All Your Base Gaming

It’s Extra Life! We are raising money for Children’s Network Hospitals again! It’s still not to late to donate, and you can contribute your charitable donations here. And check out our live blog below!


8:00 AM – It’s starting! Last second preparations are networking the last of the consoles and computers together as Dishonored starts in the living room and the Minecraft server gets set up. Somewhere in the background, the intro screen to Total War is playing around in a loop.


9:30 AM – 1/16 of the way there. Enslaved has joined the mix on the third XBOX in the living room while X-Com and more Minecraft goodness are played in the LAN section. Fallout: New Vegas brought us the joy of the thermic lance just before it crashed. Remember kids, save often.


12:45 PM – Open Transportation Tycoon Deluxe playing on the LAN stations with Borderlands 2 running on the XBOX. Now comes the lunch dilemma…


5:00 PM – More than a third of the way in, Ace Combat 6 on an XBOX TV for good, fighter pilot goodness, Brandon has run his second or third business in Transportation Tycoon into the ground, several brutal rounds of Soul Calibur V left us brutalized after beating each other up, and the LAN stations are starting up a game of Artemis with Star Trek: The Animated Series playing in the background to set the mood. Just another 15 hours to go…


8:00 PM – HALFWAY THROUGH! *does a little dance* Modern Warfare 3 has made it’s way into the living room alongside Skylanders, and after an epic 3-hour session of Artemis, it is back to Transportation Tycoon on the LAN tables.

It’s here. Again. Holy Crap. 24 hours of video gaming awesomeness is about to happen.

Right.

Now.

Your friends at All Your Base Gaming are here ready to bring you the best and the worst of the video game industry, all in the name of raising money for children’s hospitals. Or something.

We will be live blogging the event here at All Your Base Gaming as well as streaming the event at Justin.TV. Our second Justin.TV stream from our satellite group is here.

Are you participating in Extra Life? Streaming your event or blogging your progress? Drop us a line and let us know how you are doing!

Live stream of awesome streaming:

0722 – We’re awake! Sort of. Rounding up the troops at their various locations and making sure everything we set up last night is still working.

0747 – Message from the AYBGaming Crew in Waco: “Time to save some lives!”

0800 – Dark Souls, Oblivion, Spyro, GTA, Legend of Zelda, and Link to the Past, all at once. Somehow. We only have 4 people here. WE’RE THAT HARDCORE!

0900 – Dark Souls is hard. Switching over to Dead Island

0905 – WHO DO YOU VOODOO, BITCH?

1000 – Sims has made it’s way into the living room, adding yet another console/computer/device to our nerdhalla.

1049 – Our feed in Waco is live now! Check out our satellite team here

1200 – L4D, Dead Island, MW2, Deus Ex, More Spyro

1600 – Gears of War 3Geometry Wars and even more Spyro

2000 – Street Fighter IV, MK v DCU, L4D again, and still more Spyro. Brandon is determined to beat that game.

All Your Base Gaming is proud to announce its Mini Mega Movie Festival for 2011 to be a screening of the first 7 Harry Potter movies on July 9, a week before the cinematic finale from Warner Brothers is released. Join us for 1070 minutes of magic, mischief and mystery, and don’t forget to put on your robe and wizard hat.

At A-Kon 22, standing in the pre-reg line, holding a netbook while blogging from my phone in the other. Anywhere else this might be considered odd, but our rag-tag group of nerds fits right in with the other geeks and otaku around us. This is con. A place where dorks gather to unashamedly indulge in their guilty pleasures. 16000 of them at a time.

All Your Base Gaming will be live blogging the con events as they unfold. Follow us below!

6/9/11 18:46 – In the room, unpacked, and planning the rest of the convention while watching A-Kon TV on the hotel broadcast channel. Hair dying and liquor filtration are going down in preparation for the weekend. Don’t know which smells worse, the dye or the cheap vodka.

6/10/11 00:10 – Last minute costume alterations made possible by Brother sewing machines and Ron Rio rum.

6/10/11 02:10 – We decided to costume up and hit the con at 2 AM. Like an anime boss.

6/10/11 02:30 – Watching RIN – Daughters of the Mnemosyne in Video 1.

6/10/11 04:20 – Sleeping Samurai in main programming. Weapons exhibitions and scored matches.

6/10/11 07:15 – Catching my second wind in the J-Pop Room after a sleepless night of con activities

6/10/11 08:30 – Playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl at the Dallas Marriott with Anselmo and Mercedes!

6/10/11 11:00 – The panels start! Attending Asian Dolls 101 to start the day.

6/10/11 12:15 – The History of Cosplay begins. Why do we do what we do, and to whom do we owe appreciation for the hobby we practice today?

6/10/11 13:15 – That panel should have been titled “The Evolution Of Cosplay Communities And Exposure As Witnessed Through Online Media.” Yaya was fabulous as always, though.

6/10/11 16:00 – In the special programming area listening to the Symphonic Anime Quartet.

6/10/11 16:13 – The crowd just went nuts to the Hyrule Theme

6/10/11 23:00 – Street Fighter Roast! HADOUKEN!

6/11/11 00:40 – Street Fighter was a waste of time. Audio problems plus stale, predictable jokes just made a terrible movie much, much worse.

6/11/11 02:00 – BattleTech face off! Ronnie, Drew, Brandon and I saquared off in 20-ton mechs and blew the everliving crap out of each other. Feels good, man.

6/11/11 09:00 – Free public open beta of Ninja Gaiden 3 with Team Ninja in the Dallas Marriott. The game cinematics are awesome, but the video quality in game for the XBOX version is a far cry from the PS3 version at this point. Player comments on the game included that the previous games were more controlled on 3. I was too busy killing a giant mech spider in the game to notice.

6/12/11 12:00 – The sheer number of people here feels so much larger this year than last. People are STILL registering and the line to get into the dealer’s room when it opened rivaled hentaifest’s infamous line-o-pervs.

6/12/11 12:37 – The J-Pop staff informed the viewers that the room was not intended for sleeping and that they would eject violators. They then went on to announce that they wete 37 minutes late to start request hour. Who needs the “no sleeping” warning now?

As a response to Harold Camping’s new prediction that the Dispensationalist Pretribulation Millenialist rapture would occur on May 21, 2011 ushering in the second coming of Christ and the period of tribulations leading up to Armageddon, All Your Base Gaming decided to host RAPTURE WATCH 2011, a Rapture party and movie night event. In true All Your Base Gaming style, copious amounts of food and an entire new collection of movies were purchased for an evening of drunken debauchery and mockery of terrible movies.

Following is a play-by-play of the rapture events as they unfold! In case of salvation, this blog will be authorless.

4:00 PM – The collection of the movies to be watch commenced at Fry’s. Any movie depicting the end of the world or preaching the rapture HAD to be included in our purchases. Needless to say, the coffers are now tapped.


5:30 PM – Food, booze, and more food and more booze courtesy of Sam’s Club. Deep discounts on all your party needs.


5:55 PM – Checking out. Explaining the rapture to our checkout cashiers. Massive dash to make it the 300 yards to the apartment to prevent the sure-to-be insanity from raptured drivers on the roads.


6:01 PM – Arrived at the apartment. Rapture begins. Relatively normal levels of people disappearing from the earth.


6:10 PM – Movie night begins! The first Left Behind movie explained to us the history behind the rapture, introduced us to the false prophet and the antichrist, showed us the beginning of the new world order, and was far too long for it’s own good, especially with it’s lame cliffhanger ending. It was decided that the other two Left Behind movies would not be watched. Sorry, Kirk Cameron. Less preachy, more acty.


7:00 PM – SNAPPED INTO A SLIM JIM. Requiescat in Pace, Macho Man.


7:01 PM – Slim Jims are disgusting.


8:00 PM – Armageddon! Really. You know, the one with Bruce Willis. Not the final battle and destruction of the earth thing.


10:30 PM – AEROSMITH SING ALONG! I DON’T WANT TO CLOOOOSE MY EYEEEEEES! I DON’T WANT TO FAALL ASLEEEEEEEP….


10:34 PM – Jumping into the time machine to jump forward to 2012. John Cusack, terrible accents, and John Cusack. It’s a trifecta of awful in a 3-hour package.


10:35 PM – Michael needs to watch more movies so we can stop spoiling them for him during movie night.


1:10 AM – Can anything top the belittling rape of science that is 2012? Oh, yeah. The Day After Tomorrow. Here we go.


2:00 AM – Michael needs to watch more movies so we can stop spoiling them for him during movie night.


2:15 AM – Michael offered me another Slim Jim. I’m considering telling him the end of every movie ever made.

It’s not really as much a Post-Event as it is an Ongoing-Event update as many people are using this day as their Make Up day for Extra Life! Collections for Extra Life will continue until November 15, and so far the event has raised $430,000 and counting! If you have yet to make a donation, please consider donating today! You can head over to our Team Page, find a participant and make your donation online there or by mail.

It’s time! Fire up those game consoles and get ready to party for the next 24 hours. Do it for the kids.

Feeling philanthropic? It’s not too late to donate! Head to our Team Page, pick a member, and donate!

View our video stream here!

Live Blog!

9:41AM. We’ve been playing for nearly two hours. Pre-game fell to some Wii Sports Resort while the crew was waking up. Among the games so far have been Road Rash on the Genesis, Mad World on Wii, Fallout 3 on the PS3, Legend of Zelda Minishcap, Scribblenauts, and the new Super Mario Bros. on the DS. 22 hours to go. Time for some old school NES action!


9:57AM. Brandon beat first dungeon of zelda minish cap

10:17AM. Crash Bandicoot and Skullmonkeys on the PS2. Moose got his arse handed to him in Contra. WITH the Konami code. Anselmo just unloaded an entire clip into a Centaur’s head on Fallout.  Breakfast served, consisting of Mountain Dew White Out and Pop Tarts, without a toaster. Thanks, Brandon.

11:09AM Mike Tyson’s Punch Out successfully beaten. Except for Kid Dynamite Mike Tyson. And most of the other characters. So out of practice.

11:10AM 007 373 5963. Remember it.

11:49AM Star Wars Dark Forces on PS1 and Battle of Bungeling Bay on NES. MEEEEEMORIIIIEEEEEEES.

12:50PM Journey to Silius, Exodus: Journey To The Promised Land, and Bartman Meets Radioactive Man on NES. GTA San Andreas and Wild Arms (PS1) on PS2. Trix and more Mountain Dew White Out for lunch. Mmmmmm. We’re real gourmands. We even destroyed a party platter of pepperoni, salami, and cheese.

1:42PM Bigfoot on NES, along with a long play of Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers. Anselmo is autosaved in Fallout with a dog attacking him while he’s at low health. He’s on his fifth death in as many minutes or less.

5:10PM Anselmo is near the end of Fallout3 and Brandon is still trying to get anywhere in Wild Arms. Found a cartridge with tons of ROMS on it, among the games played were Air Fortress, Airwolf, Bad Dudes, and 8 Eyes. 15 hours left in the event!

6:14PM Anselmo beat all main quests on Fallout 3 in 8.5 hours. Save the five deaths from the dog, he only died once. Now he’s scoping out the ultimate meat pizza as his ultimate trophy.

7:23PM Gold Medal ’92 is quite possibly the most annoying game ever made for the NES. It is also incredibly addictive. Assassin’s Creed 2 also going on in the room plus GTA San Andreas, with lots of cheats and explosions.

8:07PM We have passed the halfway point! Pizza time and maybe we’ll finish this freaking Gold Medal game soon, too.

10:50PM Sushi games on the DS are addicting, too. Modern Warfare on the big screen. Brandon now 10% into his game (we assume). Smash Bros. on the back half of the room. 2 pizzas killed, tons more food to be consumed later.

11:20PM Marth acquired in Smash Bros. Lots of swearing on the Modern Warfare side of the living room. Just over 8 1/2 hours left and most of us are just catching our second wind.

11:33PM Brandon is literally bouncing in his seat on the futon, either because he has to urinate or because he’s had too much NERD. Likely both, one does lead to the other…

1:04AM Seven hours to go and we’ve broken out Mario Kart Double Dash. The co-op Modern Warfare campaign continues behind me as Brandon vows to beat the game by the end of the event without using any stat enhancements. Good luck with that one. </sarcasm>

8:00AM It’s over! After dominating the 150cc circuit on Double Dash, the focus switched to Modern Warfare for the remainder of the evening. It was a long road, but we made it. 24 hours of video gaming. I’d like to thank everyone who helped contribute to Extra Life and to groups participating this year. Together we all can make a difference in the lives of children in pain and need. Thank you so much for your efforts.

Now, to bed for us all.

Mario has been hopping on stuff for a while, because Extra Life just got it’s 2000th one up contributor over the weekend! This surpasses the active registered participants from last year and it is still 19 days before the beginning of the event.

If you’ve yet to find sponsors, this is the week to hit it hard. Every conversation you have is an opportunity to bring up Extra Life and get some money flowing to the Children’s Miracle Network. The Team Donation page on Hospitals Helping Kids’ website can be found here

We still need to get the word out to as many possible donors and participants as possible. Sarcastic Gamer has made this easy on us by providing a full media kit for everyone to use, so get out there and spread the word!

Edit: We made the Extra Life/Sarcastic Gamer frontpage! They are responsible for starting this whole event, so please be sure to visit their site and browse their blog.

Unable to devote time to playing? Don’t want to sign up on the website? Only interested in donating to the Children’s Miracle Network? Then you can help us reach our goals because we need sponsors as well as gamers! You can be a sponsor!

Yes, you! Quit looking around, you’re the one reading the post, right?

The team members of All Your Base Gaming’s group for Extra Life have their donation links posted here. Feel free to pick a member, or donate to all of us! Remember, it’s for the babies. You don’t hate babies, right?

All members of All Your Base Gaming will have their donation links posted here for easy access and distribution. If I missed your link and haven’t posted it here yet, feel free to hit me upside the head until I do.

Team Page

Anselmo Formolo: Donate

Neil Manley: Donate

Brandon Nelson: Donate

Miguel Rodriguez: Donate

Jason Walsh: Donate

Robert Wynn: Donate

All donations are made directly to the Children’s Miracle Network. No funds are collected by All Your Base Gaming or by Sarcastic Gamer for adminstrative purposes. At no time is any part or portion of a donation ever in the possession of All Your Base Gaming or Sarcastic Gamer, or any other entity other than the Children’s Miracle Network. The Children’s Miracle Network is a 501(c)(3) organization.