Audiosurf becomes Steam's top seller for February

by Scott Jon Siegel { Mar 5th 2008 at 4:10PM }

Indie title Audiosurf had a very good February, indeed. After getting released on Valve's Steam distribution system, and winning the Independent Games Festival Award for best audio, the procedurally-generated music racing game has just been announced as the top-selling title on Steam for the month of February.

Though no sales numbers have been given, a press release from Valve reveals the results of February's Steam sales, with Audiosurf beating out titles like Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Counter-Strike. Not bad for a one-man, indie operation.

If you have yet to experience Audiosurf's transcendental gameplay, it's only $9.95 USD; go get it already. A video of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in Audiosurf after the break.

Tags: audiosurf, igf, steam, valve

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ignatius @ Mar 5th 2008 4:15PM

I still don't get why everyone's obsessed with Mono.

Eraser FTW.

JakubK666 @ Mar 5th 2008 4:52PM

Well it actually gives you some challenge. I prefer gray blocks than being BOMBARDED by a bunch of colors and having to sort out this mess.

Ignatius @ Mar 5th 2008 5:08PM

It's more of a challenge to sort and collect accordingly to get high scores than it is to dodge greys and collect a singular color.

ogvor @ Mar 5th 2008 11:06PM

I have to admit that I play the Mono character for the... achievements

Please forgive me!

Von Dozier @ Mar 5th 2008 4:16PM

Never saw the appeal of this game. The clip makes it look even worse.

Good on them though for selling well.

Alex M @ Mar 5th 2008 4:42PM

I wasn't sure of the appeal, either. But this video has totally converted me. Spending $10 right now.

Gavin @ Mar 5th 2008 5:13PM

I got bored with it after an hour or so, then the novelty wore off.

copa @ Mar 5th 2008 4:17PM

I was excited by the early buzz, and downloaded the demo.

But I'm not sure I really get this game. In a typical music game, you are encouraged to play in the rhythm of the music, which is intuitive and fun.

From what I can tell with the demo, you need to operate out of rhythm most of the time. It appears that the goal is to avoid the abundant cool-colored blocks, so that you can rack up combos with the sporadic warm-color blocks. So I spend more time avoiding the beats than trying to hit them.

Maybe my problem is that I've been trying to enjoy it as a music game, when it is really more of a straight arcade shooter.

creid @ Mar 5th 2008 4:22PM

I bought it. Can't say it was my greatest purchase. I think the regular modes give me too much to do that I get overwhelmed, but Mono gives me too little to do. Oh well.

WiNG @ Mar 5th 2008 4:22PM

Is this game good: yes or no?

sicsided @ Mar 5th 2008 4:32PM

I like it a lot. Nothing of epic proportions or anything, but fun when you wanna listen and play something at the same time. Plenty of different modes to choose from, and if you got the song library its quite a different experience every time.

@copa, its not that when you hit the note it unlocks the beat, its more of just the song generates these notes at certain pitches to hit, so your not hitting them to unlock the sound or anything. So yes it is more arcade shooter but one that changes to your music.

Kizzle @ Mar 5th 2008 4:49PM

For the price, it's ok. It's not some amazing revelation or anything, though. As with anything like this, the auto-generated tracks aren't really that thrilling and the gameplay isn't exactly addictive.

There is a cool thing where it'll email you if you are dethroned from the top of the leaderboards on a song, though.

Ignatius @ Mar 5th 2008 4:53PM

When you start getting global high scores on popular songs, it becomes addictive because you get a nice little email in your box saying that you were dethroned.

I see those and I go and beat the hell out of whoever dared challenge my reign over that song.

Einhanderkiller @ Mar 5th 2008 5:23PM

Yes.

spenceinblue @ Mar 5th 2008 4:31PM

You have to think of it more like an interactive music visualization than a game. If you dont like music you will not like this game.

klitorisaurus @ Mar 5th 2008 4:24PM

Does it come with preset songs or does it work with any mp3?

Bootes @ Mar 5th 2008 4:27PM

It comes with the Orange Box soundtrack, but you can use any songs you want.

Veko @ Mar 5th 2008 4:30PM

I got this mostly because it's nice to have a game to play along to your favorite tunes.

Plus, I'll pay $10 for almost anything. Except a prostitute. You know there's something wrong if the service is that cheap.

Dauragon88 @ Mar 5th 2008 4:31PM

Holy damn, that game looks awesome!

Is it just me or does this game make Space Oddity even more eerie than it already is?

Jonah Falcon @ Mar 5th 2008 4:31PM

Addictive and only $10.

billychaos @ Mar 5th 2008 4:36PM

This game is best played with an xbox 360 controller in my opinion. I find it easier to do tight turns. Unlike the mounse and keyboard, the controller sort of 'slaps back' to the middle when you let go of it. In other words, if you lean to the left or right you'll go to the left or right track. When you let go of the analog stick it automatically slaps back to the middle track. This makes playing really tough boards easier.

To answer anyone question wondering, yes this game is awesome. It is unlike any music game i've ever played. What makes it stand out is the leadership boards are based on each individual song. So if you are the only one that has the MP3 for Michael Jackson's 'Heal the world song', you'll be gauranteed the number one spot for that song, till someone else plays that song.

Audiosurf can even email you when your high scores have been beat on a particular song. It's such an interesting concept.

Einhanderkiller @ Mar 5th 2008 5:24PM

Personally, it's easier for me with the mouse. Playing with the arrow keys and the 360 controller makes the faster songs more difficult.

Xiath @ Mar 5th 2008 9:04PM

Billy, you can do what I do and use "s" and "d" to play. "s" makes you go left, "d" makes you go right, and if you don't press anything it puts you right in the middle. the "," and "." are you're left and right click. It's so much easier to use

skokefoe @ Mar 5th 2008 4:38PM

Release for XBLA, plz. Assuming you can still use whatever you want for music (especially networked or via ipod).

Articrono @ Mar 5th 2008 4:41PM

It's not a racing game. Who or what are you racing against? It's a strategic puzzle game with a racing design element. Asshat.

BillyBones @ Mar 5th 2008 4:52PM

I completely agree with copa.

I also bought the game and I really like it, but i do find it a shame that the whole blocks-chiming-to-the-music is lost on account of the fact that i have to avoid them! If only there were a game-mode where you had to hit all the blocks and thus sort of 'dance' to the music.

Also, in double vision, it would be nice to have at least some form of ability (like pointman or pusher) to give a bit more strategy to the game, other than just waiting for appropriate colours.

Xiath @ Mar 5th 2008 9:05PM

Once again there is, at the top of the screen there is a button to "free ride" in which there is no points and it's like Mono, just without the gray blocks.

Kassu @ Mar 5th 2008 5:04PM

Pointman FTW.

Mills and Boom @ Mar 5th 2008 5:08PM

Ironman Ninja Mono here.

But yea the games fookin awesome. With the 10% preorder discount I got it for £4.something and bought it for my girlfriend when she got hooked on it.

So it should sell well. Helps that its dirt cheap too and just has oh-so much replayability.

Mills and Boom @ Mar 5th 2008 5:13PM

And why the hell does the person playing that suck so bad? Does anyone even hit gray blocks anymore?

And I also didn't know Bowie was so big outside of the UK!

James Lockwood @ Mar 5th 2008 5:17PM

"...winning the Independent Games Festival Award for best audio"

How the Hell does it win Best Audio? YOU pick what songs you play in it - it has no audio included (other than The Orange Box tracks - but wouldn't that have won, then?) If I play Madonna (I won't, no fear), does it still win best audio? Apologies if this has been brought up previously.

It sort of reminds me of a past incident... http://www.joystiq.com/2005/12/11/joystiq-takes-highest-honors-at-spike-vgas-finishes-dead-last/

Mills and Boom @ Mar 5th 2008 6:29PM

Christ.
It's not specifically for "best soundtrack", it's for "best use of audio". It takes any song and makes a big rollercoaster with obstacles out of it. Whereas my game and 99% of the commercial stuff out there simply has 1 or 2 musicians and sound designers sitting around making a few static tracks that most of the time don't have any impact on the gameplay at all! *phew*

rokobungi @ Mar 5th 2008 6:35PM

I'd like to see them try to play something from Dragonforce they'd probably be invisible through half of any of their songs.

sure @ Mar 5th 2008 9:08PM

there's a sea of songs i dislike in youtube. dragonforce among them.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1-z6YK92otg

there.

rokobungi @ Mar 5th 2008 9:39PM

I meant this player on basically any really difficult song. just to laugh at them. the video points to a fairly good player

chispito @ Mar 5th 2008 7:55PM

Ignatius-

The mono modes are less challenging, but they integrate much better with the rhythm and dynamics of the music. You can actually see how the blocks correspond to the beat. In the other modes it's too chaotic to appreciate.

Sorry if this shows up as a double post.

rokobungi @ Mar 5th 2008 9:02PM

hmmm what if there were community 'alternate' courses that keep the overall shape of the course but let you place the bricks

because computer beat detection doesn't always match up with what we hear.

could even have a voting system after 3 consecutive down votes someone else gets a try at making their course the alternative course. it wouldn't take huge amounts of bandwidth to do this a 10k text file would hold most any new course.

WedgeTalon @ Mar 5th 2008 10:17PM

Is there any way to buy and/or play this game without Steam?

WedgeTalon @ Mar 5th 2008 10:33PM

Actually, just found this:
http://www.audio-surf.com/forum/index.php/topic,1998.0.html

So, Steam required == no purchase from me. Call me when I can play without Steam. I refuse to have my games shackled to that crappy DRM system.

Between things like Steam and those shady companies who make CD DRM like starforce (or whatever it is), it is getting so you can't honestly purchase a PC game anymore. No wonder so many people pirate games.

Deck @ Mar 5th 2008 10:31PM

The game rocks. It is awesome. It is only 10 dollars. If you like music, (which most people do) you will like this game. Buy it. Its cheap. It rocks. Enough said.

gokk @ Mar 6th 2008 7:31AM

I blame /v/irgins for this. Just look at the top songs.

Abscissa @ Mar 6th 2008 12:42PM

Am I missing something? Since when is "virgins" spelled with two forward-slashes?

Abscissa @ Mar 6th 2008 1:14PM

I tried the demo of this, but didn't even get into the actual gameplay simply because the audio clip that told you how to play was stuttering so badly I couldn't tell what was being said. Honestly, how fucking hard is it to play a damn audio clip properly? And in an audio-oriented game?!? Sheesh!

Just as well though. From the videos it looks pretty boring. And if the main thing that makes it fun is the leaderboards, or being able to listen to any song while playing it, then it doesn't sound like a game worth bothering with in the first place. I can just play a *fun* game that supports leaderboards and custom soundtracks (Hell, don't even need custom soundtracks, just a mute button and a stereo).