and perhaps most important at this point is to get involved. Get over to the Extra-Life website and sign up! Once a part of the event, you can directly help your local hospitals and the kids within by the donations you can bring in. The site even has ways to suggest to get the word out. If you think you will be busy on the big weekend, it's always an option to pick another as many gamers do. And any help you bring will be appreciated by all of us. If your gaming is less video and more physical, that works too. True it may be a bit more difficult to get going in these times because people can't really get together yet, but that doesn't mean it's impossible... and gaming isn't just of the video nature.

But if you don't really game or would like to help out in another way, then just like I'm suggesting those who sign up do, we are looking to bring in donations to help the children in our local hospitals as well. Any help you send our way is more then humbling. We are all here to help these kids. The following link will take you to our team page where you can donate to anyone on the team. https://www.extra-life.org/team/RedSectorShutdown. Thank you again and lets see if we can help even more kids with another record breaker this year!

Extra Life 2020 Recap

 Well, we did it. Another year for books, though perhaps the most tragically unique year we have had to date. With 2020 being hard on just about everyone, that was to be expected. If anything I was looking forward to this event this year even more then normal as it followed a Halloween no one was going out to celebrate and a night that still dominates our news cycle as I write this. Knowing these were coming, my focus over the past week was right: the one moment assured to be a positive one.

But how was the event itself? Well it spanned the expectation gambit. With everyone working at home, our star player was not able to make this year a record breaker like the last two. So we didn't break four digits this time, bringing in a total of $450. And while this is disappointing, I can't say the same about the total event. Once again in total we are just absolutely SMASHING records, hitting almost $12,500,000 before the big weekend ended. To put this into perspective, last year at this time we were just shy of $10,000,000 and we are right now easily in striking distance of the $15,000,000 total of last year. Everyone involved should  be proud of themselves. But if you read this far, you probably want to know the details. So, read on, my friend... read on.

Extra Life Update

On Nov 2nd, gamers from around the world will begin what has become a decade long tradition: a 24-hour marathon where outside of food or bathroom, there are no breaks. Just keep playing! For those brave enough and in areas that use Daylight Savings, it's going to be 25 hours, another tradition!

But this also means we are starting to reach the wire as we are just a few scant weeks from the final month before the big event, and we need your help to make it an even bigger year then last. And I mean that for me, my team, and the entire event. We have huge shoes to fill since as noted at the beginning of the year, we managed to bring in over $1000 as a team to help sick kids, and over $13,000,000 as an event. As always www.extra-life.org will have counts going during the marathon itself and with your help we can break both records.

So far we have managed to bring $225 to the table, no small feat in it's own, but we are are far from hitting the records we did before. We want to break those. After all, we do this every year to help really sick kids and have some fun doing it. But as I said, we need your help to do so.

If you would like to help us, you can do so by either clicking the "Make a Donation" button on the thermometer icon or clicking "donate" on our team page. As always, Extra Life is run by the Children's Miracle Network and everything goes to the cause. So thank you in advance, and see you out in the games.

Extra Life 2018 recap

Another year of gaming to help sick kids is coming to a close, and another marathon to push and celebrate it wrapped up for many gamers this weekend. Everyone who played their Extra Life marathon on the official gameday started at 8 or 9 in the morning (local time) on Saturday and finished around the same time on Sunday. We here at the RedSector were no different. But every group’s goal is to do as much good as they can, and with the results we are seeing, I have to think we pulled it off.

Last year, Extra Life was able to raise over $11 million before December ended, and with the total as of the end of this marathon already toping $8.5 million with one more major weekend (the usual choice for rain day when gamers cant make the main marathon) next weekend and a whole 2 months before it has to close for December, it should be no surprise to anyone that I think we will again, break records like we have every year before.

However, I can happily report records have already been broken more locally. In 2016 we hit our personal record of raising $600 as a team for local hospitals to us. This year we blew this number out of the water bringing in over $1,000 during the marathon itself and reaching $1,100 at the time of writing! If we break another barrier, we will officially have doubled our record since forming the team!

But I believe if you’ve read this far, you are probably interested in how the event went. Please read on…

Extra Life 2015 Recap

The big weekend of Extra Life is now past us, and before we begin, I must apologize for the delay in this recap, even if it couldn’t be helped. But I will go into detail later. Suffice it to say, I really could only begin writing on this one about 3-4 days after we had finished.

Still, I'm sure the first thing on everyone’s mind is “How did we do?” Well, I think I can sum it up in one word: Phenomenal.

Extra Life Marathon Report Part 2

Now that we have covered the general marathon results, it’s time to recap how things went for us specifically. There are probably many who could care less about this, and you, I encourage to skip this entry. But for those of you who want to see, please, read on….

One Month to Go! Join Us at Extra Life!

Ok, it’s now reaching crunch time. Extra Life is almost here, and it’s shaping up to be the biggest one yet! So my question for you, if you are a gamer (and if you visit this site, you probably are), why aren’t you here with us? Seriously, think about that question for a second. On Nov. 2nd, gamers the world over will let loose on their couches, in front of their PCs, around the kitchen table, and in various halls for 25 hours of nonstop gaming time with friends, family, online, and anywhere they are… and this will happen in the name of helping kids who are seriously sick. We have a chance to do what we love, and help out someone who really needs it in the process. Why not be a part of that?

Extra Life is Upon Us!

November is fast approaching, and with it, Extra Life 2013. For those of you who are new to this event, Extra Life is a yearly held gaming marathon. The goal of this is to have a great time doing what we love as one community all over the planet, and to do so raising money to help kids with cancer. Sound interesting to you? Then why don’t you join us?

This entry is a personal invitation of several kinds. It is an invitation to join the cause and help save kids from cancer… and if you desire, our team for it. It is an invitation join in a 25 hour event where gamers around the world will be playing together with this one goal in mind. And it’s an invitation to have fun doing all of it.

And i f you can’t make it for the Nov 2nd, it’s an invitation to help us by donating to this cause. You can do this by the thermometer at the right of this website. It will remain there until a few weeks after the marathon is finished, in case people need a rain-date to play.
Thank you for listening, and welcome.

One Week till Extra Life

The time is coming, my friends. We are about 1 week away from the Extra Life, things are looking great, but that doesn’t mean we can relax yet. It’s crunch time to bring as much in for the kids as possible. But it’s also time to reveal how we are doing here at the Red Sector. Read on to see a special message, a preview of what to expect, as well as links to participate/donate.

Interested? Read on…..

Extra Life is Coming….

Extra Life is ON! And the Red Sector is going to be there! Having setup our team page, we have declared our intention to help with this worth cause and to go game with everyone in it’s name.