Joystiq Presents: Close project

Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) talks with Joystiq's Editor in Chief Ludwig Kietzmann (@LudwigK) about the site's history as well as a newfound opportunity to grow. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Joystiq Presents: Can't stop

In this episode, Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) takes his turn in the hot seat as he tells Features Content Director Xav de Matos (@Xav) about the rant that landed him the job of his dreams. He also talks about barely surviving his first PAX and what Joystiq and video games mean to him. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Joystiq Presents: Team spirit

In this episode, Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) chats with News Content Director Alexander Sliwinski (@Sliwinski) about Team JOY and Team Joystiq. He also discusses the "Internet dating" side of working in the industry. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Joystiq Presents: Take care of business

In this episode, Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) talks with Weekend Editor Sam Prell (@SamPrell) to discuss happiness, horses and his writing career prior to joining Joystiq. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Joystiq Presents: We live and die by this

Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) chats with Features Content Director Xav de Matos (@Xav) about his upbringing as well as his career in the video games press. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Joystiq Presents: You start with a fire

Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) chats with Community Manager Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello) about being handed the keys to the Joystiq community. He also refuses to eat his vegetables. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Joystiq Presents: This is my family

Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) sits down with Senior Reporter Jess Conditt (@JessConditt) to discuss her background in journalism and how Joystiq became her family. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Joystiq Presents: One missed call

In the latest episode, Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) talks with Weekend Editor Thomas Schulenberg (@T_Schulenberg) about the years leading to him joining Joystiq, including one crucial missed phone call. He also talks about going to E3 for the first time in his career. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Joystiq Presents: Too good to be real

Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) talks with Reviews Content Director Richard Mitchell (@TheRichardM) about the years Richard spent watching Joystiq grow. He reminisces about his Xbox 360 Fanboy days as well as the time he accepted a job at Joystiq. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Four in February challenges you to finish the fight

The shortest, yet greatest month of the year is upon us, February. If you followed along with us last year, you know what that means: Four in February is back! The month-long initiative starts tomorrow, challenging you (yes, you) to pick four games to finish in one month. The rules: There are no rules. Seriously, there are no rules. You can pick new games, old games or even titles that you stopped playing that one time during finals week in college because your academic life depended on it (it's cool, we've all been there). The only requirement is that you pick four games. Start at the beginning of a game, or start where your old save file left off, it doesn't matter! We can't drive over to your house to force you to start a game over; we don't know where you live, after all. By joining in the fun on Four in February's Facebook page or using the cute little hashtag #4iF on Twitter, you can update us on your progress, like that friend that uploads their daily jogging times to your news feed, except way more fun. Joystiq may be closing its doors, but we refuse to shut our consoles down. Join us in finishing the fight against our backlogs. Head past the break to see Four in February father Mike Suszek's lineup, then share yours in the comments!

Joystiq Presents: Sinan buys a Virtual Boy

Mike Suszek (@mikesuszek) talks with Joystiq's Sinan Kubba (@SinanKubba) about the lengths Sinan went to buy a Virtual Boy during a trip to the United States as a teenager. He also discusses his time covering games and spending time with the staff at Joystiq. Listen to the MP3 Listen to other Joystiq Presents episodes.

Report: Ouya gets $10 million investment from Alibaba

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba invested $10 million into microconsole maker Ouya last month, The Wall Street Journal reported. The two companies have seemingly agreed to bring Ouya's software and game library to Alibaba's set-top box. Ouya announced its Ouya console-less ambitions in March 2014, dubbed "Ouya Everywhere." The initiative allows Ouya to run its software on other devices, starting with Mad Catz's MOJO microconsole. Ouya raised $8.6 million on Kickstarter in 2012, first launching in July 2013. The system didn't generate much revenue for developers as just 27 percent of Ouya owners purchased a game in its first month. Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman would not confirm Alibaba's investment, but did tell Engadget that the company has "been working with partners to bring our platform and games library to their devices." She said that Ouya is "live with Madcatz in the US and working with Xiaomi in China. There are a number of others in the works, with our focus outside the US because there is where we see the most opportunity and growth. Sometimes new markets leapfrog the established ones -- this may be one of those cases." The Chinese government lifted its 14-year ban on foreign consoles and video games just over one year ago, issuing a new set of content restrictions for manufacturers this past April. Reports from December found that gaming revenues in the country grew 38 percent year-over-year. The other major console manufacturers are poised to enter the emerging market: While Sony delayed the launch of the PS4 in China earlier this month, Microsoft already reportedly sold over 100,000 Xbox One systems in its introductory week back in October. Nintendo revealed plans in May to approach emerging markets such as China with new hardware this year.

Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy remastered for Steam, iOS

The "definitive version" of Quantic Dream's Indigo Prophecy is now available on PC, Mac and Linux via Steam as well as iOS. Crafted by porting specialist Aspyr Media, the updated version of the "supernatural murder mystery game" goes by the name Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered as a nod to the 2005 adventure's European name. Players can download it for $9.99 (€8.99 / £6.99). Aspyr noted in its FAQ that there is "absolutely no cut or censored content in this version" of the game. Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered features updated graphics that can be toggled on and off on the fly and controller support across all platforms. While the Heavy Rain developer's original game was capped at a resolution of 1024 × 768, Aspyr said the remastered version supports native resolutions up to 2880 × 1800. Aspyr claimed it "gave every texture in the game a facelift," giving some elements four times the detail as the original game, but the 2 GB size limit on iOS forced remastered textures to only double in size in the mobile version. While it won't provide a release date just yet, the developer did add that an Android version of Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy is in the works. [Image: Aspyr Media]

Super Smash Bros. Wii U update opens 15 more 8-player levels [Update]

Nintendo updated Super Smash Bros. for Wii U today, adding new levels to the game upon which fans can kick the crap out of their loved ones. The update gives players 15 new levels for free, each one for the game's eight-player Smash mode. Nintendo of Japan listed the new stages on its site: Normal: Mario Circuit (X) Luigi's Mansion Pyrosphere Norfair Lylat Cruise Pokemon Stadium 2 Animal Crossing: Town and City Animal Crossing: Smashville Wii Fit studio Omega: Mario Galaxy Mario Circuit (X) Kirby: The Great Cave Offensive Lylat Cruise Pokemon Stadium 2 Town and City The publisher revealed its latest sales numbers this week, noting that the Wii U's lifetime sales reached 9.2 million consoles. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U sold 3.39 million copies by the end of 2014, topped only by Mario Kart 8's 4.77 million units as the system's best seller last year. Update: Thanks to a translation error on Nintendo of Japan's page, some of the stages were incorrectly named. We've updated the list. [Image: Nintendo]

Lumines changes hands, returning on iOS and Android

Mobcast acquired the Lumines and Meteos properties from Q Entertainment, the Japanese smartphone game developer announced this week, as translated by Gematsu. Additionally, a new Lumines game is on the way for iOS and Android, and will be a collaboration with the colorful puzzle series' creator, Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Mizuguchi will work on the latest Lumines at his new California-based studio, Enhance Games. The Rez and Space Channel 5 creator co-founded Q Entertainment in 2003 following his departure from Sega. Mizuguchi left the developer in March. The last Lumines game to launch was 2012's Lumines: Electronic Symphony (seen above). [Image: Q Entertainment]

Destiny dev: DLC mistakes won't be repeated

Destiny designer Luke Smith recently addressed concerns over Bungie's future updates for the game. Namely, Smith said "the mistakes [Bungie] made with the DLC1 reward economy will not be repeated," in a NeoGAF thread, admitting the developer's previous attempts at expanding the first-person shooter with add-on content resulted in a few problems for players. Smith claims the developer will avoid mistakes such as "vendor gear invalidating the effort of [Vault of Glass] Raiders" and exotic gear upgrades resulting in a talent reset. "Our philosophy about rewards/loot continue to evolve as we see how players play and react," Smith wrote. He noted that item drop rates appear to be "much improved" in the Crota's End DLC compared to Vault of Glass, and that Bungie plans to "improve acquisition stories and frequency" as well as "lessen the grind and get players to the fun parts of their arsenal faster." It issued a hot fix for Destiny in December to boost the drop rates for the Crota's End raid mission. [Image: Activision]

Ubisoft announces next experimental game for PC, Grow Home

Ubisoft announced a new platforming game for PC today, Grow Home. Developed by a small team at Ubisoft Reflections, the game features a red robot named BUD (Botanical Utility Droid), who travels across the galaxy to find a "new species of flora to help oxygenate his home world." While the game was built and launched internally on PC for Ubisoft employees to enjoy, the development team created it with a game pad in mind, as BUD helps a giant beanstalk-like Star Plant grow and climbs around it using the left and right triggers on a controller. Grow Home's universe features other floating islands, so players can branch the plant out to craft their own "playground in the sky." The game is physics-based and procedurally-animated, emphasizing freedom of movement and allowing BUD to latch on to any object should he find himself plummeting to the planet. Players will be able to launch off of giant leaves, teleport to other parts of the plant and use parachute-style flowers to slow BUD's descent, all while trying to climb two kilometers up to the robot's spaceship. Inspired by Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Pixar's animated film Wall-E, Grow Home will launch on February 4. [Image: Ubisoft]

Dos Anjos among cuatro fighters added to EA Sports UFC

A new content pack for EA Sports UFC is now available to download, adding four fighters to the mixed martial arts game's roster. The new fighters include light heavyweight bruiser Anthony "Rumble" Johnson and women's bantamweight fighter Holly Holm. The latest update also introduced two lightweight fighters: Eddie Alvarez and Rafael Dos Anjos. EA Sports offered sixth other free content updates for its introductory UFC game since it launched in June 2014. The last update for the game added big-name legendary fighters to the mix in December, such as Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Mark Coleman and Brock Lesnar. Past updates introduced new game mechanics to EA Sports UFC as well, such as Finish the Fight, kick catching and manual taunts. [Image: EA Sports]

EA Sports UFC (Content Pack #7)

Star Citizen expected to reach $100 million in funding

Wing Commander, and more recently Star Citizen creator Chris Roberts recently delivered his BAFTA Masterclass presentation in Los Angeles and via Twitch, revealing target launch dates for each phase of the game. As reported by Polygon, the beta programs for the game's first-person shooter and planetside components are due this spring, followed by arena commander 2.0 ships in summer. Additionally, the first episode of the story-based Squadron 42 single-player campaign will arrive this fall, with the backers-only alpha program for the persistent universe part of the game due by the end of the year. Roberts expects that Star Citizen will see its commercial launch in 2016. The designer discussed the community engagement and crowdfunding efforts of the space simulation game, noting that the developer is "now close to $70 million, and it's likely the carry-on will probably be over $100 by the time the game is close to public release." Roberts stressed that Star Citizen's crowdfunding efforts "isn't really about the money," but rather "it's really about bringing people in to create this community and have them sort of share that experience with you as you're building it." [Image: Roberts Space Industries]