The E3 videogame expo is known as much for its parties as it is for being a videogame showcase. And while you obviously can't judge a game by its party, occasionally the two intertwine to form a near-perfect expression of purpose.
 
Take last night's party for Electronic Arts and MTV's new baby, Rock Band. Held at the legendary Troubadour club in West Hollywood, it was a model of execution, from the zero-hassle valet service to make you feel like a star, to the crowd levels inside the small-to-medium-sized venue that was full enough to create intense energy, yet still allowed absolute freedom of movement and instant open-bar access. On stage were an explosive double bill featuring The Eagles of Death Metal and Queens of the Stone Age, two groups that exhibit high levels of both musicianship and pure rockstar glamor. Lost in the cacophony a mere 15 feet from the stage, the healing power of rock coursed through me in waves, making me entirely forget the 15 hours of meetings and presentations I'd just sat through.
 
Earlier in the evening, a four-person team from Harmonix, the company behind Rock Band and creators of the original Guitar Hero had taken the stage, and using musical videogame controllers corresponding to guitar, bass, drums and mic, pulled off two blistering songs. While they sounded fantastic, they also had the good sense to get off the stage and let the pros take over. It was a good choice that followed many others they've made recently.
 
Earlier in the day I had the opportunity to play Rock Band's biggest competitor, Guitar Hero 3. Rock Band and Guitar Hero have something of a history. Harmonix developed the first Guitar Hero for PS2, which was a massive sleeper hit. They followed that up with the rampantly successful Guitar Hero 2 for both PS2 and Xbox 360. During Guitar Hero 2's development, publisher Red Octane was purchased (along with the rights to the Guitar Hero name) by Activision for $100 million. Here's where things get sticky.

Harmonix (the people who actually made the game itself) was purchased in a seperate deal by MTV. They didn't have the Guitar Hero name, but they had its originators. Now MTV is partering with the industry's 900-pound gorrilla, Electronic Arts, to put out Rock Band, a game that lets you simulate rockgod-dom to an entirely new level. Not only is there the aforementioned four-person co-op play that loops drums and singing into the mix, but it appears MTV was able to provide some serious music-industry mojo in the form of a killer music lineup.
 
Make no mistake, Guitar Hero 3 is fun, and has several improvements over its predecessors, including online play, an interesting battle mode, and a larger number of songs featuring the original music. But with Rock Band tuning up in the next room, Guitar Hero is having a hard time getting any attention. This is mainly due to the fact that Rock Band takes nearly every feature of Guitar Hero to the next level. One of the most significant manifestations of this is its downloadable content. We're talking entire albums, all in their orginal formats. Yesterday Harmonix announced that you'll be able to download the entire Who album, Who's Next, in Rock Band format, and that new music content will be debuted for download every week. It's an absolute paradigm shift as far as serving their audience goes, and shows a very canny understanding of where the real money is going to be as games mature in this generation.
 
Just as their party erased the aches, pains and stress of the day, Rock Band will do something similar in your living room, letting you crawl inside the music and experience it in a more visceral, creative way. These guys are going to make 18 bazillion dollars and they're going to do it by making millions of people very happy. And it's a loud, sweaty, beautiful thing.