Geeky Friday #1 - AudioSurf

Thats right folks, in an attempt to boost my blogging habits, I’ve decided to create a (hopefully) weekly feature here on PyroWinter called Geeky Friday. Since last year when I shut down The She Geek I’ve missed having somewhere to vent my “geek-ness” online; thus this little feature was born.

This week to start us off on the right foot, I’ve decided to shamelessly promote a new game which I found through one of my friends here at college, and that game is called AudioSurf.

Now by this screenshot, you can already tell that AudioSurf is filled with bright colors (and they’re customizable too). You are in control of a small jet-car which is rocketing down the “music highway”. Personally, I equate this more to the “acid trip with soundtrack highway” but regardless, you’re going to be bombarded with a multitude of colors from the beginning to end in each and every round.

The object of the game is to collect the colored squares while avoiding the gray ones. You have three lanes, and each time you hit a colored square, it moves into the queue on that lane. Touch three or more of the same color in your queues (blocks can be in multiple lanes - i.e. 2 in first lane 1 in second), to clear them and receive your points. You don’t automatically clear them once you’ve gotten three because the game gives you a grace-period which allows you to potentially pick up more blocks of that color and increase your bonus. If you hit a gray block, it gets suck in your lane queue, and only disappear after a certain amount of time.

Sound fun yet? If yes, hang on tight because it’s about to get even better. The best part about AudioSurf is that rather than dealing with a mundane game soundtrack that you eventually get bored of and quit playing, AudioSurf lets you choose your own music. Thats right you pick your own songs. As long as the song is in a compatible format (mp3, m4a, etc), you can have AudioSurf load it up. The game automatically detects the rhythms, vocals, etc of the song and generates a custom musical highway for you to play on.

The speed your car moves at is directly influenced by the speed of the song your playing to. If the song is slow, the track tilts up and everything slows down. If the song is fast, the track tilts down and you rocket along at breakneck speeds. Throw in some random banked curves, more gray blocks than you can imagine, and in-opportune speed-ups, and you’ve got yourself one wild ride.

The game also comes with several different modes such as Mono (only have to deal with one color), Eraser (gives you the ability to erase blocks of certain colors from your lane queues, Double V (you control two cars), and many more. These options are also available on different levels (beginner, pro and expert) which all come with their own little quirks and bonuses. If you’re feeling really brave, you can check Ironmode at the bottom to add in some extra hardness. I haven’t tried it, but I’ve been told it’s quite difficult. I’ve only really played Mono and Eraser modes, but I do look forward to trying out the rest.

You can get a trial version of AudioSurf from the website, but it only allows you to do 5 songs before it expires. But the nice thing is, the full version only costs a measly one-time fee of $10. AudioSurf also requires you to download and install Steam, which is a high-powered gaming server which lets you download games, add them to your account, and then access them from any computer. If you have games such as Half Life 2, or The Orange Box, it’s likely you’ve already got Steam installed. The Steam panel will keep your game installations up-to-date automatically, and give you information on other games you may enjoy.

All in all, I’m not ashamed to say that I am now completely addicted to AudioSurf and may be ignoring everything else for a while while I play. Yes, I’m a bad person.

Bad Movie Night

After cruising around the video store for fifteen minutes without finding anything that looked even remotely interesting, D, C and I decided that it was high time for a bad movie night. So then we decided to look around and get movies that we knew would either a) just be plain bad or b) emotionally scar us. We finally settled on Bring It On (In It to Win It) and Grindhouse: Death Proof. We had seen Grindhouse: Planet Terror at New Year’s and it was a major letdown, so we figured this one would be too.

Bring it On was exactly as we had predicted; emotionally scarring. I will never be able to look at high school cheerleaders the same way again… It was just plain bad. So naturally we mocked it the whole way through. But I totally called what the new squad name would be about 5 minutes before they decided in the movie (D and C thought I was crazy at first, but they ended up having to eat their words because I was right).

Death Proof on the other hand was a surprise. I wasn’t expecting much after I had wasted valuable hours of my life on Planet Terror. But it was actually really good. Albeit it was corny at times and the fact that it was shot like an old movie complete with blips, jumps, fade outs, pauses, crappy shooting, etc. But it was an awesome movie, and I absolutely LOVED the music (though I like pretty much any music in any of the Tarantino movies).

So all in all, the bad movie night was only a half waste. We got to hang out (which was the important thing) and had some good times (I am NEVER sitting in the back of D’s car without a seat belt on again - they just take advantage of that). Its nights like this which remind me how much I really miss “my guys”. We never hung out like this (movie nights, etc) much in high school, and it’s a shame. Because its pretty much the highlight of any time I come home now. Tomorrow night is going to have much festivities too because its a belated birthday party for my dear friend K. And then Sunday its back to school for me….. (oh .. joy ..)

Coming Up For Air

All I have to do is last a couple more days and then it is officially spring break and I can go to bed [and sleep for a week]. But even though it’s going to be a week off from school, there’s still a bunch of things that I have to get done. I’ve got midterms coming up when I get back so I’m going to have to spend a lot of time studying while at home. I’m also planning on getting my hair cut/colored, making a new template for PyroWinter, and finishing up a bunch of work that I’ve been putting off over the month. I also need to go to Verizon  with my mom and get my new phone/plan (maybe).

I plan on doing a bunch of relaxing too. Mum and I have already planned out a Gilmore Girls Season 7 marathon (since she still hasn’t seen the last episode), and I’m going to be catching up on all the Nip/Tuck I missed this/last season. I’ll probably find more things to do while being lazy (like playing WoW), but I don’t really want to commit to anything that I really want to do for fear I won’t have time.

The weekend after we get back from break Michael and I are heading to New Haven, CT to go to the Black Sun music festival and see Assemblage 23. There are no words to describe how excited I am about that;  they’ve been one of my favorite bands for a long time. I just hope that they do Let Me Be Your Armor and Disappoint live, because if they do I can officially die happy.