I haven’t played more than the first level, so I can’t attest to the overall experience, but sometimes you gotta trust in fanboys (the designers, not me).

What’s even more exciting though, is that the developers of the Flash game have released a mappack with  40 levels for the original Portal game, based on the flash games’ levels. How’s that for circular design? This gives almost 3 and and half hours of new Portal content.

I’ve gotta delve into playing the custom Portal maps that are all available now.

I’m sorry… say what you want… I’d rather have a Grue than a kitten anyday.

The Escapist Review (Recommend: Buy It)

Gamer 2.0 (9/10, Editor’s Choice)

Watching some of the videos on YouTube (see the main site’s video/review section), I can see why.

My sample video gives a good show of the interaction between the main rhythm and the bass, with the changing road, but doesn’t really show the complexity of a faster song, nor any of the grey blocks.

Escapist’s review has a great summary, so I’m not going to try and rewrite it:

    Audiosurf is an Independent Games Festival 2008 finalist, and with good reason. Part racing game, part match-three game and part rhythm game, Audiosurf synthesizes these three genres into a wholly satisfying experience. The basic premise of the game is simplicity itself – you steer a ship down a three-lane highway, scooping up colored blocks into a grid and trying to get matches of three or more blocks. What makes Audiosurf such an enjoyable experience is how the highway, blocks and background is generated.

    Like many other racing games, Audiosurf can import music from your collection – including CD audio, MP3s, M4As, WMAs and OGGs. Unlike those other games, Audiosurf actually analyzes each track you upload and generates a course specific to that song, using the primary instruments to place colored blocks and tempo to alter the elevation of the highway. The result is a compelling and intuitive experience, and like most things musical, you just have to be there to truly appreciate it. As your song slows, you find yourself slowing, moving uphill, weaving between lanes and casually scooping up the blocks. As the tempo increases, you start heading downhill and pick up speed until the blocks are flashing past you so quickly it’s practically dizzying. Red and yellow blocks are worth more points, and you’ll find more of them in the up-tempo portions of your soundtrack. The blue and purple blocks are worth fewer points, but they are easier to come by. Gray blocks get in your way as you zoom around.

Here’s the thing. The game is only $9.95 on Steam! That’s a bargain for a game that has the replay value that it appears to have.

Sure, it’s not Rock Band since this first version doesn’t have any sort of multiplayer aspect, but given the amount of my friends who are music-rhythm game enthusiasts, I think this will be right up our alley.

I like customizing my PC. I look at it all day long at work, and often for hours at home on weekends. I’m a big fan of changing my wallpaper from time to time, and I’ve also purchased and use Windowblinds.

One of the ways I’ve customized is by using Bootskin. Bootskin is a free product that allows you to change the screen you see while loading Windows XP. Granted, I rarely reboot, but when I do, I’m pleasantly surprised when I see my bootskin. It’s also kind of cool when someone else watches your PC boot (at a LAN party for example).

So I’m listening to Wil Wheaton’s PAX 2007 Keynote (mp3), and there is a portion when he’s talking about historical video games. If you recognize the phrase, then you’ve obviously played (for many hours) the game. Look at the blog title and opening sentence. Do you recognize the game? Of course *I* do. So I decide to be creative and make myself a new boot screen:

Link to Grue Bootskin (for your very own!)

I tracked down an Apple IIe true type font, and tried to find a green color similar to my old dimming monitor.

Welcome to my world…

[004] Snowly of The World of Warcraft (Xinhua) A young girl nicknamed "Snowly" died last month after playing the online game "World of Warcraft" for several continuous days during the national day holiday. Several days before Snowly’s death, the girl was said to be preparing for a relatively difficult part of the game (namely, to kill the Black Dragon Prince) and had very little rest. She told her friends that she felt very tired. A big online funeral was held for Snowly one week after her death (see photo from The Mirror).

 

<snip>

With 4.5M users there are bound to be deaths in the World of Warcraft and gauging by the relationships I’m building with fellow gamers I can definitely see how an online funeral would be a very big deal. I often see players playing until they pass out, especially when they are questing in a group where their participation is required for the group to hold together as a team. (I’ve passed out a few times as well.) There is also a lot of pressure to catch up if you drop behind a group of friends in order to play your role in the quests.

However, I don’t see this as a reason to bash these games. Clearly the addictive nature of these games are a risk from a productivity and health perspective, but I think that the sense of responsibility and teamwork that is built by the games exceeds this cost.
<snip>

I have to take a different stance than Joi on this. While I wholeheartedly agree that the relationships and teamwork building is a good thing, it’s the extreme that it’s taken to. As Joi himself says, “I’ve passed out a few times as well.”. See, this is where the problem lies. You shouldn’t have to play for that long that you pass out. This actually goes against the spirit of teamwork. It’s one thing to push yourself to your limit, but it’s another to know what that limit is and not put your team in a position of depending on you, and then having you not be there.

Play for hours at a time if you want. Have marathon sessions with lot’s of Mountain Dew or Bawls. But, don’t do it all the time. Don’t force yourself beyond what you can handle. Don’t become so absorbed in the game that the rest of the world ceases to exist.

Current Mood:  aggravated

Serious Sam II Gone Gold 
Croteam sends along word that Serious Sam II has Gone Gold and will be on store shelves on October 11th.

Quote:

2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., today announced that Serious Sam II has gone gold and will be available in North American retail stores on October 11. Developed by Croteam, Serious Sam II features online co-operative gameplay for both PC (with up to 16 players via LAN or Internet) the Xbox video game and entertainment system from Microsoft (with up to four players via Xbox Live online game service or system link). Players will fight through more than 40 levels of insane first person shooter action against wave after wave of enemies, wielding an arsenal of 15 different weapons, plus new drivable vehicles and turrets. Serious Sam II will be released for PC and Xbox on October 11th. For more information and to download the playable demo, please visit www.serioussam2.com.

I must say that I really enjoyed the original game as well as the expansion. It’s one of those games that you can play at a LAN party for 6 or 7 hours straight and still keep going. There’s really nothing like emptying and entire clip from a mini-gun into a charging Rhino to make you have a sense of accomplishment.

Current Mood:  excited