Unlocked

Xbox Game Pass is on such a roll that it's landing first-party Sony games now! MLB The Show 21 is a huge get for Game Pass. We discuss MLB's smart, forward-thinking move as well as the incredibly momentum of the Game Pass service in general. Plus: E3 is back...sort of...we discuss Xbox's new $500 wireless headphones, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Sledgehammer reportedly back in the Call of Duty business and prepping a World War II-set video game for this year's entry in the series, we discuss whether we even want another WWII-set CoD. Plus: It Takes Two is excellent, the ID@Xbox stream was a fantastic show of a ton of great new games (many of which are going straight to Xbox Game Pass), CD Projekt Red changes its plans as they continu...

One of 2021's big releases, Gotham Knights, just got pushed to 2022. We discuss what it means not just for that game, but for Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as well. Plus: Xbox Live gets rebranded, Microsoft might be buying Discord, we've got an ID@Xbox showcase to look forward to this week, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bethesda held a fantastic roundtable discussion with Phil Spencer and some of the Xbox leadership team, and we discussed our impressions of the first big post-acquisition event, from Phil's comments on exclusivity to his admiration of the id Tech engine to the avalanche of Bethesda games that are now on Xbox Game Pass. Plus: our impressions of the excellent new Xbox Wireless Headset, Halo Infinite...

Big Xbox news this week as European and American regulators sign off on Microsoft's acquisition of Zenimax and Bethesda, making the acquisition official. What will Microsoft do next? Which games will be exclusive? We discuss that and much more on this topic. Plus: what other new Xbox surprises await in 2021, WTF do Pringles' Halo Infinite "Moa Burger"-flavored potato chips taste like, and more! Le...

Lots of BioWare news to discuss this week, from Anthem's cancellation to Henry Cavill (aka Superman aka Geralt)'s Mass Effect project to Dragon Age 4 no longer being a live-service game. Plus: Xbox's Aaron Greenberg downplays recent Elden Ring rumors, Battlefield for next-gen gets more help within EA, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Xbox backwards compatibility team flexes their muscles again with FPS Boost, an unexpected and awesome new improvement to back-catalog games. We celebrate the new feature. Plus: Diablo 2's long-rumored remaster has us super excited, we wonder what's next for Bungie as the studio expands, March's Games With Gold revealed, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We discuss the return of Six Days in Fallujah, a resurrection of a canceled 2009 game based on real-world events, including its A-list team of ex-Bungie developers and what they've said about the controversial project so far. Plus: we're excited about the just-announced Xbox Wireless Headset, Microsoft creates a new Fallout-themed company to oversee the Bethesda acquisition, and more! Learn more a...

With a job posting suggesting that 343 Industries is spinning up a new Halo game besides Halo Infinite, we speculate on what it might be – and decide we want a Halo horror game. Plus: our impressions of Xbox exclusive The Medium, Grand Theft Auto 5's unstoppable run and what we want from GTA 6, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To quote a line from Halo 2 in describing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition: "There are those who said this day would never come. What are they to say now?" Yes, we're talking about the long-awaited remaster of BioWare's beloved sci-fi RPG trilogy. We've seen it, and we want to tell you all about it. Plus: Xbox's baseball-game curse is finally lifted – a year earlier than expected too! – and EA surpr...

What a week! There's so much to discuss on this episode, from Microsoft shockingly doubling the price of Xbox Live Gold only to just-as-shockingly walk it back later that same day, to the insane new Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic rumor, to Vicarious Visions merging into Blizzard to work on...Diablo 2 (!), and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Lucasfilm Games publishing umbrella once again dominates our conversation this week, as the first new non-EA Star Wars game in a decade gets announced. We discuss Ubisoft and Massive's upcoming open-world Star Wars adventure, including what it might be, what we hope it is and isn't, what it means for The Division, and more. Plus: Ninja Gaiden's creator would be "honored" to work with Micro...

Will the just-announced Indiana Jones game from Bethesda, Machinegames, and Todd Howard be an Xbox exclusive? We discuss this fascinating announcement. Plus: is Star Wars gearing up for life after EA? And we sort through the revelation that Microsoft tried to buy Nintendo (!) in the early Xbox days, a rumored Mass Effect: Legendary Edition release date, and more. It's a busy week of Xbox on Podcas...

Happy New Year! On our first Unlocked episode of 2021, we look ahead to the (long) list of Xbox exclusives coming this year. Plus: Gears 5: Hivebusters rocks, Fortnite's developer moves into...a mall(?), Games With Gold for January includes an OG Xbox cult classic, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our final episode of 2020 is a special one! Ryan welcomes Tim Schafer, the head of Double Fine (aka one of the newest Xbox Game Studios), for a 40-minute conversation about life since being acquired by Microsoft. But don't fret – that very much includes an update on Psychonauts 2 as well! P.S. We're off next week but we'll be back with new episodes of Unlocked starting January 5. Happy holidays an...

Our penultimate show in 2020 is a big one! We spend the first half of the show discussing the nightmare scenario that is Cyberpunk 2077 on the current-gen consoles. After that, we dig into the big Xbox news from The Game Awards, including the long-anticipated reveal of the Perfect Dark reboot from The Initiative, the awards that Xbox games won, and Mass Effect's surprising continuity. Plus: Halo I...

Digital Foundry's John Linneman and Gamertag Radio's Danny Peña join us to talk about all sorts of Xbox stuff this week! Topics include: the future of BioWare after their big studio leadership shakeup, next-gen sports games on Xbox Series X, what's going on with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War on Series X, our Game Awards announcement predictions for Xbox, and much more! Learn more about your ad...

What will Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer be like? Special guests Ray Apollo from Twitch and Cam Hawkins from DualShockers join Ryan and Brandin for an extra-fun episode that also discusses Microsoft's underrated next-gen efforts, more awesome stuff coming to Xbox Game Pass, MechWarrior's long-awaited Xbox return, and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The developer of Hitman has a new James Bond game in the works. We discuss why it could be the best Bond ever. Plus: Phil Spencer says an Xbox smart TV app is closer than we think, some of us would totally play the leaked retail Cyberpunk 2077 disc that hasn't been patched yet if we could, a bunch of big games get delayed, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next-gen is now officially current-gen! The Xbox Series X and S are out, and we talk about our first week of living with them. Plus: we analyze Microsoft's big first-week numbers, address shortages expected well into 2021, talk about another Xbox executive's recent comments on Bethesda game exclusivity, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the week you've been waiting for: the next-generation of Xbox has officially arrived with the Series X and Series S. We discuss the launches of Microsoft's two new consoles. Plus: EA and BioWare finally confirm Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the 4K remaster of the classic sci-fi trilogy. We discuss that as well as the future of the fan-favorite RPG franchise. Learn more about your ad choices...

Welcome to a special two-hour episode of Unlocked that was recorded live with all of you, along with special guest panelist Parris Lilly from Gamertag Radio! We played the Series X for two hours now that the review embargo has lifted, and answered a lot of your questions along the way. We also talked through our final impressions of Microsoft's new consoles. If you normally listen to the podcast f...

Cyberpunk 2077's last-minute delay affects everyone, from developers to gamers to media outlets alike. We sort through the fallout of this major news. Plus: a surprise Gears 5 update, Phil Spencer teases a possible 1 vs. 100-like replacement on Xbox Series, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Another busy week of Xbox news to discuss, from the Xbox Series X's launch lineup (to the best Xbox launch lineup in history) to what Phil Spencer said about Bethesda game exclusivity in a recent interview to what The Initiative is working on, and more! Cam Hawkins from DualShockers stops by as our special guest this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We finally got to play a couple of proper Xbox Series X games. We give our impressions of those titles on the Series X, plus discuss The Medium's release date, Microsoft's new plan to get xCloud game streaming onto iOS devices, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices