Music games rule E3; all aboard the Wii bandwagon

News from the virtual world:

• FACE THE MUSIC: At this year's E3 Media & Business Summit, the influence of one game — "Guitar Hero" — was inescapable. Naturally, Activision's forthcoming "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" drew a lot of attention. Its new highlights include a multiplayer battle mode and head-to-head face-offs against "boss" players like former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash.

But the studio that created "GH" has moved on to Electronic Arts' and MTV Games' "Rock Band." Crowds lined up at EA's E3 suite for hands-on time with "Rock Band," which adds bass, drums and vocals to the "GH" formula. Developer Harmonix is promising new downloadable tunes — and even full albums, starting with The Who's "Who's Next" — every week. Metallica will be making some of its most popular tracks available, and Steven Van Zandt will help Harmonix pick new songs.

At least half a dozen other games this fall are trying to recreate some of that "Guitar Hero" magic. Disney's "Hannah Montana Music Jam" and Ubisoft's "Jam Sessions" both turn the Nintendo DS into a guitar. Karaoke lovers can chime in on Disney's "High School Musical: Sing It!" or the latest installments of Sony's "SingStar" franchise. Dancers can get down with EA's "Boogie" or Konami's "Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party." Even the crazed bunnies in Ubisoft's "Rayman Raving Rabbids 2" have formed a band; they do a mean (as in unlistenable) cover of "Smoke on the Water."

• ALL ABOARD: Just about every game company (other than Sony and Microsoft) is jumping aboard the Wii bandwagon. Nintendo's console is easier to program for than the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, but its real attraction for publishers is the huge worldwide audience that has taken a shine to it.

Designers are finding all sorts of wacky things you can do with the Wii's remote controller. There are fighting games like Atari's "Godzilla Unleashed" and "Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3." There are party games like Atari's "Jenga" and Electronic Arts' untitled trivia game. There are family-oriented "sandbox" games like EA's "Blocks" and "MySims." And there are the aforementioned "Boogie," "Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party" and "Rayman Raving Rabbids 2."

Oddly enough, there are two games in which you control a bubble of liquid: THQ's "De Blob" and Konami's "Dewy's Adventure." But most intriguing of all may be Capcom's "Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure," a colorful adventure in which you use the Wii remote to pick up the objects you need to solve puzzles. It's reminiscent of the "point-and-click" adventures that were popular in the early days of computer gaming. Could we be seeing a renaissance of the genre?