Viva La Raza

It's been a little over a week and my thoughts still drift to Eddie Guerrero. For those who don't follow pro-wrestling, Eddie Guerrero, one of the best in the business, died last Sunday from heart failure. In his past, Eddie had struggled with drugs and drinking. He had come back from it to become the WWE Champ two years ago and to cement his place in wrestling history. Sadly, Eddie's demons caught up with him. A lot has been said about Eddie in the past week. I never met the man, but I saw him compete, both in person and on TV, many times. It's amazing how someone can become attached to your life without ever having spoken a word to them. I will miss Eddie. I'll miss the entertainer and the showman. I'll miss how he made me laugh, made me sit up in my chair when he would hit an amazing move, and how I would look forward to his segments every week.

Still, I can't help but feel selfish in this. Eddie's family and friends are going to miss a lot more than I will. They are going to miss him in the simple, day to day ways that I was never aware of. For that reason, I feel selfish. We, as fans, demand so much from these men and women who give up their time, families, health, and sometimes sadly their lives, just to entertain us for a few hours each week. Someday, I hope to meet one or more of them and thank them in person. Eddie was one of those people I would have loved to thank. I have to hope, somehow, he knows, even more so now, what he meant to us, the fans.

Thank you Eddie. Thank you. I hope, someday, I get to meet you still...

Viva La Raza.

Long Time

It's been a long time...yet again...since I added to this blog. Every time I come back, I say "I'll stick with it" and something comes along. Well, here goes another try.

The big buzz this week is the release of the X-Box 360. Anyone who knows me would expect that I would be excited. I have to admit, I am...but I have some trepidation with this new system. First and foremost has to be the backwards compatibility. With both Nintendo and Sony already being upfront about backwards compatibility (the Playstation 3 will play all old games and the Nintendo Revolution will accept all Gamecube discs along with the ability to play any 8, 16, or 64 bit Nintendo game via the web) Microsoft had a lot of ground to cover. I realize that the new system has a different architecture and that it would be hard to do it, but the lack of backwards compatibility would hurt them. They kept silent for a while on it, then released this:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

A list of the games that, at release, will be compatible with 360. While it is a large list (200+), there are many glaring omissions from the list:

- No EA games to be found...this includes all EA Sports & EA Sports Big titles, Burnout Revenge, X-Men Nemesis, and many others. There is a 360 port of Madden 06, but from the reviews I've read on Gamespot and the like, it's Madden 2001 with pretty graphics.

- No Splinter Cell games. The latest Splinter Cell games have a LARGE following on X-Box Live (and the original line was that X-Box Live games would be the first brought over to 360...Barbie Horse Adventure?).

- Lack of backwards compatibility for recently released games. How many parents are going to buy a 360 and an original X-Box game, not knowing the difference, and come Christmas the game won’t work at all. As of today, the top ten searched for games on Gamespot for the X-Box (bolded games are on the 360's list):

1. Half Life 2 - Supported
2. Need For Speed Most Wanted - Not Supported
3. Halo 2 - Supported
4. Star Wars Battlefront 2 - Not Supported
5. 50 Cent : Bulletproof - Not Supported
6. The Matrix : Path of Neo - Not Supported
7. Gun - Not Supported
8. True Crime : Streets of New York - Not Supported
9. King Kong - Not Supported
10. America's Army : Rise of a Soldier - Not Supported

So, of the ten games, two of them work on 360. One of them is a Microsoft release and the other is a PC port which worked on most PC hardware. You would THINK any Microsoft game would work on 360 at launch. MechAssault 2 on the list? I think not.

In the end, Microsoft has their work cut out for them. They have to provide a full online community and try and build the list of legacy titles that will work on the new system. I can say for sure that I will be hesitant to buy into the new system unless I can play some of my favorite, and more popular, titles on 360.

I'm sure that the five people who bought Barbie Horse Adventure got their 360s at midnight...sigh.