The Goo podcast has a lot to answer for. Specifically, the episodes ‘ExtraLife08’ and ‘ExtraLife09’.
They were great entertainment, but they also encouraged me to donate money to a hospital in another country.
It was these two episodes that inspired me in March to contact my local children’s hospital and ask them if they’d be up for a videogame marathon here in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were delighted.
And here we are, four months later, on the brink of Sick Kids Save Point, Scotland’s first videogame marathon. Over $1500 has been raised with two weeks to go, and we’ve received the support of our local game developer – Rockstar North – who have donated substantially to the charity and also prizes to top fundraisers. There are some awesome GTA and Red Dead related swag being offered to participants who can raise over a certain amount, so that should spur people on to the next level. Perhaps most significantly, the Rockstar developers themselves are going to take part!
But all the time consuming organisational shenanigans have left me woefully short of personal targets for my marathon. Have I learned nothing from Scott and Adam?? I need a top 5, and I need it sharpish!
I did have some vague notion of playing Red Dead Redemption, but I got my 100% last night. I’m still plugging away at Demon’s Souls, but if Scott’s rage-quit during Extra Life is anything to go by, it isn’t a game for the sleep deprived… The recent patch for Fat Princess has made the game a lot more user friendly in setting up online games, so that’s going to be involved at some point. In the later hours I expect I’ll go for some low impact trophies in Final Fight double impact. And there’s always the list of shame… top of it is Uncharted 2. Yes, I know, that’s why it’s called a list of shame.
There’s no shame though in raising money for a great cause, and I’m really looking forward to it all. If anyone wants to know if my spirits are high or low during Sick Kids Save Point I’ll either put a live stream up, or I’ll post some update videos on YouTube. You can also follow us on Twitter. The central hub to find out about our effort is our blog, where you can also sign up, see our prizes, or even play space invaders!
If anyone wants to take part, setting up a fundraising page is easy; VGEvo has a team fundraising page here, so you could always point your sponsors there as well. If you’re waiting for ExtraLife, at least think about donating a couple of dollars to our cause byfollowing the VGEvo team link above, in the spirit of the international solidarity I felt ten months ago…
Next time you download a podcast, be aware it could change everything! Play Games. Save Kids. Win stuff.
The author thecabbage, was initiated in the arcades of his native Scotland in the 80s by such masterpieces as the original Star Wars, Gauntlet, Operation Wolf and Golden Axe. To this day he still finds it hard to game with a keyboard.
That is so fantastic man, I cannot praise efforts like yours enough. I will definitely check out what you guys have going on.
As an aside, I agree that Scott and Adam have much to answer for. My backlog has grown considerably thanks to their dastardly entertaining ways.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sick-kids-save-point-live1 is our stream, from 9am tomorrow. or follow us on twitter
thanks to everyone who’s already donated, we’ve raised about 5,000 UK pounds already, which is 7,500 dollars I think. I’m very proud, and I’ll see you on the other side.