Honestly, if the makers of Rock Band and Guitar Hero didn’t see this coming they should have their market research teams go back to school. With the glut of “Band” and “Hero” spin offs, expansions and sequels, combined with all the knock off wannabe rhythm games being passed on to less savvy consumers it was simply inevitable.

Now while I may be content to keep strumming away with my Rock Band 2 disc and all the myriad of songs I’ve spent Micro$oft monies on, these publishers are still insisting that I should spend more of my real world monies on their next sets of plastics and song packs.

Personally I find the lack of cross compatibility of Rock Band’s Beatles edition to be complete and utter bullshit, and I’m of a strong notion that 5 is too many numbers for the Guitar Hero franchise for what little improvements they’ve made. Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt that they will be quality products for new entrants or Beatles loyalist, but for me the continued support with new song releases is where they’ll keep getting my money.

But take heart faux rockers of the digital world as our horizons are about to be opened up theoretically to infinity and beyond with the new Rock Band Network community site. This new upload system will allow bands both big and small to create and sell playable game content from their recordings using the tools allegedly used by Harmonix themselves. Initially this will be available for Xbox 360 users, with the hopes that it could expand to PS3 and Wii as well. As Apple and Microsoft have shown, user generated game content can work in today’s world outside of the PC arena. Let’s just hope they have a better system for ratings and quality assurance save us from an onslaught of crap to sift through.

p.s. Caramel Pollock!

The current lineup for a July 8th release includes: (classics in bold)

• Armed and Dangerous™
• Indiana Jones® and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones® and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
• LEGO® Indiana Jones: The Original Adventure
• LOOM™
• Star Wars Battlefront® II
• Star Wars Republic Commando®
• Star Wars Starfighter™
• The Dig®
• Thrillville®: Off the Rails™

Finally I can play The Dig without having to scour Goodwill for an old 66mz PC running DOS. Also Loom is the bizomb so you bitches should check that out too and get cultured yo.

S’matter of fact you support these as much as possible because rumor has it that if Steam isn’t your service of choice, there is a strong possibility for iphone, DSi and PSP versions as well. Finally we can educate today’s youth on the core principles of adventure gaming and show them that while Call of Duty and Rock Band are cool, nothing beats a great story.

Those looking for something exactly like FFXII for PS2 will be disappointed. Those looking for a lighthearted diversion with characters they know, love and hate from Ivalice will be rewarded. The gameplay is a new style of real time strategy that Square Enix has been using lately on the DS. I’d have to say I’m not a big fan of it, and thats coming from a long time RPG and Strategy game fan. It works, and its not terrible but I would just rather have the ol’ tried and true method. The setup here tries to be too many things at once and ends dumbing down the gameplay to compensate for the flow. There are strategy elements here with the equipment customization, magic, a very light gambit system and classic rock, paper, scissors element weaknesses. The problem is, all of these grid based or RPG strategy elements become unneeded and just plain cumbersome when used in the heat of battle. Most notably when trying to pick out individual troops or manage a menu in battles that last a mere few seconds. It’s so much easier to just build up your troops and “Zerg” them into enemy parties finishing the battle quickly. Unfortunately there’s no real reward to play any other way.

My only other gripe before moving on is the difficulty level that takes a mysterious jump 2/3rds of the way through the game. You’ll be cruising along fine, just playing normal missions and side missions with no grinding, when out of nowhere the difficulty takes a jump beyond your level without any increment or warning. Then you are forced to grind. This was especially annoying to me in an RPG for a system meant to be played in shorter bursts. I don’t have time to grind on portables with not nearly enough rewards compared to full fledged console RPGs. Fans of 16bit Square RPG’s will love the art style along with the surprisngly great music. Most of which sounds as if it was ripped right from PS2 FFXII. The story is good and pretty straightforward for those that get tired of the long and complicated stories of console RPG’s. As a bonus there are plenty of opportunities to save, which is critical to portable RPG’s.

Fans of Final Fantasy and especially Final Fantasy XII won’t be disappointed. Fans of light hearted, semi-complex RPG’s should also check it out. The only caveat is the even more uncomfortable relationship between Vaan and Penelo being adopted brother and sister. If you thought you were confused about that relationship in FFXII prepare yourself, unless you’re into that sort of thing (you freaks), then you can add it as a plus.