Crossover

Before I met the Lovely Lady Duck, the most important thing in my day to day life was music  It is still the case that offered a choice between my music collection (and suitable audio equipment) and most human company, it would be the music that came to the mythical desert island.

Music can have a dramatic effect upon my emotions.  It can powerfully affect me, invoking various feelings.  Some pieces have brought me close to a state of euphoria.  Also I find great intellectual interest in listening to music and understanding the histories and development of the musicians.

Although I prefer to listen to music in a state as close to that intended by the composer as possible, I find interest in experiencing different ways of listening; mono rather than stereo, really bad speakers, with earplugs in, and so on.  Different experiences can give different, and wider understandings of the music.

Another of my favourite activities is playing computer games.  I have been intrigued by games such as Guitar Hero, or the open source alternative, Frets on Fire, but have never managed to try them out.  All of a sudden there was a flood of coverage on gaming websites about Audiosurf.  The constant positive comments nagged me into submission; I submitted and purchased Audiosurf on Steam.

Wow.  I am not going to bother explaining the game mechanics, I am getting too excited.  Wahoo!  Why I find this game so wonderful:

• Fun, action game play that shockingly hasn't got frustrating (yet).
• A wide variety of styles, different modes, different intensities, but a standard core game.
• Trippy graphics that are trippy.  Wahoo!  Trippy.
• My music defines the game.  I can pick and choose what I want to play based on my choice of music.   I can be competitive with other people about something the really matters to me.  Wahoo!

For a long time there has been a conflict between music and games.  I dislike listening to my music whilst playing games as the sound effects and incidental music can spoil my listening.  Very few games lose nothing with the removal of sound (one reason for the vast amount of Civ that I played).  Audiosurf is my saviour.  A great game, that interacts with my music, and which doesn't disturb it.  Wahoo!