To celebrate the Zune HD's newfound support for 3D gaming, delivered via the recent v4.3 firmware, Microsoft has released six free games for its portable media device.

Among the touch and/or motion-controlled offerings are Project Gotham Racing and a specialized version of Dylan Fitterer's Audiosurf, in which players tilt the Zune HD to navigate the twists and turns of the track generated by their own music. Read more »

AudioSurf (PC), Dylan Fitterer's music-generated puzzle-inspired racer (or is it racing-inspired puzzler?), is on sale on Valve's digital distribution service Steam for a measly $2.49--a 75% price drop for this week only.

"We've introduced a shopping cart to Steam. To celebrate AudioSurf is now just $2.49, this week only. ADD TO CART!" implores the Steam homepage. Read more »

Indie record label Asthmatic Kitty has compiled a free fifteen track album of songs selected for use in Dylan Fitterer's puzzle-racer Audiosurf (PC), Pitchfork Media reports.

The compilation, entitled Music for Videogames v.1, includes a variety of previously unreleased as well as existing tracks from several artists including Sufjan Stevens, Dosh, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. The label said that the selected tracks complement Audiosurf's gameplay, which dynamically creates race tracks based on a user's imported music. Read more »

Dylan Fitter's unique musical puzzle racer Audiosurf was the top-selling title on Valve's digital distribution-based Steam platform during February, the company announced today.

Released on February 15, Audiosurf and its $9.95 price point topped the charts both in terms of revenue and units sold. The game, which dynamically creates race tracks based on a user's imported music, outsold such notable titles as Valve's The Orange Box and PopCap's Peggle Deluxe. Read more »

How is everyone doing this fine Friday? GDC is coming to a close, but we're still seeing some really great stuff out of it, such as exclusive footage of Fallen Empires and the announcement of Portal 2. Plus, you know you like some fresh video for the new God of War PSP game.

Lately with the release of Audiosurf, Shacker Aeg1x has been doing daily song challenges in the comments so be sure to check that out if the game floats your boat. People seem to like the question, so what are you playing this weekend?

Start of a new week, start of a new chatty. Hope your weekend left you invigorated, or at the very least, uninjured. We had a little bit of contest past couple days in the comments, to show some of the best Shackers... well, being Shackers. We left it up to you guys to pick a fan favorite, and this video ShackerCast by Socksta and Fleabug won the vote, and winning a copy of Devil May Cry 4 (and art book) should compliment their... review of it well.

Audiosurf came out this weekend, giving people the ability to turn their music collection into an interactive game, so how about people who have spent some time with it chime in and give their song recommendations as what to play? I know this will break your heart but Paul McCartney - Nod Your Head was a pretty epic fail. :(

I am a terrible TF2 player. Not sure what to do about that outside of crying to me mum. So awful. :(

• Global Mars mission?
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Dylan Fitterer's innovative rhythm-racing title Audiosurf is now available for purchase on Steam, Valve announced today.

One of the first titles to make use of Steam achievements via Valve's recently released Steamworks tools, Audiosurf is a simple racer which analyzes user-provided audio tracks and integrates the rhythm and tempo of the song into the course. Valve has provided the entire Orange Box soundtrack, including Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive", for use in the game. Read more »

Valve today announced that Dylan Fitterer's innovative rhythm-racing title Audiosurf is now available for pre-order on Steam.

Audiosurf is a simple racing game that allows users to import their own audio tracks. The game then analyzes the tracks and integrates the rhythm information into the race course in the form of tempo-synced blocks, which players collect for points.

The Orange Box soundtrack will come free with the title, including Jonathan Coulton's hit Portal track "Still Alive." Audiosurf will also be one of the first Steamworks-supported games, with plenty of achievements built-in to the radical pipeline. Read more »

Good morning everyone, hope Friday is treating you well. Lots of EA news from yesterday, Chris wrote up his thoughts on the company in the blog. If you haven't checked out the ShackBlog by the way, you should. I think it draws a really good line between our straightforward news on the front page, and the more flavorful articles of early ShugaShack days. There's even a RSS feed for it, where the news comes to you. Do you know how hard it is to import those from Soviet Russia? You should feel special. So what are you playing this weekend?

Yesterday, all these ShackBlog posts seemed so far away: Read more »

Remember when I said I wanted more funk in rhythm games? Well, my friend Steve reminded me iNiS' excellent Gitaroo Man (PS2), which I have played and you should too, has a much more diverse soundtrack than most rhythm games and indeed includes music of the funky persuasion.

That's not the point of this post, though. What I really want to talk about is Audiosurf, indie dev Invisible Handlebar's entry in this year's IGF Audience Award category (a category that, judging by the relative download counts on FileShack, is going to be demolished by Audiosurf). There are quite a few rhythm games up for the award, which is interesting--it really shows how much influence the genre has on current design aspirations, in the wake of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Read more »