The latest Metallica album, Death Magnetic was released the other week, it was released in stores and via Guitar Hero. I say who needs Guitar Hero? I started to play some of the songs via Audiosurf and I had an immense time. I had forgotten how cool it was just to ride the songs (that sounds so trippy) and chill out with some great tunes. Guitar Hero, pah that is just too complicated with all these instrument things getting in the way. Audiosurf is where it should be at.

Death Magentic rocks by the by.

Double Indie based updates right here, right now!

In the first half of tonights update I bring word of the ‘FM Update’ for AudioSurf. This mega update brings along last.fm audioscrobbling (Doug Lombardi’s word not mine!) the ability to use AudioSurf as a music visualizer, scoreboard comments along with loads and loads of other stuff!

In a mix of AudioSurf and World of Goo updates I bring word that Kyle Gabler, one of the men behind World of Goo has had his music thrown onto AudioSurf radio. Years ago Kyle made some techno music which has just been unleashed on the world via the AudioSurf radio.

More World of Goo and AudioSurf stuff after the jump.

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A whole host of Valve related updates right here right now, read them and smile!

Valve and 360 Charges

In a recent chat with Eurogamer Doug Lombardi talked about how Valve would like new content for Team Fortress 2 to be free on consoles. The interview can be found here.

Asked whether that still meant for free, Lombardi said: “Oh, for free, definitely, as much as we can. You know, we don’t have full say over that, but we have some say over how that works.

“So, for us, for free is the way to go. The gamers play the game, they want to keep playing the game, so we’ve collected their fifty bucks at the start, and once they’re in the park, they can ride any ride they want in the park. So, for us that’s been the philosophy.”

This obviously won’t go down well with Microsoft who generally require all content to be paid for regardless of developer plans. Time will tell what happens with this, but for now read the rest of the interview here.

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Everyone loves music; everyone (I should hope) loves games. Mix the two together is surely a winning combination, and in the case of AudioSurf it most certainly is a winning combination. Created by Dylan Fitterer and distributed on Steam using the Steamworks tools this is a game that truly shows the great potential of the independent gaming scene currently on the PC.

AudioSurf is a racing-puzzle game that takes your music and turns it into a track within seconds of selecting what you want to play. The shape of the track is entirely dependent on what type of song you chose; a slow acoustic song will generate a gentle uphill track while (this would be my choice) a heavy thrash metal song will give you a hell of a ride racing down hill all the way. It really is fantastic the way Dylan has made this possible, the track will undulate and take you on a trip following the pace and beat of the music, this is brilliant as it allows you to easily chose whether you want an easy or a very challenging game, purely by your selection of music.

The focus of each track is on the blocks that litter your path, you must hit the coloured blocks to create a grouping and score the big points. There are different characters which you use to race the tracks, however many of them are quite similar with just some small abilities adding a twist to proceedings. However once you find a character you feel comfortable with then you can have a whole load of fun with it.

Controls are simple and intuitive, there are three lanes on each track, and depending on what character you go as there is a rest lane where no blocks will appear. You can easily use the mouse or keyboard to shift your ship from lane to lane weaving between different blocks in your aim to get the high scoring ‘warm’ colours like red and yellow. The graphics are very nicely presented, you can choose what background you want and on that there are some funky patterns and designs that change colour and shape depending on what the song is.

You will find yourself racing again and again to get a high score; if you create an account with the game your high scores will be submitted to a central hub which allows you to see the scores achieved by everyone around the world, local to you and even your friends you can add in the game. If someone beats your top score you receive an e-mail informing you that you have lost your spot at the top which, in me at least, gave me the drive to go out and try harder and harder to reclaim my top spot. AudioSurf is one of the first games to utilise the Steamworks utilities provided by Valve and the immediate signs are that it is a great set of utilities. AudioSurf has achievements which provide another great incentive to knuckle down and get some great high scores and really go out and play the game to the max!

The sheer fact that one man has been able to create this game is quite some feat, making the game based on your music means that if you enjoy the racing/puzzling of the main game then you really should have no complaints as you are the one choosing what kind of track you race on. This is a very innovative game, while it may lack depth it is a great game to jump into and spend your time listening to your favourite tunes and having a great time. Further evidence, if needed, of its quality is the fact that it is nominated for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival.

Highly recommended purchase.

Just played some AudioSurf, as you do you know. Threw on ‘Bleeding Me’ by Metallica, it was the S&M version…and it was brilliant! A great song in its own right, after being put through the AudioSurf magic it was a joy to play. The track was very up and down, some great slow point climbing points punctuated by some utterly heart-pounding downhill heavy moments. I highly recommend anyone with AudioSurf and Bleeding Me (S&M version) go and give it a whirl! Track preview below.

The front runner for the IGF Awards this year; Audiosurf has been confirmed for a release on Steam this Friday the 15th of February. It is now available for pre-purchase with a 10% discount off the $9.95 retail price until it is released. Audiosurf on Steam will include The Orange Box soundtrack which includes hits such as ‘Still Alive’ from Portal. Audiosurf is also one of the first title to make full use of the recently announced Steamworks and will offer full support for Steam achievements available via the Steam Community Profile Pages.

Audiosurf is a music-adapting puzzle racer where you use your own music to create your own experience. The shape, the speed, and the mood of each ride is determined by the song you choose. You earn points for clustering together blocks of the same color on the highway, and compete with others on the internet for the high score on your favorite songs.

Watch out for this landing this Friday and I for one will be getting this and providing my thoughts!