Extra Life 2024 September Update

Hi everyone and welcome! Time is flying ever so fast as we find ourselves quickly racing to the big Extra Life Marathon in November. In fact for most gamers, there is little more then a month left to bring the kids the help we can! It's getting to crunch time!

Now if you don't know what Extra Life is, allow me to explain. Gaming is a massive hobby around the world with gamers taking to their favorite past time on the regular. But what if you could do some good with that controller in your hand? No, I'm not belittling the hobby we all share: in fact we are elevating it with Extra Life. In essence, much as you would sponsor a runner in something like the world-famous Boston Marathon to help them raise money for a cause close to them, we now do the same with gaming. Extra Life is in fact doing just that by letting gamers raise donations for their local children's hospitals to help sick kids in their area. I personally have had the honor of doing this since it began some 15 years ago, and it truly is an amazing experience.

If the idea of playing games to help sick kids sounds good to you now's the time to get involved. Follow the link and sign up! The 24-hour marathon you are looking for donations to play in is on November 4th when we will globally take over the web to show the world what we can do! Of course not all of us can do it on this day... life can get in the way. I myself have family events around the same time which makes my own available time kinda iffy, so I speak as someone who uses the rain-date (the next weekend) every year and will likely do the same this year. This is not an issue since we are still all playing for the same goals: helping these sick kids. So if you need to schedule a little different, don't even give that a second though.

But still, some people are more interested in donating to help these kids rather then play themselves, and that's ok too! I mean, without you we wouldn't be able to do this. And if you wish to help us here at the Red Sector out, let me take this moment to thank who deeply and humbly.. as well as make it a little easier to find. In addition to the link in the pages list of this blog, you can also follow the link below to reach our team page. It's just a few clicks to help us help kids (basically picking which player you want to donate under since we all play for our own local hospitals).

Thank you again for all your help. We are almost there. Lets see what we can do to help these kids out.

Extra-Life 2023 August Update

Hi everyone! Once again checking in as a few more months have slipped by and November is getting ever closer to us. With this month comes the big day us Lifers look forward to, the 24-hour gaming marathon!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. After all, if this is your first time on the page, you may not yet know what I'm talking about. But the answer to that is simple: Extra-Life!

But what is Extra-Life? Well, first and foremost, Extra-Life is a charity event gamers from around the world take part in. We all pick a hospital we want to play for and drive donations to help them and the sick kids they are taking care of, culminating in early November when we take on the big event: a 24-hour gaming marathon. That's right. Extra-Life is all about playing video games to help sick kids. Sound impossible? Not at all. I myself can attest to taking part in this event since it first started, but if you want the origins, I would let the site itself tell the tail far better then I ever could.

And no, you don't have to worry about maintaining things. All you need to do is sign up (button on the main page of the Extra-Life site) and ask for help from your friends, family, workplace, you name it. And any help you bring to the table yourself is also more then welcome to help the kids who truly need it the most. All resources and details you could need are right there.

Of course if you do not feel like you could do a 24 marathon, you can always cheer and help the rest of us out. If you want to help our team here directly, thank you so much! You can find our team page right here, which will include one of our streamer's stream live (if they are life at the time) and a donate button which will let you pick who to help directly (we all play for our own hospitals, so you can pick which one you want to help this way). Thank you again for any help you want to give!

But on that note, I'm afraid I have to run... have a good weekend, and see you next time. Be that here on the page or in the streams!

Thank you!

-Megabyte

Extra-Life 2023 June Update

Hi everyone and welcome back! I hope you are all getting as excited for Game-Day as I am... but I guess that may require you to know what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't, welcome to Extra-Life! In essence we who are taking part in it are playing games to help sick kids. If this sounds like it's impossible, I assure you it is not. I've personally had the honor of being a part of this since it started as a charity for a single hospital in Texas in honor of a young lady who died way too young fighting cancer. It has obviously grown since then, as the Children's Miracle Network has taken over and now runs it. Now, it is a global event with gamers from around the world playing to help their local hospitals.

So what does this have to do with Game-Day? To be blunt, everything. Game-Day is a 24-hour marathon every gamer taking part finishes their run with... in essence the endurance run our sponsors are paying for... kinda like people who sponsor marathon runners, but our road is made up of dice, cards, controllers, keyboards, and mice. It is a beautiful way for us to take up our hobby and help these kids who need it most.

So how can you help? Well if you yourself game and want to take up the 24-hour challenge, sign up and join us! It can be video games, board games, tabletop games, or any other gaming you desire in any combination. It can be streamed or held locally. The only rule is you go until the next morning or you drop. (And if you drop, make it up.) Most gamers will be doing this on November 4th, but we here at the Red Sector will probably doing this the following weekend as many other will. This is often referred to as the rain-date weekend for those who want to partake but can't make it for the official day... something I personally have to agree to due to family events around the same time, but whichever day you choose, it is a blast and really is for something amazing. If you can join us, as a fellow gamer, it is simply awesome.

However, if you do not wish to take on a marathon, you can still help by supporting gamers who do! We, for example have a team page for this event and would be honored for any support you can give. Each player on the team is playing for the hospital of their choice, but every dollar donated to help these kids helps, regardless of where it helps... so any help you can give, I can only thank you humbly for helping us help them. As I noted before, this is all handled by the Children's Miracle Network, and goes to a good cause. There is a FAQ here which can explain any details I simply can not as a participant not steeped in them, so please feel free to check it out. But if you would like to help us, thank you VERY much.... you can find our page in the link menu to the side of this page or right here. Once again I have to thank you very much for everything you are helping happen.

But on that note, I believe it is time for me to go... thank you for listening and again for any help you give, either by joining up yourself or helping us help these sick kids. It's all needed and it's all more then appreciated.

Thank you - Megabyte

Extra Life 2023 March Update

Cheers and welcome! As we move along through the year, these periodic updates are all part and part here at the Red Sector. After all, we are trying to help sick kids, so it's important we keep it in the back of our mind.

But if you are new to the site, you probably are wonder what I'm even talking about. Well welcome aboard and welcome to the magnificent cause know as "Extra Life." In essence Extra Life is a charity drive run by the Children's Miracle Network where throughout the year gamers gather to raise money to help their local hospitals. We here at the Red Sector are no different and personally, it's been my honor to be a part of this since year zero.

So how do you get involved? Well, it's easy. The Extra Life link above will lead you to the page where you can read up on the details and sign up to help sick kids! Pick your local hospital and off you go! Then come November, we hit the big push and the big celebration at the same time when we partake in "Game Day," a massive 24 hour marathon around the globe. For most gamers, this will be November 4th, but of course there will be those who need to do this on a rain-date. Due to family, this will likely be the case here as well.

So what are you waiting for? Come join the fun and feel good doing it! But if you are not a gamer yourself or would rather help us help kids, let me just say Thank you... after all, it's because of people like you that we can do this and make it matter to these kids. You can find our team page either on the side menu to this page or right here. Clicking the donate button will let you pick who to donate under and therefor which hospital to help. (This is NOT a competition... we are here to help kids, and all help is welcome. But you do have that much control over your donation, so it was worth mentioning.)

As for what we've been up to on this end? We've been playing up the games, of course. On Rhel's part, she's been very busy streaming and if you see our team page stream active, it's probably hers. (I would also recommend visiting her stream directly as well (which you can from the side menu where our stream pages are listed). She's really good and building a solid community for herself. Hell I will likely see you in there.

As for my own activity, I've taken a slower approach to streaming, basically doing so on weekends. My goal is to show off the games you may see or play yourself on the big day, never playing the same game twice. If this sounds fun to you, feel free to join me as well! Of course if we are both on, you can check it all out via a multitwitch link and however you visit, I hope to see you out there.

But on that note it is time for me to get bring this entry to a close. Thank you for listening lets make a difference for the ones who need it most.

Extra Life 2023 February Update

Time for an update on what we have instore for the big gaming event known as Extra-Life this year. If you do not know what Extra-Life is, you are definitely in the right place today. Extra Life is a charity event held every year where gamers from around the globe gather together to help sick kids in their local community. Run by the Children's Miracle Network, the charity has a simple process:

1. Gamers signup throughout the year, selecting a hospital to play for.
2. Gamers pull in donations to their pages and their team's pages (like our own) from people who  wish to help kids who need it most.
3. On November 4th, these same gamers spend 24 hours in one massive marathon playing games both to push those donations and to celebrate what has been accomplished over the year.

This year, as we have been doing every year, The Red Sector is back in the swing, and as always, we will need your help to help these kids. And while it has been my personal honor to be here since year zero, it has never been anything short of humbling to be a part of such a big event. If you would like to help us help them, our team page is available both in the above link and right there in the pages list to the right of this blog. The page itself has a nice big donate button right at the top, even letting you select who to donate under (since teams do not need to all play for the same hospital). If instead you are inspired to join in yourself, come on in! Go to the Extra-Life page and sign up! The year is still young and the more gamers we get involved now, the more kids we can help! So either way, thank you VERY much.

On our end, however, I do have some additional news to report, even now. First, we are already over halfway to our first team goal! Within a single month, that is an awesome start, so thank you everyone who has donated already! And while I sincerely doubt $500 will be our final goal, the sooner we hit it, the sooner we can push to the next and see how far we can go! Once again, thank you so much for all your help so far and help to come!

Second and more excitingly, I would like to welcome our newest player! PastelRhel is an old friend of mine who saw what we were up to and wanted to jump in, so how could I tell her no? (Hint: I couldn't. ;) ) So she is now listed in the Site Stream listing, as well as the front-runner on the team page! So come on in and give her a warm welcome!

And finally if you want to see us all at once, we do have a way to do this. I mean there are many ways, but to make it easy, we are generating a link through Multitwitch. I will be providing updated versions as more players come online, both here and on our team site, so come on in and see us all!

And with that, I will wrap it up for now. Catch you next time, and thank you so much for all your help so far and let's see how far we can go!

Extra Life 2023 begins!

Wow does time fly. 15 years ago, the owner of a now defunct gaming site shared the tragedy of a family he was close with, literally breaking down in the middle of their weekly podcast. I should know, I was driving into work listening to it, and it was hard to even hear. Wanting to honor the little girl they lost, he created a one time charity event to say thank you to the hospital that helped the young lady through her struggle... and it was an absolute success as we rallied to the cause in a way he probably never expected.

The community rallied so strongly, it took all of two weeks before a sequel run would be announced for the next year... and every year after growing bigger and bigger into the global charity event we now know as Extra Life. It's been my absolute honor to see it and be a participant from the very beginning... and today we announce we are coming back to do it again.

If you don't know what Extra Life is, it is a charity event that is run by the Children's Miracle Network every year where gamers from around the world play games and collect donations to help sick kids. We each pick a hospital we directly play for and all donations are handled by CMN directly, and while we all play from time to time through the year, it all culminates to a 24 marathon to celebrate and push the drive to it's max in November. This year the big day for most will be November 4th (so those playing on the official day will be going 25 hours thanks to daylight savings). 

If you wish to help us help these kids, you can on our official Extra Life drive page. The site collects donations from the first of January to the last of December, so if you wish to help but miss the big day, it's ok. It's frankly never too late to help the kids.

But what if you want to help more directly? Well sign right up and join the fight for the ones who need it most! You will be doing with your hobby something amazing. Game on and feel good helping others while you game! Like everyone involved world-wide, we will be routing for you!

In either case, thank you for listening and I hope to see you out there!