With our other projects, like Shoot The Banker, Surrogaid and Prank House, we took the real world and brought it into the digital space. Now, with Blood Sport, we’re taking the consequences of the gaming world and having them affect you in real life. So every time you get hit in the game, blood will be intravenously drawn from your arm.

HOW IT WORKS

It’s stupidly simple. Remember the rumble pack? Well, nowadays most video game controllers rumble when you get shot in the game. That rumbling means that an electrical signal is being sent to the controller to let you know you’ve been hit. All we’re doing is re-routing that same electrical signal and using it to turn on the blood collection system.

Using just two wires, we’re able to connect your controller to the blood collection machine via an Arduino Board.

The Arduino Board has two jobs: One, to keep the signal going to the blood collection system and, two, to keep track of how much blood is being pulled so that Blood Sport powers down before you do. We’ve done this by allowing you to input your age, weight and any preexisting medical conditions.

Simply put, we’re not reinventing the wheel. All we’re doing is hacking a pre-existing blood collection machine to take your gaming experience to the next level.

BUT WHY?

Our goal is to develop a refined multi-player unit that can be taken across the country for blood donation gaming events. We are not a charity and we are not a game manufacturer. We are simply creating the gaming hardware that will allow us to get gamers thinking about more important issues while still doing what they love. From there, we’ll partner with the appropriate organizations in both the gaming and medical communities to bring it all to life.

WHEN AND WHO

With your help, it will all start March 17th in Toronto, Canada – timed to piggyback the media hype behind the launch of Battlefield Hardline.

But we don't want to rely on Battlefield alone. To get people really excited about this initiative we'll need to draw on every outlet possible. So, aside from pledging, please be sure to challenge your favorite gamers and celebrities to come and participate. And, mostly importantly, to see if they can handle Blood Sport.

Just imagine these possible Blood Sport matches:

- PewDiePie (Tweet him!) vs Nadeshot (Tweet him!)

- compLexity Gaming (Tweet them!) vs OpTic Gaming (Tweet them!)

- Conan O'Brien (Tweet him!) vs Jimmy Kimmel (Tweet him!)

- Snoop Dogg (Tweet him!) vs Seth Rogen (Tweet him!)

- Geekologie (Tweet them!) vs Flula (Tweet him!)

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY MONEY?

Right now we just have one very makeshift unit, and it’s not fun losing blood to a Non-Player Character. So, we’re going to use the funds we receive here to create a proper two-player unit that can withstand the wear and tear of touring around the country. At the moment we’re using a single blood collection system we found. For the nationwide Blood Sport tour, we’d like to have two brand new blood collection machines hooked up to our systems. Any money we have leftover, we’ll use for travel costs, safety measures and to promote the tour. None will be kept for profit and the creators will work for free.

If we are not successful in reaching our goal – or, should we run into unforeseen complications – all of your money will be refunded in full per Kickstarter's rules and regulations.

WHAT GAMES DOES IT WORK WITH?

All of them! As long as it’s a console that has controllers that rumble, we can plug it in and play!

THE CREATORS

We’re just two dudes, who normally work as digital creative experts at advertising agencies, who took some time off. We’ve made all of this in our apartment with the help of some friends.

Taran Chadha | www.befatandsassy.com: You might remember him as the creator of the first reality video games Shoot The Banker and Prank House starring Internet celebrities such as Charles Trippy and Shay Carl. He currently resides at the RAID studios, and has worked as a Senior Creative for award winning ad agencies including TAXI Toronto, JWT New York, and BBH New York.

Jamie Umpherson | www.formerlyjames.com: He’s that guy you wouldn’t remember from anything. You may, however, remember some of his work like Surrogaid.org, whoarethe54.com and drakesemojitattoos.tumblr.com. Currently, Jamie works for the award winning creative agency, Rethink Canada while also consulting for a Toronto-based clothing line.

OUR TEAM

Jonathon Root (Producer): Jonny cut his chops at William F White International, where he created their digital filming production units. Currently, he runs a boutique ad agency, and produces the magazine Look Local.

James Jarvis (Test Subject): James Jarvis is a writer working in television production. James has worked primarily in unscripted television shooting everywhere from Yellowknife to Newfoundland. His credits include production coordinating on the Discovery Channel's Fools Gold and assistant directing on Alliance Films'Undercover Boss Canada.

Programmer: Anonymous due to conflict of interest at work.

OUR GOAL

250k seems like a lot?!! It did to us too, but after doing some hard math, it was the best we could do with a tour around Canada. Buying all the latest gaming equipment plus all new medical gear gets expensive fast, and then transporting all that stuff around the country with the help of professional staff isn't cheap. But we think there's enough hardcore gamers out there, that if we all pitch in a little, we can make this happen.