[11.09.15] ‘Extra Life 2015’ continues to shatter records

Extra Life

By the end of the Extra Life 2015 official stream at 8:00 AM on Nov 8, 2015, a few more records had been destroyed. While 48,000 Extra Lifers were busy gaming and streaming away, milestone after milestone was hit and history was made. 54 Extra Life Guilds and a tiny team at headquarters worked together to benefit over 170 Children’s Miracle Network hospitals and more than 10 million grateful kids. When it was all said and done, Extra Life 2015 continued its trend of outpacing itself for yet another year.

Saturday, Nov 7, 2015, was the biggest day in the history of the Extra Life program. Not only that, but it pushed total funds raised past the staggering $20 million mark since 2008. With another two months still to go, Extra Life 2015 eclipsed the previous year's final contributions and reached an initial Game Day total of $6,360,566 by the end of the stream. The fundraising does not end until December 31st at midnight, so expect that total to keep rising.

There were also some special congratulations to hand out after Game Day. Participants from Austin, TX who were playing to benefit the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas won the ESA Foundation Challenge by raising the most money overall for an individual hospital. For doing so, they earned a bonus $30,000 to benefit their local kids.

Not to be outpaced, the 907 area code in Alaska also earned an additional $30,000 for the Children’s Hospital at Providence in Anchorage, AK for having the highest funds raised per capita. The ESA Foundation also granted this bonus.

Of course, things could change over the next two months, but there are currently some impressive role models sitting atop the Extra Life Leaderboard this year. Jack Patillo of Rooster Teeth is the overall leader with an impressive $205,560. Following behind him is Mindcrack Network, Geek & Sundry, and Giant Bomb. Rounding out the top five is Noah Cohen, an 8-year-old from Vermont and former CMN Hospital patient who managed to hit some incredible numbers while campaigning in his 2nd Extra Life.

If you would still like to donate and help me in my personal efforts to raise $1,000 for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, you can do so here!

For a final update at the end of the year, Subscribe, check out http://www.extra-life.org, or their official Facebook page.

[10.13.15] Extra Life 2015 raises $2 million in record time

Extra Life

In a blog post from Oct 13, 2015, current Managing Director Jeromy Adams, known simply as “Doc” on the website, proudly announced that this year’s efforts are trending at a record-setting pace. Over the holiday weekend, Extra Life 2015 managed to break $2 million in donations received without batting an eye. Around this same time last year, the total funds raised had just breached $1 million. Last year’s contributions ended just past $6 million raised For The Kids, which makes 2015 look even more promising.

As with previous years, many celebrities and internet personalities are participating. This includes the likes of Rooster Teeth, Geek & Sundry, and Noah Cohen – an 8-year-old 2-time Extra Lifer and former Children’s Miracle Network Hospital’s patient who is currently dominating in his efforts to raise money for this year. As of writing, Noah is sitting in 3rd place for total donations received. Since 2010, Extra Life has managed to raise a staggering $14 million to support CMN Hospitals all around the U.S. Every dollar donated goes directly the hospital to which it is pledged and donations are tax deductible.

This year’s celebration will take place on Saturday, November 7, beginning at 8 am CST. During this time, thousands of participants will live-stream a 24-hour gaming marathon on Twitch, a long-standing partner. The gaming marathon will include all types of games, ranging from video games and card games to board games and tabletop RPGs. The fundraising efforts continue throughout the marathon and culminate on the final day of the year.

If you would like to make a donation to Extra Life 2015, you can do so here.

If you’re interested in participating in Extra Life 2015, there is still plenty of time! You can sign up here.

Then be sure to tune into Twitch on November 7 and watch your participant play!

[11.11.13] Extra Life has record-setting make up day

Extra Life

Saturday Nov 10 was the make-up day for the Extra Life charity event and yesterday they announced the most successful day to date. The record-setting make up day led to almost $100,000 in additional funds raised for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals everywhere. This extra cash put Extra Life just $39,000 below the $4 million mark. If that goal is achieved, that would mean Extra Life 2013 raised more money than all other years combined – pretty impressive, considering they were the victim of three DDoS attacks on the day of the big event.

In an attempt to breach this milestone, PlayStation was kind enough to donate 10,000 codes which will grant any donors who give up $20 to the cause a bundle of content worth over $50 for their PlayStation systems. This bundle includes:

·       LittleBigPlanet (PSVita)

·       One (1) month of PlayStation Plus

·       WipeOut HD (PlayStation 3)

·       When Vikings Attack (PlayStation 3/PSVita

·       Extra Life Theme (PlayStation 3)

To grab one of these awesome packs, just head to your favorite sponsor’s page and select the “PlayStation Greatness” level of donation. You should receive a thank you email notifying you of your donation, then on Nov 25, emails will be sent out to the first 10,000 who donated at that level containing a code for the special bundle. Just like all the other donation, 100% of the proceeds go straight to the hospital you decide to sponsor.

There’s still plenty of time to donate. If you’re interested in donating to a wonderful cause, just click the link below, hit the “support me” button, then select the “PlayStation Greatness” level if you’d like the bundle, or any other donation mount of your choice.

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=67644

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you

[11.03.13] Extra Life surpasses $3 million, survives multiple DDoS attacks

Extra Life

With plenty of time left in the event, Extra Life 2013 has already raised over $3.4 million and counting. A donation received at 8:20 PM CST on Nov 2, 2013 officially pushed the total just past the $3 million mark, and funds have continued to pour in since then. Not only does this surpass last year’s total, but it’s also a promising tale for what can be expected by the end of the fundraising event.

This is made even more impressive by the fact that the Extra Life website was taken down three times during the event by a DDoS attack. During the downtime, all traffic to the site was halted which meant no donations could be made. It’s still unclear who is responsible for the attack, but it does raise the question of how much money they’re responsible for preventing from being donated.

The good news is the site is back up and running, and there’s still plenty of time to continue supporting your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

If you’d like to help, please click the link below. Every dollar is appreciated and it could really change the life of a child.

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=67644

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you

[11.02.13] Extra Life 2013 going live soon

Extra Life

Extra Life 2013 is just a couple hours from going live, and it’s already looking to make a huge splash this year! Originally starting in 2008, it’s quickly grown to become a huge supporter for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Last year alone, Extra Life raised over $2 million for hospitals around the U.S. This year is expected to surpass that, with lots of celebrities and internet sensations getting involved, including the likes of Rooster Teeth and Giant Bomb.

This year’s stream holds extra significance, as it will actually be a 25 hour stream thanks to Daylight Savings.

I will be playing for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital in Iowa City. If you’re interested in donating to the cause, you can support my team here:

http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=67644

I’m also live-streaming for most of the day, which you can view here:

http://www.twitch.tv/tonyortale

I’ll be tweeting live throughout the event @TonyOrtale, feel free to tweet me suggestions on what you’d like to see played!

To learn more about Extra Life, check out their website:

http://www.extra-life.org

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you