Unlocked

EA drops some vague release date windows for Titanfall 2 and Mirror's Edge on their quarterly earnings call, so we take more specific shots at pinning them down – as well as detailing why DICE's E3 presentation of Mirror's Edge will likely either send the game's hype train ahead at full speed or derail it completely. Plus: Disney Infinity 3.0, more Star Wars Battlefront talk, our thoughts on The A...

We try to find humor in what is otherwise a downer of a week: the Astro A40 Xbox One gaming headset isn't good, Silent Hills is canceled and Konami doesn't look long for this world, Black Ops 3 fails to excite us, Batman: Arkham Knight's DLC Season Pass is laughably expensive, and more. On the bright side, it looks like we're getting a Gears of War 1 remake/update, Halo 5: Guardians may finally le...

Fierce debate grips the Unlocked crew this week, as we discuss whether Star Wars Battlefront is offering enough content out of the box to justify its $60 price. Is this the new normal? What lessons can we learn from Titanfall and Destiny? Mitch and Ryan even make an In-N-Out bet about it. Plus: we speculate on what Phil Spencer means by the expected "new, exclusive IP" for Xbox at E3 this year, ho...

With World Music Game War II official, we break down the surprising pros and cons of Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4 and ultimately come to a pretty happy conclusion. Plus: a government agency whines about the Xbox One's power consumption rates, and then whines again when Microsoft pledges to fix it. We respond. Meanwhile, Destin isn't happy about Destiny's latest expansion, House of Wolves, and...

The announcement of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has the Unlocked crew standing as Fankind United. Yes, we're excited. We break down the newly revealed new-gen sequel, including where we think it's heading and how we prefer to brush up on the last game. Plus: Quantum Break gets officially moved to 2016 (called it!), former Xbox executive Don Mattrick escapes his first post-Xbox job on a golden parachu...

The weekend gave us not one but two Halo 5: Guardians trailers, and you needed to see both of them in order for your mind to be fully and properly blown. We dissect what each trailer's version of the truth means, and we talk at length about Halo 5's surprising October release date – including what it means for the rest of Microsoft's holiday Xbox One lineup. Plus: a nugget of Gears of War 4 news t...

Noted Metal Gear fan Max Scoville joins Podcast Unlocked this week to discuss the whole (alleged) Kojima/Konami fiasco. And we have what may be an unpopular opinion about the entire thing. Plus: why the hell is there a Russia-only Halo Online game for PC? Will the next Xbox hit in 3-4 years instead of 7-8? What's the deal with Conker in Project Spark? Also: Shark Finnegan explains how to get throw...

Now that Titanfall 2 is a real, confirmed thing, we've got some ideas as to what it needs. In fact, we all agree on what that is. Meanwhile, we give a refresher course on the long-dormant Homefront: The Revolution now that it's been officially delayed to 2016. Plus: another hilarious round or marketing-spun NPD results, Rory McIlroy Highlander-kills Tiger Woods, and more. Also be sure to watch the...

A discussion about our early Ori and the Blind Forest impressions turns into an impromptu chat about our most emotional gaming (and movie) moments. Plus: we have a theory on the timing of this week's Halo: The Master Chief Collection Xbox One bundle, another theory about how Kudo Tsunoda's promotion proves last week's Phil Harrison rumors, why Quantum Break would be better off releasing in 2016 re...

What a packed show! Chris Charla, the head of Microsoft's ID@Xbox program, stops by for a chat about choosing indie games for the program, how crazy (in a good way) Cuphead is, and more. Then we talk about Phil Spencer's latest Battletoads tease, freak out because Rock Band 4 is a real thing, discuss our experience playing one of GTA Online's Heists, and much, much more. Learn more about your ad c...

On this week's IGN Xbox podcast, we discuss running out of Xbox One hard drive and what decisions go into choosing an external hard drive to buy. Plus, rumors suggest that both Rock Band and Guitar Hero may be returning for the new consoles (and why we're FREAKING OUT), Microsoft makes a genius move to partner Forza with Fast and Furious, Batman: Arkham Knight's 'M' rating, why MMOs are finally hi...

This week's episode of Podcast Unlocked is packed! We predict what Bethesda will announce at their first-ever E3 press conference in June, including Fallout 4. Plus: reacting to Phantom Dust's developer shift, lamenting Shadow Realms' cancellation and what it means for 4v1 games, making our picks from the ongoing Xbox Ultimate Game Sale, and remembering Super Mario Bros. 3 and how it changed our l...

Halo 5 dominates our show this week, as not only do we talk to 343 Industries Halo 5 Studio Head Josh Holmes and Multiplayer Designer Quinn DelHoyo about what they learned from the now-completed Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta (skip to 1:02:57 for that), we also discuss all the changes made as a result of player feedback. Plus, a release date for the Halo 5 art book suggests that Halo 5 might n...

Four editors. Three predictions each. That means we've got 12 Xbox predictions for 2015 that you can hold us to come Christmas-time. Plus, we can bet on them! Which of us is Nostradamus (probably none of us), and which of us is Nostra-dumb-us (probably all of us)? Plus: A few Sony games look like they're on their way to Xbox, Condemned 3 might happen, Grand Theft Auto V's sales numbers continue to...

The Xbox's sales are down year over year for the fourth quarter, largely due to dwindling Xbox 360 sales. So it's time to wonder: is the old console toast? Also, IGN tech editor Alaina Yee joins us to share her first-hand, behind-the-scenes account of the Windows 10/HoloLens event she attended last week at Microsoft Campus. Plus: EA makes bank, the Xbox One's controller gets a firmware update, and...

Packed show! We distill the Windows 10 event down to what it means for Xbox, including the HoloLens AR glasses that may sound familiar if you remember "Fortaleza" from the big Xbox One leak in 2012. Plus: we reflect on the Halo 5 beta, the Xbox One goes back to $349...again, and Undead Labs CEO Jeff Strain sits in for an epic 50-minute interview that covers his fascinating past working at Blizzard...

IGN's Game of the Year has been announced. We discuss how we cast our individual votes. Plus: a big MOBA hits Xbox One, Forza Motorsport 6 gets announced...in Detroit, Microsoft may be bringing back a "beloved" strategy game, Xbox One wins an Emmy(?!), and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Microsoft abandons their trademark on show favorite Blinx: The Timesweeper, we discuss what we'd do with it if we bought it (which we might). Plus: what does the Xbox One going back up to $400 mean for 2015? Will Xbox Avatars ever matter on Xbox One? Will Far Cry 5 pit you against...vampires? And what will Xbox One developers do with more power thanks to the newest XDK tools? Oh, and we give a...

We'll be up front: you might not even like this episode. It's a collection of random, out-of-context outtakes from the past year of Xbox podcasting. Strange stories. Off-topic conversations. Alex Solomita's 15 minutes of fame on ESPN. On the other hand, some of you might think it's hilarious. So give it a listen. It's only 16 minutes long. Then let us know what you think! If you find it boring and...

"I'm not even supposed to be here today!" We'd planned to be on holiday break this week, but too much Halo happened! First, 343 Industries announced that Halo 3: ODST will be brought to Halo: The Master Chief Collection in 1080p/60fps – for free! And that an Anniversary remake of "Relic" would be added to MCC for free as the seventh Halo 2 Anniversary map. On top of that, we spent all weekend play...

As the year winds to a close, Microsoft celebrates a November NPD victory. What about December? What about the future? Will they put the system's price back to $400? We discuss. Plus: the big annual year-end Xbox games sale has begun, Grand Theft Auto V finally delivers a peek at online heists, remasters get an ultimatum from us, and more. Oh, and THANK YOU for listening this year. We appreciate y...

Sony strikes back, securing Street Fighter V exclusively after Microsoft bagged Rise of the Tomb Raider. We discuss the situation, as well as what other games this could happen to. Plus: after Sony's PlayStation Experience Event, should Microsoft do something similar? Also: Adr1ft gets announced, The Witcher 3 gets delayed, and much more. Most importantly, we welcome back Jared Petty! Learn more a...

We catch up on everything we saw and played over the Thanksgiving break, including passionate (spoiler-free) discussions about Sunset Overdrive, Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, Limbo, and more. Plus: Xbox One's Black Friday success and whether or not the $350 price point will revert back to $400, Xbox's neverending struggles in Japan, hackers targeting Xbox Live, and much more. Learn...

As Ryan's old friend and podcasting partner Dan Amrich sits in to discuss Rocksmith 2014 for Xbox One (which Dan now works on), the crew discusses their thoughts on Xbox One's first birthday and the big Microsoft giveaway that goes with it. Plus: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's campaign, Dumb & Dumber To, game show video games (like 1 vs. 100!), Titanfall's just-announced Deluxe Edition, and more...

What should be a celebration of one of the biggest weeks of the year for Xbox games is instead clouded by rough launches for both Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Assassin's Creed Unity, as well as online issues for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. We discuss what the root of the cause might be, as well as what recourse gamers have to combat Day One woes. Plus: Halo 5 multiplayer impressions,...