Editorials

My Extra Life survival kit

October 16, 2009, Author: Andy Corrigan

Extra Life event starts nice and early tomorrow at 8am, as we embark on a fun 24 hours to battle a serious illness. As it fast approaches I’m finding myself with a feeling of nervous excitement, but also slight apprehension as I’ve never done more than a six hour gaming session before. If nothing else in life, I pride myself on my preparation skills, and here are the items I’ve put together to aid me in my bid to last the pace.

1. The gaming set-up

This is what I’ll be spending most of on Saturday/Sunday sat in front of; big ass TV with surround sound system. Please note the importance of two consoles. We all know about the dreaded ring of death and the increasing reports of the YLoD for the PS3. I know that should one of my consoles give up the fight tomorrow that I’ll be able to carry on diligently. Note the laptop so I can see how others are getting on and tweet my progress during the various loading screens.

2. Sumo Lounge Beanbag

Unless you’re going to be gaming on the Wii (and seriously, why would you?), we’re going to be sat on our arses for 98% of the 24 hours, and I plan on doing that in as much comfort as I possibly can. Step forward Sumo Lounge Omni. If you’ve never sat in one of these you are seriously missing out. Also if my backside gets bored of being sat in there, I have two comfy sofas in reserve.

3. Fluids

Ok, food’s obvious, I already have that covered. However drinks are another matter entirely. I generally make sure that I drink 2 litres of water every day and tomorrow will be no different. Alongside my usual H20 intake, I’ve gone for the full spectrum; beer for Saturday night and energy drinks for the early hours of Sunday morning to help me past the last stretch.

4. Turtle Beach XI Headphones

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I live in an apartment building where there are rules about excessive noise after 10pm, and my neighbours have a young kid. While they’ve never complained about noise after that time for late night sessions I think it might be an issue if my surround sound is pumping out gunfire at 3am. Luckily I can still hear everything with these baby’s and not have to worry about a visit from the thin blue line.

5. Games

Can’t have a gaming session without stacks of games can you? I’m more than prepared in that respect. Luckily being in the business of running a gaming website I always have something to play next, and while I plan to spend some of the time playing online with friends, I’m also going to catch up on games I’ve yet to finish and with certain games which I need to review, the most important being Uncharted 2.

6. Friends

What do you need to help you get through the last half of the event? Intelligent discussion. Unfortunately I’m stuck with Simon and the rest of the guys on the TIMJ Extra Life team, but I guess I’ll just have to make do. Rest assured, all jumping into a game of Halo or our planned GRAW 2 co-op campaign, will mean we’ll all be able to keep each other going through the various metaphorical walls we’re likely to hit along the way.

7 . The ‘Pierre de la resistance’…

When you see the above picture, you definitely can’t accuse me of not being in this for the long haul, and when nature calls, so will gaming. The sad thing is, you probably all think I’m joking, but I bet you didn’t know about my old FIFA ‘Toilet league’ did you?! What?! DON’T YOU JUDGE ME!

Talking seriously for a moment, please take a note that although we all plan to have a lot of fun over the 24 hours; let’s not lose sight of exactly why we’re partaking in this event. This is what I’m going to remember when I start to flag and I’m sure it’ll be that thought that’ll drive me through until the end. I’d like to give a big thumbs-up to Sarcastic Gamer for coming up with this event. One that brings many sites, communities, and people together for a great cause. We’re all going to help prove for a second year that gamers aren’t just the bunch of self-centred zombies the Daily Mail would like everyone to believe. We can do something good for other people, and we’re doing it this weekend.

Good luck everyone taking part, let’s make it a good one.

Tagged Extra Life