Team Nerdist and friends participated in the 24 hour Extra Life Marathon benefiting Children’s Miracle Hospitals this past weekend and were able to collectively raise $7,652. Thank you to everyone who donated, joined in, subscribed and followed our adventures into the various genres of gaming. If you don’t know what Extra Life is — you should.

It all started with a brave, little girl named Victoria Enmon, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2004 at the age of eleven. “Tori” fought cancer over the course of four years, and sometimes during cancer treatments she would be alone in the oncology ward for long periods as her immune system was so low, she couldn’t be around other people for fear of infection. Victoria loved playing video games and they gave her something to do — something to connect with — when times got rough. With the help of the gaming community, Tori received games and gaming systems from all over the world. She received so many games, that she began giving them to other children in the hospital who were also suffering alone. Victoria lost her battle with cancer in 2008 and inspired this charity, Extra Life, to continue battling for all the other children in hospitals that could use a friend, or an escape.

So I say to everyone: this is where we all take a step back and realize that “gaming” is the great equalizer — it’s participatory. It has no judgement.  It sees no gender, no race, no age… and no disease. Gaming is an activity that we can all join in and just have fun. Extra Life is an amazing charitable organization that helps us remember that this one little girl gave us a platform in which we can help continue her fight by remembering what got her through the tough times. So, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all the gamers who engaged with Extra Life 2014. What we can do as a community is truly inspiring.

Now, per usual, I have for you our Nerdist Twitch Roundup and Weekly Scheduled Forecast for what you missed out on, and what’s to come in the week ahead:

Every other Tuesday, 12pm – 1pm PST: The Single Player – Dating Sims and Advice, with Jessica Chobot

Chobot took her schedule offline this week and her only serious date was the one with her dentist. But check back this coming week for real life dating advice by studying the behavior of the sims she creates.

Tuesday, 2pm – 4pm PST: New Games+ – Developer Playthroughs and New Games, with Malik Forté & guests

Malik took the day off to prep for our 24 Hour Extra Life Marathon, but check in this week to help Malik decide what to wear while he plays through the freshly released, Sunset Overdrive.

Wednesday, 12pm – 2pm PST: MASSIVE – Creating <Nerdist> guilds, clans and more in the world of MMOs, with Michele Morrow

It’s Hallow’s End —  the only holiday in World of Warcraft where all the races of Azeroth take a couple weeks off from shaming the Undead, by celebrating the Forsaken’s split from the Scourge. Last week, the <Nerdist> guild welcomed several new members and joined up to explore the decidedly crazy violent, pre-expansion questline at the Dark Portal, talk to Warchief Vol’jin, and defeat the Headless Horseman.  Lastly an all level raid was formed to put out the fires in Brill. WELL DONE!  This week, more Hallow’s End.  But stay tuned, because word on the street is that Jessica Chobot wants to return to Azeroth, and re-learn how to WoW (it’s just like riding a Tawny Wind Rider).

Friday, 2pm – 4pm PST: Friday Funderdome – Team Nerdist and friends take gaming to the EXTREME

The Funderdome was temporarily moved to become our Saturday through Sunday 24 hour 9am – 9pm Extra Life Marathon!  Nerdist HQ was packed with special guests and friends while we raised money for kids in need. Even Chris Hardwick himself stopped by and started the baffling conversation of whether a taco is – or is not – a sandwich, while we played Heroes of the Storm (Alpha) with Malik, Dan, Jesse, Michele, Michael Weitzman and VO actor, Orion Acaba. However, the real madness began with our epic Nidhogg tournament. Luckily, we have an archive for those of you who missed it, or those that just want to relive it! But be warned: the sound is VERY LOUD, as there were about 20 people in the room screaming and cheering.

While all the matches were insanely exciting, we highly suggest checking out Dan vs. Malik at approximately 42 minutes. Dan took the first round from Malik like candy from a baby, but Malik was out for pixelated blood-splatter in one of the most savage games of Nidhogg ever seen. Malik’s yellow avatar brutally eviscerated Dan’s orange body, TWICE, with his sword for a very, VERY, long time and eventually got his point across to take round two. No spoilers for the tie-breaker– you’ll have to watch for yourselves. And later, approximately 1 hour in, the winners advanced into a new bracket and brought with it, Michele vs. Max in one of the longest, most brutal battles of the night.  Max took round one, but round two was perfectly executed by Michele (if I do say so myself).  Round three is where the insanity levels up, as I introduced the “Twerk” move along with the “Bait and Switch” suicide combo to deceive and frighten Max at about 1 hour 45 minutes. Find out who took home the title below:

Watch live video from Nerdist on Twitch

The Funderdome falls on Halloween this coming week, check in to our costumes and what spooky game we’re playing!

Thanks for following and subscribing to our Twitch channel!  Got an emote you’d like to see?  Let me know @michelemorrow and we’ll see you on the stream!

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