Well dang, since this column is about music and videogames, I guess I’d better say something about...

Audiosurf

Audiosurf is the game I have been waiting for since forever, and I’m certain many other people have, too. It’s like this:

(1) You play a rhythm game that uses licensed pop songs (eg. Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero), and you think, “Wouldn’t it be great if I could put my own music into this game, and it would just magically work.”

(2) Mesmerised by the visualiser on your favourite audio player, you wonder what other patterns could be extracted from music – like a videogame level, for example?

You put (1) and (2) together, and wonder why no-one with the right skills has done the obvious yet. But of course, they have! It’s called Vib Ribbon. Years later, someone does it even better, and that’s Audiosurf: an audio visualiser you can play. Isn’t it gorgeous?

You’re very welcome to discuss Audiosurf and make music recommendations in this forum thread. Memorable experiences for me have been the Sexy Synthesizer album, which races downhill at rib-cracking speed from start to finish, and anything by Osaka-based madwoman Doddodo, whose layered sounds and unpredictable rhythms create rollercoaster rainbows.

Worth noting (and I already did so on the front page) is Suite for Audiosurf, a handful of pleasant electronic pieces, composed and produced specifically to generate Audiosurf tracks. This is, so far as I know, the first music of its kind, but it certainly won’t be the last. We will be seeing a lot more of this sort of thing, especially as enthusiasts gradually decode Audiosurf’s secrets. I predict a cacophonous audio file that generates a track in the shape of the Portal cake.

(That’s predict, not look forward to.)

Also: Here is a very silly and stupid MP3 that you should download and play in Audiosurf without listening to it first. I promise you’ll regret it!

* * *

I have a complaint about Audiosurf, which is that it’s only available through Steam. I’m not furiously anti-Steam, but before Audiosurf, I didn’t really know what Steam was, and, more to the point, didn’t give a shit. I’m still not interested in Steam, and it bugs me that I have to have it installed to play Audiosurf. I was looking forward to Audiosurf for months, but Steam? What are you, Steam, and what are you doing on my computer? And why did you assume I give a fuck about the Orange Box soundtrack?

I’ve already spoken with a handful of people who were eager to spend ten dollars on Audiosurf until Steam got in the way, and then they couldn’t be stuffed. For most people, Audiosurf is a novelty – and should be an impulse buy.

Audiosurf has got to be the ultimate casual game. It’s easy; it’s something to do with your hands while listening to your favourite songs – plus there’s the novelty of seeing what cool shapes they make. I can’t think of a pleasant person in my life who wouldn’t enjoy Audiosurf. Steam, meanwhile... I could be wrong, but it gives the impression of being targeted at the hardcore market. I visit the Steam website and I see gamey games for gamers, and a very gamer-y colour scheme too.

I hope the developers of Audiosurf intend to use a variety of distribution methods eventually. But I wonder if they have a clue. I mean, the menus in Audiosurf are very gamer-y too, don’t you think? All that neon green and shit.

Ah well – I needn’t worry about other people’s problems. I, personally, have Audiosurf, and enjoy it daily. That’s all that matters to me.

ONE MORE THING, though. Steam is DRM, right? What the fuck! Why is everyone cool with that? Don’t we hate DRM? Are Valve exempt somehow – because, what, they are down-to-earth gamer guys like you and me, keepin’ it real and having a brew with their buddies? Fuck that. Fuck DRM and fuck fucking Steam.

Quick topic change before I finish:

VGMix

VGMix is back, after two friggin’ years! Willickers! VGMix is the more laid back alternative to OCR (whose increasing pomposity I have alluded to in previous Trouserfuls). It’s run by virt, who did the music for Shantae, don’t you know!

So, yeah – go and download some fun tunes! Maybe play them in Audiosurf, eh? Eh?

Eh?

Goodbye.