Voodoo Extreme is running a Half-Life 2 vs Halo 2 poll, presumably as some kind of stress test. Right now HL2 is running away with it...

It seems like we've seen something like this before... but GameSpy is running one of their grudge match polls, with Halo 2 head to head against Half-Life 2. Bungie and MS are really pulling out the stops on this one, according to Louis Wu at HBO, so go vote!

Oh, and don't forget to vote in the U.S. presidential election, too, while you're at it.

Okay, time for another call to arms, Halo fans. Gordon Freeman and Half-Life by Valve Software are up over John 117 and Halo by Bungie Studios at this point in the first round of the Mushroom Kingdom championship bracket.

However, the rules of the game are now changed; you must login with a GameSpy ID in order to vote because of abuse detected in earlier matches.

Halo beat GoldenEye for the second time in the Gamespy Title Fight to claim lordship over the Abandoned Base bracket. Both games got fewer votes this time around, but Halo received almost 1500 fewer than in its first round victory over Bond, and GoldenEye got about 400 fewer. Looks like there was much less urgency felt by Halo fans everywhere over this matchup. Next up: Half-Life on April 1.

Dispraiser reminds everyone in the HBO forum that Halo is up against Goldeneye (again) in the GameSpy Title Fight, starting Thursday, March 25. This will be for the championship in the Abandoned Base bracket.

Well, the polls closed with a total of 18,443 votes cast, and when the dust had settled, the Master Chief had triumphed over the demon hordes of Shub-Niggurath in Id Software's Quake by a mere 21 votes, 9232 - 9211. Here's hoping there are no dangling chads in this one.

Although Halo has led most of the way, Quake is now in the lead by 57 votes, 5000 to 4943 in the GameSpy Title Fight. Looks like someone is betting the Master Chief can't stick it.