32 games…One Winner. Congrats to Batman: Arkham Asylum for winning the GHR December Madness Tournament for game of 2009 according to the votes by the GHR forum community. Also, congrats to Rocksteady Studios for creating the game that made waves in the gaming community. Thanks to all who voted, discussed, and lobbied for the games in this year’s event.

As mentioned in episode 98, the 32 Video Game Tournament from the list of 2009 Game Releases can now be voted on in the forums here. Last year’s winner was Fallout 3, who will take this year’s trophy. This year’s list is made up of user submitted titles. Keep in mind that this whole idea is for fun and should not be taken for gospel in whatever game does win the tournament. All in all please vote on the games for Round FOUR (ends January 3) and the Final Round will commence with the winners of your votes for this week. Thanks and game on.

Just a reminder that I will be starting this year’s Extra Life marathon tonight at 11:59 PM EST. I do not expect all the GHR team to start at this time but it was the time that worked best for me. Most other gaming sites will be starting at Sarcastic Gamer’s starting time of 8 AM EST Saturday. Once again, HUGE Thank You to all involved in supporting this event. You are a hero to people that you do not even know and do not know you. God Bless!

Cancer. Just by reading the word I’m sure you can think of someone that has touched your life in some way that has battled with or currently is battling with this disease. It does not care who you are, your age, or where you are at in life. But you can be a part to help against this viscious killer. Last year we had the awesome opportunity to partner with Extra Life, a charity event started by Sarcastic Gamer in conjunction with the Texas Children’s Hospital to help provide funding for children with cancer. Last year we along with many other communities raised over $120,000! Now it’s that time again where we can be a part of a great cause to continue the fight on these kid’s and their families’ behalves.

On October 17th, the GHR Extra Life Team will join with Sarcastic Gamer and many more communities again by staying up for 24 hours straight playing Video Games.

So how can you help?

To join the team, visit our forum thread here to find out how and to get updated details till Extra Life 2009 kicks off.

If you have any questions, contact Scott (TeeTocks) and I’ll provide you with any help with any of the process. Thanks!

The day is almost here. This Sunday, we will be playing Call of Duty 4 from 8 pm EST to 11 pm EST, for our Community Playdate. We have already had a lot of new people joining the site, and downloading the show. And we have also received a lot of messages asking ‘how do I get into the game?’ Here is the best way. All of our Friends Lists are full, so send us a message that you want to join us in the game. We can then look at your profile from there, and send you an invite. There has already been a lot of interest shown in joining, but we will do our best to make sure that there are enough games set up to try and get everyone in . And as always, Thank You for joining us at GHR!

UPDATE
So tonight is the night! We will have different rooms open to be able to get more people in since the interesting in the Community Playdate far exceeded our expectations. That means we will also limit the games to one or two with who we get into the match in order to get everyone in within the 3 hour time frame. So I’d encourage anyone wanting to game with GHR to ‘room hop’. Here is a list of the gamertags to get invited into:

GHR Maverick
GHR Superman
TeeTocks
Bumblb19
JDsBlackBox
Full Tilt 101
chuckdogg80
Weasel699

Thanks again to everyone and frag ya online tonight!

Don’t forget that tomorrow August 15th is the Rockband for the Arts event. Help raise money for a good cause while you play Rockband2. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Regina Opera house in Brooklyn New York. For more information, please go to www.Rockband4arts.info.

In case you missed it, the GHR Community Playdate was announced on Xbox.com last week :: Xbox.com – GHR Community Playdate Announced

Once again, the date for the playdate is Sunday, August 16th, from 8:00

As mentioned in GHR Episode 76, this August 15th, join Uncle Chas and many others as they play the endless set list in Rockband 2, for a great cause. All proceeds will go to support the Regina Opera House in Brooklyn, NY. For more info go to www.Rockband4arts.info. From there you can register and get copies of the fundraising letter. If you are interested in joining other members from the GHR community for this event respond in this post under comments.

Max Payne wannabe Dead to Rights: Retribution gameplay footage was on display at E3 today. Gamersyde.com is hosting images, and streams of the build in action. In my opinion, the gameplay footage does little to impress, but maybe some additional work could be done before the game’s release–whenever that is. Personally, I’m waiting on the next Max Payne, but check out the video and images and see for yourself.

ShackNews.com is hosting images and a fantastic looking trailer (yeah, I’m a fanboy) of Sega’s/Rebellion’s upcoming Aliens vs Predator game. The trailor focuses on the Predator doing what it does best–stalking space marines.

Of all the FPS games coming, Modern Warfare 2, and AvP top my most anticipated list. I played both AvP games on my friend’s PC, and I can’t wait to see how this one turns out. I only have one concern:

There is a good cover article in the June edition of Official Xbox Magazine where they talk about a Predator ability they built into the game called the “trophy kill”. The Predator can execute a trophy kill upon a subdued prey. The write-up describes them as being more graphic than anything they’d seen recently in a videogame, and would possibly have to be removed to prevent the dreaded AO rating for violence. Its my hope that Sega and Rebellion find a way to keep this game as visceral and brutal as possible–as this would make the game faithful to the world the source material is based upon.