Extra-Life: Gaming for Good!

As I stumbled, bleary eyed and blinking, towards the dinner table last Sunday, my mother in law said, "Mike, you look really tired!" Well, yes, other-Mom, I was. I was tired because I had not slept more than forty minutes on Saturday night. And why? Because I was using video and board games to help sick kids.

There's been a lot of talk over the last few months about the negative aspects of the gaming community. And there certainly have been some really negative aspects in the last few months. But we here at the Ace of Geeks believe in the power of gaming to help people, and Extra Life is one of the best ways to do just that.

Extra Life 2014 Live Stream Marathon!

The Ace of Geeks is proud to, for the second year in a row, be hosting a 24 hour live stream event for Extra Life. Extra Life is an organization that, through the magic of gaming, raises money for Children's Hospitals around the country. Just like last year, we're going to be raising money for the Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland - they received $300k in donations last year, but we're looking to try and blast that number out of the water. Want to join us? Want more details? Check out this lovely video, and then hit the jump for the full schedule and a live feed of our Twitch stream!

Grandparents Got Game!

*When I started this article. I had the idea that I was going to make it about skills, levels and PVP ranks. Yes, some of the grandparents I talked to are PVP-ranked. But as I talked with them, I found a bigger story - a story about family bonding. I decided to share that instead. After all, toons can be re-rolled, but you can't re-roll a family member. (Unless you're playing the Sims. -Ed)

I play MMO's with my grandson, who's going to be 5 years old soon. He loves running around trashing mobs and collecting loot. He doesn't quite have the patience yet to finish a quest, but we're working on that. His parents let him play The Last of Us, (WHAT?! -Ed) and he does pretty well - except when he hits a point that he has to actually complete a task or quest in order to progress. Whenever he comes over to my house, the first thing he says to me is "Hi Grandma! I missed you! Can we play teams now?? PLEASE???" So we play some XBox games - Marvel vs. Capcom 3 usually to start, and we then eventually end up going to the computer room and playing Guild Wars 2 or Neverwinter. He wants to play Diablo 3 with me but I don't have it. Then he tries to be helpful.  "Aww. Let's go get it! I know where it lives - it stays at the store!"