Audiosurf Review

Audiosurf is a hybrid of a puzzle game and a futuristic racer (mostly the former) from developer BestGameEver, and one of the more unique games I’ve played in a while. The basic concept of the game is that you load up a music file of your choice and try to get the highest score that you can by collecting blocks (called “Cars” in the game) that are scattered along the raceway.

Doesn’t sound like anything new, right? Well, there’s one unique twist to the basic formula: every track you race (and I use the word lightly) on is generated by analyzing the music file you play. Each song has it’s own custom-tailored track, so if you have a large collection of music this unique feature adds a lot of replay value. In addition to that there are also online leaderboards where you can compete with other people for the highest score for each song spanning the games three difficulty modes. There are a few issues with the online features due to the game generating more traffic than the developer was prepared for, but they should be sorted out soon enough.

Free Music For All

Looking for some good music to listen to? Don’t want to support RIAA-backed record labels? Try grabbing some tunes from a Netlabel (a.k.a. online label, web label, or MP3 label). The name pretty much explains what they are: record labels that use the Internet as their primary means of distribution. The big difference between a Netlabel and a traditional one is that they offer their music free of charge. Music on these labels is generally released under a Creative Commons License that will allow you to listen to, distribute, display and perform the music for free so long as you make others aware of the terms of the license and give the original author credit. You may not profit from any of the music under the license terms that labels list their releases under unless you get the original authors permission, and you usually aren’t allowed to make derivative works of the music without the original authors permission. Please respect the artists wishes and obtain permission before doing anything prohibited under the CCL terms the Netlabel has listed on their website.

The types of music available varies, but the dominant style is definitely electronic music and all of its sub-genres. So if that’s not your cup ‘o tea you may have to do a little digging before you find something you like, but I’d definitely recommend looking around. There’s a lot of good free music out there waiting to be found, either created by artists who do it for the love of it rather than for monetary gain or who just haven’t been signed by a traditional label yet (if you see a button for donations or if the label has a store, please feel free to support the labels and their artists).

There are two websites that I know of that contain a directory of labels. One of those websites is called Netlables.org, they offer categorized list of labels and will surely prove useful in helping you find something you’ll like. In addition to Netlabels.org, you can also find a directory on the Internet Archive.

To get you started, below are a couple of my favorite labels along with links to some of the best artists featured on each.

Assassin’s Creed review

Assassin’s Creed is an ingenious game on paper. In execution however, it has more than its fair share of “inbred idiot” moments. But, again, the concept alone is almost cool enough to make these moments overlookable. Add onto that an interesting story and you’ve got yourself a decent 20 hours or so.

Hitting first on the aforementioned concept, it is indeed a great one. You’re a bad ass killing machine in flowing white robes who kills evildoers at will with the ability to parkour over massive historically accurate cities in pursuit of your target and in avoidance of their guards. Reading that alone may not get your taste buds salivating but if you’ve seen any of the pre-release hype material (especially that with the game’s cute, French-Canadian lead producer Jade Raymond) you’ve been drooling from day one.